Surtees riding at Goodwood

The 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed will be graced by motorsport royalty as John Surtees rides the only BMW Type 255 Kompresor racing bike left on the planet, a classic bike from the late 1930s.

Surtees, the 1964 F1 world champion and the only man to have won motor racing world championships on two wheels and four, will ride the supercharged BMW Type 255 at Goodwood, a motorcycle that is famous for taking Georg Meier to victory at the 1939 Isle of Man TT -- and the first non-British rider to win the race.

Surtees has a special connection with the bike too. It was he who bought the motorcycle (in pieces) in the 1980s and restored it to its current immaculate condition. Surtees later handed the bike back to BMW which normally keeps it in its museum, and as the only Type 255 Kompressor left in the world the former world champion will throw a leg over the bike at Goodwood.

"Since I first saw those fantastic pictures of Georg Meier flying down Paddock Hill on the way to his 1939 TT victory in the Isle of Man it has always had a special place in my heart," recounts Surtees.

"I subsequently located that machine and restored it with the help of ex BMW team personnel. I rode it in demonstrations around the world before it returned to its home in Munich. I will be pleased to be back together with an old friend."

Taking place between July 1 and 3 at Goodwood House near Chichester in West Sussex, the 2011 Goodwood Festival of Speed sees past and present unite in one of the most highly anticipated motorsport showcases of the year.

While John Surtees will ride a 1939 classic, BMW's world Superbike rider Leon Haslam will throw his leg over an S 1000 RR in the competitive hillclimb event.

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