Chris Amon

Christopher Arthur Amon MBE (born 20 July 1943) is a former motor racing driver from New Zealand. He was active in Formula One – racing in the 1960s and 1970s – and is widely regarded to be one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand Prix. His reputation for bad luck was such that fellow driver Mario Andretti once joked that "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying". Former Ferrari's Technical Director Mauro Forghieri stated that Amon was "by far the best test driver I have ever worked with. He had all the qualities to be a World Champion but bad luck just wouldn't let him be".

Apart from driving, Chris Amon also ran his own Formula One team for a short period in 1974. Away from Formula One, Amon had some success in sports car racing, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1966.

Early life

Amon was born in Bulls, the only child of wealthy sheep-owner Ngaio Amon. On leaving school, he persuaded his father to buy him an Austin A40 Special, which he entered in some minor local races and hillclimbs along with practice on the family farm. He progressed to a 1.5 litre Cooper and then an old 2.5L Maserati 250F, but only began to draw attention when he drove the Cooper-Climax T51 which Bruce McLaren had used to win his maiden Grand Prix.

Chris Amon Racing

Chris Amon Racing (also known simply as Amon), was a Formula One team that competed in the 1966 and 1974 seasons.

Background

Without a full-time drive in 1966, Chris Amon entered a Brabham BT11 powered by an old 2-litre BRM engine at the Italian Grand Prix under the banner of "Chris Amon Racing", but failed to qualify.

After a poor 1973 season with Tecno, but encouraged by the potential of the underdeveloped Gordon Fowell chassis, driver Chris Amon tried running his own Formula One car in 1974. Financial backing came from John Dalton, and the car, designed by Fowell, followed the Lotus 72 in some areas of construction, with sophisticated torsion-bar suspension and side radiators.

The venture failed completely: retiring from the first race, Amon withdrew from the second, and the car was unable to qualify for two more before the team closed down due to financial problems.

Amon AF101

The AF101 was the only Formula One car built by Amon Racing; the AF101 designation deriving from A for Amon and F for Fowell. Fowell and Tom Boyce designed the car which featured a single central fuel tank, titanium torsion bars and a forward driving position. One unusual (for the time) feature of the AF101 was that the fuel tank was located between the driver's cockpit and the engine. Structurally, it proved to be weak and was not ready for a Formula One appearance until the fourth race of the season, the Spanish Grand Prix. Amon was only able to qualify 23rd, due to brake-disc vibration that became worse with the tyres required for the wet race that followed. Despite cautious driving, a brake shaft finally broke and Amon was forced to retire after 22 laps.