Keith Huewen and the late Murray Walker remember John Surtees (Interview 2017)

The world of motorsport suffered tragic news earlier this month when the voice of Formula 1 Murray Walker passed away at the age of 97. 

Walker was probably most known for his unrivaled commentary and personality within the F1 paddock, but the voice of F1 was ‘at heart a motorcycle racing man’ according to former BT Sport MotoGP commentator Keith Huewen.

Huewen and Walker had a great relationship, which led to the former sitting down with Walker back in 2017 to remember the only two and four wheel world champion in history John Surtees. 

With both the MotoGP and F1 championships getting their 2021 seasons underway today, there is no better time to revisit the interview, as Walker remains in everyone’s minds. 

Walker knew of Surtees due to their fathers, and Walker’s father who was an ex racer, was involved with Motorcycling 'during and after the war' in which he ‘recruited people to teach new recruits in the army to be proper dispatch riders’. 

In what is a brilliant and informative interview which you can see on YouTube in full below, here is a snippet of what is discussed. Huewen asked Walker to summarise the type of man Surtees was.  

Walker said: "John knew what he wanted to do, he knew what was right and he would obdurately stick at getting there no matter what it cost, and it cost him a lot in human relationships. As you know Keith, there is always something wrong with the bike, in life, with politics, but John would have none of it.

"He would argue his point very, very strongly indeed, and yes John got to be known more with cars than with bikes, which is how it is. Cars do have more interest from the general public than bikes nowadays, but let us not forget that he was one of the greatest motorcycle racers of all time." 

Watch the full interview below.