Niels Heusinkveld Tribute to the Late John Surtees

Paul Jeffrey · Mar 16, 2017

Reiza Studios physics engineer Niels Heusinkveld has released a nice tribute to the recently departed John Surtees, taking a spin in the 1960's era Formula Vintage around the historic Johannesburg circuit in Automobilista.

In a nice tribute to the recently passed former Grand Prix and motorcycle World Champion John Surtees, Niels Heusinkveld of Reiza Studios has dedicated his 26th Talk and Drive video to the British World Champion, as he takes out for a run his Automobilista Formula Vintage car that is based on the 1967 Formula One era machines.

As one would imagine, footage from the actual 1967 Grand Prix of South Africa where Surtees finished in third position is rather rare, however I've managed to track down some content from the 1968 running of the event, just to give you a bit of an idea about the conditions under which Surtees plied his trade back in the day:

For some additional vintage fun, check out this cool video of the 1965 Monaco Grand Prix too:

For those of you less familiar with John Surtees and his racing career, the British driver remains the only man who has won World Championships on both two and four wheels, having secured numerous races and title's in bike racing until he took the decision to retire from the sport at the age of 26 and take up the challenge of Formula One. During his 12 years in the top level of open wheel racing Surtees secured six Grand Prix wins, 24 podium positions, eight poles and a World Championship for the Ferrari team in 1964.

As Surtees active Grand Prix driving career wound down the driver then became involved in team management, running his own Surtees team for a number of the top drivers of the day and remaining involved in many different forms of top level motorsport, including the incredible American Can-Am series for ultra powerful open top sports cars.

Surtees would go on to receive an OBE for his services to motorsport in the UK and his legacy continues with the Henry Surtees Foundation, set up in honour of his son who lost his life at the 2009 Formula 2 event at Brands Hatch.

A true British legend and a nice tribute from Heusinkveld.

Automobilista is a PC exclusive racing simulation from Reiza Studios. DLC can be purchased for the game at an additional cost. The DLC Season Pass price has risen to US$ 39.99 or your respective currency conversion. Individual DLC packages remain priced the same way, including Adelaide which now sells for the standard US$ 5.99. For a limited amount of time you may still purchase the Membership upgrade which includes the Season Pass with the old pricing of US$ 29.99 from the forum store, and that will also grant you Reiza 51 access.

Here at RaceDepartment we have our very own dedicated sub forum for Automobilista. In our sub forum you will find a wide selection of downloadable content to discover, from some of the best add on tracks to a selection of interesting vehicles, our downloads section is a positive treasure trove of additional content for AMS. If that isn't enough, we also pride ourselves on hosting some of the most exciting and intense multiplayer racing events for the game. If you like AMS and want to take your enjoyment to the next level, head over to the Racing Club and Leagues section of our Automobilista sub forum and find out what we have on offer. Of course we love our community here at RD and to help spread the love we cover all the latest news regarding the sim, and offer you a place to share your opinions and discussion topics regarding all Reiza titles. Head on over to the AMS sub forum and join in the discussion today!

Did you enjoy Niels latest Talk & Drive video? What do you think of the Formula Vintage cars and Historic Johannesburg circuit? Share your opinions in the comments section below!

Alex Townsend · Mar 17, 2017

Love the video from Niels. Makes me want to jump on AMS with some classic F1.

The Historic Johannesburg circuit is awesome fun and I really need to give these classic cars a try.

I think he eluded to the fact that the car he was driving wasn't actually in AMS yet and was one of his wip cars so perhaps something new coming to AMS before they wrap up and concentrate on the new title?

Colin Knowles · Mar 17, 2017

Classy tribute for a classic gentleman...

Jake Fangio · Mar 19, 2017

Very classy gent,and should of been knighted. His son was tragically killed,and he took steps to bring something good out of it. A great driver/rider and a great man. R.I.P Mr Surtees.