Chris Amon

Born: 20th July 1945, Bulls, New Zealand.

The son of a New Zealand farmer, Chris Amon was thrust into Grand Prix racing at the tender age of 19 after impressing in an old Maserati at home. He drove firstly a Lola and then a Lotus for Reg Parnell’s team, a fifth at the 1964 Dutch Grand Prix being the best result of his two-and-a-bit seasons. 1965 saw him racing for Bruce McLaren in sports cars and tyre testing for Firestone, but hopes of a GP drive with McLaren for 1966 came to nought.

Amon scored perhaps his greatest triumph in 1966 when he and McLaren won Le Mans for Ford, and his sports car prowess was noticed by Ferrari who signed him for 1967. In sports cars he won the Daytona 24 Hours and the Monza 1000km with Lorenzo Bandini, but disaster struck when Bandini was killed at the Monaco Grand Prix. With Mike Parkes later injured and Ludovico Scarfiotti leaving F1 midway through the year, Amon was effectively left on his own in the team, but he took several podiums and almost won the 1968 British Grand Prix. Aerodynamics proved Ferrari’s disadvantage that year, and there was more disappointment the following year with Amon retiring from the lead of the Spanish Grand Prix and only taking one third place, although he did win the Tasman Championship in the winter.

For 1970 Amon joined the new March team and started well with victory in the International Trophy and second places in Belgium and France, but a lack of development as the season progressed saw him take joint seventh in the points. The Kiwi then signed a two year deal with Matra, but ill luck dogged him throughout. He led the famous 1971 Italian GP but lost his visor when attempting to remove a tear-off and had to slow, and the following year was all-set to win at Clermont-Ferrand but had to pit with a puncture.

A planned return to March the following year did not happen and a berth at Tecno yielded just one point, and even a couple of guest drives for the champion Tyrrell team were not a success. Even less of a success was Amon’s project to construct his own F1 car the following year, and two guest drives for BRM also led nowhere.

At the end of 1975 however an offer to join Ensign rejuvenated the New Zealander, the car proving fast but fragile, and results were hard to come by and after being involved in the aftermath of Niki Lauda’s accident at the Nurburgring, he refused to take the restart and his F1 career was effectively over, and Amon quit racing for good the following year after a few Can-Am races for Walter Wolf’s team. He now lives on his farm back in New Zealand.