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Chris Amon | |
|---|---|
 Amon in 1973 | |
| Born | Christopher Arthur Amon (1943-07-20)20 July 1943 Bulls, Rangitikei, New Zealand |
| Died | 3 August 2016(2016-08-03) (aged 73) Rotorua, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  New Zealander |
| Active years | 1963–1976 |
| Teams | Parnell,privateerBrabham,McLaren,Cooper,Amon,Ferrari,March,Matra,Tecno,Tyrrell,BRM,Ensign,Wolf–Williams |
| Entries | 108 (96 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 11 |
| Careerpoints | 83 |
| Pole positions | 5 |
| Fastest laps | 3 |
| First entry | 1963 Monaco Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1976 Canadian Grand Prix |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1964–1967,1969,1971–1973 |
| Teams | Cunningham,Shelby,Ferrari,Matra,BMW |
| Best finish | 1st(1966) |
| Class wins | 1(1966) |
Christopher Arthur Amon (/ˈeɪmən/; 20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealandracing driver andmotorsport executive who competed inFormula One from1963 to1976. Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win aFormula One Grand Prix,[a] Amon won the24 Hours of Le Mans in1966 withFord, as well as the24 Hours of Daytona in1967 withFerrari.
Born and raised inBulls, Amon learned to drive aged six and initially competed inhillclimbing before progressing to nationalmotor racing competition in 1962. Amon joinedReg Parnell Racing thefollowing year, making his Formula One debut at theMonaco Grand Prix. After anon-classified championship finish in his rookie season, Amon scored his maiden points finish with fifth-place at the1964 Dutch Grand Prix. Following intermittent Grand Prix appearances in1965, Amon became a test driver forMcLaren and moved intosportscar racing. After winning the1966 24 Hours of Le Mans in theFord GT40 Mk.II alongsideBruce McLaren, Amon was signed byFerrari for1967, achieving his maiden podium at theMonaco Grand Prix amongst winning the24 Hours of Daytona; he finished a career-best fifth in theWorld Drivers' Championship.
After struggling with reliability at Ferrari in1968 and1969, Amon departed the team in search ofCosworth DFV-powered machinery. He scored several further podiums withMarch in1970 before a two-year stint withMatra. Amon then made sporadic appearances forTecno andTyrrell in his1973 campaign. Amon had foundedChris Amon Racing in 1966—when he entered theItalian Grand Prix in aprivateerBrabham BT11—and competed with them at four Grands Prix in1974, driving theAF101. Amon made further appearances forBRM,Ensign, andWolf–Williams before retiring at the end of the1976 season.
Amon was renowned for his poor luck in Formula One, losing out on several World Championship Grand Prix victories due to mechanical faults. Across 14 seasons, he achieved five pole positions, three fastest laps, and 11 podiums, with two non-championship wins at the1970 BRDC International Trophy and the1971 Argentine Grand Prix. Outside of Formula One, Amon won theTasman Series in1969 withScuderia Veloce. Amon was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire in the1993 Queen's Birthday Honours, and inducted into theNew Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
Amon was born inBulls, New Zealand, and attendedWhanganui Collegiate School. He was the only child of wealthy sheep-owners Ngaio and Betty Amon. He learned to drive at the age of six, taught by a farm worker on the family farm.[6] On leaving school, he persuaded his father to buy him anAustin A40 Special, which he entered in some minor local races andhillclimbs along with practice on the family farm.[7] He progressed to a 1.5-litreCooper and then an old 2.5-litreMaserati 250F, but only began to draw attention when he drove theCooper-Climax T51 whichBruce McLaren had used to win his maiden Grand Prix.[8]
In 1962 Amon entered the Cooper for the New Zealand winter series, but was hampered by mechanical problems. However,Scuderia Veloce entered him in a similar car, and, in the rain atLakeside, he performed well. One of the spectators there was the English racing driverReg Parnell who persuaded Amon to come to England and race for his team.[6] In a test atGoodwood Amon continued to impress and was on the pace in the Goodwood International Trophy and Aintree 200 pre-season races.[8]
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For the1963 Formula One season the Parnell team were using the year oldLolaMk4A, powered by 1962 specificationClimaxV8 engines. Amon was teamed with the very experiencedMaurice Trintignant for the first race of the season atMonaco and his Grand Prix career started with what was to become typical bad luck: Trintignant's Climax developed a misfire, so he took over Amon's car.
At the1963 Belgian Grand Prix, Amon was partnered byLucien Bianchi and started ahead of him from 15th position. After nine laps, however, an oil fire ended his race. He continued to experience mechanical problems at theDutch,Mexican andGerman Grands Prix; and after an accident in practice for theItalian Grand Prix left him hanging out of his car's cockpit with three broken ribs, he missed both the Italian andUnited States rounds.
Amon usually qualified in the midfield and generally outpaced his teammates, who included his good friendMike Hailwood. His best results of the year were seventh at theFrench andBritish Grands Prix. During this time, however, Amon's social life was attracting as much attention as his driving. He was a member of the Ditton Road Flyers, the social set named after the road in London where Amon shared an apartment with hisFormula One colleaguesPeter Revson, Hailwood andTony Maggs.[9]
Parnell was nonetheless impressed with Amon's results in what was regarded as less-than-competitive machinery and promoted him to team leader. Parnell died fromperitonitis in January 1964 and his sonTim took over the team.
In a series of four pre-season races in Britain and Italy, Amon recorded three fifth places atSnetterton,Silverstone andSyracuse. He failed to qualify for the first F1 race of the season, theMonaco GP, but at the next race, theDutch GP, he scored his first World Championship points. The rest of his season, however, was blighted by mechanical problems.
Parnell was offeredBRM engines for 1965, but only if it ranRichard Attwood as its regular driver. Reluctantly, Parnell agreed and Attwood took Amon's place. Spotting an opportunity, Bruce McLaren quickly signed Amon for his newMcLaren team, but when no second McLaren F1 car materialised, Amon could only drive in sports car races.
At theFrench GP Amon rejoined Parnell to stand in for an injured Attwood. Amon also competed in a Formula Two race in Stuttgart and won.[10] He returned to Germany for theGerman GP as second Parnell driver, but mechanical failure again forced an early retirement. His last drive before Attwood's return, a non-championship race inEnna,Sicily, also ended in retirement.
During 1966 Amon continued to race for McLaren inCan-Am. He was intended to drive the second McLaren M2B but difficulties with engine supply meant that the team never made the intended expansion to two cars. (James Garner's character Pete Aron's helmet and car livery in the filmGrand Prix were modelled on Amon driving a McLaren, which caused the movie makers to have to encourage other cars to be painted in the 'Yamura' colours and other drivers (Bruce McLaren included) to wear Amon-style helmets.)
However, an opportunity arose to drive for theCooper F1 team afterRichie Ginther left them forHonda. Amon drove for Cooper at theFrench GP and was scheduled to drive for them for the rest of the season, until the more successfulJohn Surtees leftScuderia Ferrari to join Cooper and Amon found himself dropped.
Amon made one other F1 appearance during the year, driving a Brabham BT11 powered by an old 2-litre BRM engine at theItalian GP under the banner of "Chris Amon Racing". He failed to qualify.
Amon did however, score his biggest success to date when he partnered Bruce McLaren in a 7-litreFord GT40 Mark II andKen Miles to Ford's dead-heat "photo-finish" after Miles was instructed to slow down despite leading at theLe Mans 24-hour race,[11] spearheading a formation finish.[7] He subsequently received an invitation to meetEnzo Ferrari at the Ferrari home inMaranello, where he signed to race for Ferrari in 1967 alongsideLorenzo Bandini,Mike Parkes andLudovico Scarfiotti.[6]
Amon's first year with Ferrari did not begin auspiciously. En route toBrands Hatch for the pre-season Formula OneRace of Champions, he crashed his road car and, following race practice, had to withdraw. Tragedy then struck the Ferrari team when Bandini died following a crash during the1967 Monaco Grand Prix,Mike Parkes broke both his legs at theBelgian Grand Prix and, in the aftermath,Ludovico Scarfiotti went into temporary retirement. Amon, therefore, became Ferrari's only driver for the rest of the season, until joined byJonathan Williams for the final race inMexico. Amon scored his first podium in his first official outing for the Scuderia in Monaco and at the end of 1967 had achieved four third places finishing fifth in the Drivers' Championship, in what was going to be the most successful season of his career.
Amon's Ferrari contract also included sports car racing and he began 1967 by winning theDaytona 24 Hours[12] and1000km Monza events with Bandini in the 4-litreFerrari 330-P4.[6] He finished the year partneringJackie Stewart to a second place at theBOAC 500, thereby clinching the manufacturer's world championship for Ferrari by one point overPorsche.
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1968 was the yearaerodynamics first played a significant role in F1 car design and Amon worked with engineerMauro Forghieri to placeaerofoils on theFerrari 312.[13]
In January 1968 Amon had returned home to New Zealand and Australia to compete in the1968 Tasman Series which was used by many of the top Formula One drivers as a warm up series to the World Championship. For the 1968 series Ferrari decided to use the 2.4 engines with a newDino 166 F2 chassis rather than a downsized 3-litre V12. Using the 246T Amon won the first two rounds of the Tasman Series, including the1968 New Zealand Grand Prix, before narrowly losing the series to theLotus-Ford ofJim Clark. TheDino 246 Tasmania was better handling than Clark's Lotus 49T which was still wingless and a difficult proposition. Impressed by Amon's driving in the NZ rounds, Ferrari dispatched a new four-valve version of the 2.4 V6 for the Australian rounds and this gave another 15 hp,[14] but with lesser reliability which, combined with the fact Clark was the best driver in the world at the time, cost Amon the series, although in the final round at Sandown Park he duelled wheel to wheel with Clark before being pipped at the line.[15]
After the first race of the F1 season inSouth Africa, Amon achievedpole positions in three of the following four races (at theSpanish,Belgian andDutch Grands Prix) but ever-present mechanical problems meant he secured only a single Championship point from them. Throughout the rest of the season he never qualified lower than fifth place and nearly scored victories at theBritish andCanadian rounds and he suffered a 100 mph crash inItaly which demolished his car.[16] In Britain, he duelled to the line withJo Siffert'sLotus 49B and in Canada he dominated the race despite a malfunctioningclutch. Seventeen laps from the finish, however, his car'stransmission failed and a distraught Amon had to be consoled byJacky Ickx. From at least ten promising starts that season he was only able to finish five races and score ten Championship points. His best finish was second place to Siffert's Lotus-Cosworth at theBritish Grand Prix.
Outside F1, Amon was runner-up in theFormula Two race atZolder, Belgium, testing theDino 166 F2. He also came third in that year'sBRDC International Trophy.
Amon began 1969 with success driving the Dino engined246 Tasmania in theTasman Series that included winning both theNew Zealand andAustralian Grands Prix.[17] In straight fights, he beat new Gold Leaf Lotus team leader, Jochen Rindt, into second in the races at Pukekohe and Sandown.[18] He would ultimately win the seven race Tasman Series, probably the best of the seven-year 2.5-litre international formula series in this country and the nearest to World Championship level racing in New Zealand, with ferocious competition between Rindt, Graham Hill, Amon and Williams driverPiers Courage. It was actually much more serious racing than the McLaren dominated Can-Am series in the US in which the big sports cars required few gear changes and were essentially cruised to victory with little real competition, where the Tasman cars were essentially marginally lower power F1 cars, as difficult to drive as GP cars on unforgiving very dangerous narrow tracks. Amon finished with four wins, two-thirds and one retirement, but in Formula One his poor luck continued. Despite six starts from top-six positions, he was only able to achieve a third-place at theDutch GP. The ageing 312 was still quick at the start of the season and after the Lotus 49Bs of Rindt and Graham Hill crashed spectacularly after high wing failure in the opening laps at Barcelona, Amon dominated the Spanish GP until the almost inevitable engine breakage on lap 56, 40 seconds ahead of Stewart's Matra. At Monaco Amon ran second to Stewart for the first 17 laps losing a second a lap to Stewart, but still gaining a second a lap on the third placed G. Hill who survived the race of attrition to win. Ferrari's F1V12 engine was too unreliable and although its replacement had proven very fast in testing, it had suffered many mechanical breakages. Amon had no reason to believe it would be any more dependable than the V12, so although the new engine was clearly more powerful, he decided to leave Ferrari for aCosworth DFV powered team. He was more influenced by views of Jackie Stewart and Jochen Rindt, who believed it was essential to be Ford DFV-powered to be competitive.
In addition to Formula One, Amon also drove for Ferrari in the1969 International Championship for Makes, partneringPedro Rodriguez to a fourth place in the BOAC 500 at Brands Hatch and coming second at the12 Hours of Sebring, but retiring from the1000km Nürburgring and1000km Monza races, all in theFerrari 312P sportscar. He also drove in a few Can-Am races. His last race for Ferrari would be the 1970 1000 km Monza, where he finished as runner-up.
For the1970 Formula One season, Amon made what was to be the first of several moves to smaller, newer teams.March Engineering had been formed the previous year to build customchassis for Formulas 2 and3, but quickly moved into F1, designing and building the March 701. Amon and Siffert were signed as drivers,[6] withIndyCar driver Mario Andretti making an occasional appearance in a third car. March also sold their 701 chassis toTyrrell, where Jackie Stewart drove it to its first victory in that year'sSpanish GP.
Amon won the pre-seasonSilverstone International Trophy, but once the F1 season began he found himself prevented from converting good qualifying positions into good results. He qualified second behind Stewart's Tyrrell-March for the season-openingSouth African Grand Prix only for his own March to overheat within fourteen laps. Amon then qualified sixth for theSpanish Grand Prix only for his March'sFord-Cosworth DFV engine to expire within ten laps. He qualified and ran second in the1970 Monaco Grand Prix until his suspension failed twenty laps from the finish. This was the race where Amon refused to drive unless his entry number was changed from 18 – the number under which his then teammate Lorenzo Bandini had crashed and died in Monaco – to 28.[citation needed]
Amon's close second place from a third-place start at the1970 Belgian Grand Prix finally gave the March works team their first points finish. At that race, Amon set fastest lap at over 152 miles per hour, a lap record which still stands as of 2016, as it was the last race on the full-lengthSpa-Francorchamps circuit.[19] However, after qualifying fourth for the next race, theDutch Grand Prix, his car's clutch broke after just one lap. Amon duplicated his Belgian result at the1970 French Grand Prix.[20] After a disappointing performance in theBritish GP atBrands Hatch where Amon finished fifth after being outqualified by tyro Ronnie Peterson in a private 701 on the same tyres, conflict with team boss Max Mosley over the non-delivery of three-quarters of Amon's expected pay for the season saw him provided with inferior DFVs and two backmarker 7th places inAustria andItaly, Amon finished the season strongly with strong drives to third atMosport, fifth atWatkins Glen and fourth inMexico. At Watkins Glen in the USGP he was robbed of a probably certain victory, in the opinion of March designer Robin Herd, by a puncture.[21]
By the end of the year, disagreements with March co-founders Mosley andRobin Herd meant that Amon had decided to move to another relatively new team,Matra.
In 1971, Amon, now driving for the Matra factory team, once again scored a pre-season victory, this time at theArgentine Grand Prix. Once the Formula One season had begun, he managed to convert a third-place start at theSpanish GP into a third-place podium finish and scored a couple of fifth places in theSouth African andFrench GPs. Apart from these results, however, his run of poor F1 returns continued. He had a major accident at the Nürburgring and it sidelined him for the next race at theÖsterreichring. At theItalian GP he qualified in pole position and despite a poor start to the race looked as if he would capitalise on it – until thevisor on hishelmet became detached. Amon had to slow to avoid risking a major accident, thereby allowing other drivers to catch and overtake him. He finished the race in sixth place, scoring just one Championship point.
During the year Amon also competed in the non-championshipQuestor Grand Prix at the newOntario Motor Speedway, where he qualified second and, despite suffering a puncture during the race, managed to finish fourth.
In the Tasman Series Amon started from fourth at the Levin Circuit and in the race, he battled withDavid Oxton andJohn Cannon but managed to finish third. Amon's third race at Wigram Airfield starting fifth and spun at the start to drop him to the back of the field but managed to climb up to fifth.[22]
In the1972 Formula One season, Amon, again driving for Matra achieved a handful of points-scoring finishes, but only one podium appearance, at theFrench GP. Here he achieved the fifth and final pole position of his career and was leading the race until a puncture forced him topit. However, he climbed back through the field, breakingthe circuit's lap record to finish third.
With the money he had made from motorsport, Amon decided to set up a racing engine firm with former BRM engineer Aubrey Woods. Amon Racing Engines supplied Formula 2 engines to a few drivers, but the company quickly became too expensive to run and was sold to March for a loss.
Matra decided to end their participation in Formula One at the end of 1972, so Amon found himself looking to return to March as a driver. The place, however, was given toJean-Pierre Jarier, purportedly for financial reasons.[citation needed] Amon therefore signed for another recently formed F1 team,Tecno.
Tecno had entered F1 the previous year, having developed a potentially powerful Flat 12 for F1. But their first year in F1 proved to be dismal so they jumped at the chance to sign Amon for the new season.[23] The testing of a new chassis designed by former Lotus and McLaren mechanic Allan McCall proved to be time-consuming. After its non-appearance for the Spanish GP, Amon and Tecno team manager David Yorke met with Enzo Ferrari to see if Amon could be released from his contract to develop the new Ferrari B3 for Ickx and Mezarrio, in a supposedly one off GP drive[24] at Monaco. Yorke rejected the release, and Amon admits he would not have left Ferrari if offered the drive for a season.
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Unfortunately, the team went from bad to worse and wasn't able to field theTecno PA123/6 until the fifth GP of the season, theBelgian GP. Amon managed to finish in sixth position. At Monaco the car qualified a useful 12th and chassis felt good[25] but Chris was unhappy with the car. He decided to concentrate on a still in-development Tecno chassis built by unproven designer Gordon Fowell. This was against the view of the Techno team and Sponsors Martini Rossi who required the car and driver to appear at races[26] While Amon commented at the time that it was "the best chassis I've ever sat in", it too proved virtually undriveable. Amon refused to drive the McCall designed Techno in the Swedish or German Gps[27] and withdrew from the Austrian GP after qualifying. By the time of theAustrian GP, four races from the end of the season, Amon's patience had run out and he left the team. He would later claim that the months he spent with the team "felt like ten [seasons]".
Tyrrell offered Amon a third car – the 005 – in which to drive the last two races of the season. After a mediocre first outing at theCanadian GP, he and Jackie Stewart withdrew from the final race of the year, theUnited States GP, following the death of their teammateFrançois Cevert during qualifying.
For the1974 F1 season, Amon revivedChris Amon Racing. Gordon Fowell designed the car, theAF101, which featured a single central fuel tank, titaniumtorsion bars and a forward driving position. Structurally, however, it proved to be weak and was not ready for an F1 appearance until the fourth race of the season, theSpanish GP. Amon was only able to qualify 23rd, thanks tobrake-disc vibration that only became worse with the tyres for the wet race that followed. Despite cautious driving, abrake shaft finally broke and Amon was forced to retire after 22 laps.
Following further work and testing, Amon returned for theMonaco GP and qualified twentieth, but, thanks to mechanical problems, he was unable to start the race. Further problems and illness meant Amon was not able to reappear with the F101 until theItalian GP, three races from the end of the season, but this time he was unable to qualify. That sealed the fate of both the car and Chris Amon Racing, leaving Amon to drive the season's last two races with the faltering BRM team. He would later reveal that he had turned down a chance to join the Brabham team earlier in the season.
Amon contested the1975 F5000 Tasman series against only Australasian drivers. He qualified on the front row of three of the four New Zealand rounds and scored a victory atTeretonga in January 1975 in rainy conditions by 24.2 seconds. In the Australian rounds, the competition was always harder with more good cars and the locals on their own tracks. Amon had a frustrating series of races unable to pass, South AustralianJohnnie Walker, in a superiorLola T332 chassis withRepco-engineered V8. AtSurfers Paradise, running from the back of the grid he managed to eventually pass Walker by widening the braking zone in the only corner where overtaking was usually possible. Amon brushed the edge of the track on repeated laps, got extra grip and passed Walker to take the lead. He had been forced to miss most of the practice session, when Customs seized his car's gearbox. In the race, the brilliant effort went for nothing as the Chev engine blew.[28] AtOran Park andAdelaide he followed Walker the whole way to 4th and 3rd unable to pass. In the final deciding race for the Tasman Series with Brown, Walker and Lawrence still in contention, Walker lost his T332 on the first lap and it demolished on wooden barriers surroundingSandown's car and horse racing tracks. Amon was never in contention and finished 4th. Amon intended to compete in F5000 in both Europe and the US in 1975 but started in only one round of both series, managing a pole in one Shellsport round in the UK and a 4th place overall at the Long Beach GP in a two heat race. He used different Talon F5000 cars for both races. Apart from these successes, Amon's racing career seemed once again to have stalled. Yet the speed he showed in qualifying for a couple of UK F5000 races encouraged Mo Nunn of the small Ensign team to give him a race driving the Ensign N175. Amon managed 7th in the non-championshipSwiss GP atDijon, which led to two more drives for the team, finishing 12th in both the Austrian and Italian GPs. At Monza after a long pit stop he finally ran at competitive pace, running 4 laps down but keeping pace with the leadingFerrari 312T ofNiki Lauda for a number of laps. Progressive evaluation of the possibilities of what was slowing the N175 led Amon to change the airbox alignment on the day of the Italian GP and this resulted in a 2-second gain (much like the change in air cooler position that lost and gained two seconds on Hunt'sMcLaren M23 resolved by the 1976 French GP). Ironically Amon never raced the N175 again and the high airboxes had been banned by the timeN176 ran at Jarama the following year, but the flash of testing and driving genius was enough to give Amon another chance. Although the results were unremarkable, he and Nunn worked well together, so Amon joined Ensign for the1976 F1 season.
Ensign's first race of the season was theSouth African GP where Amon qualified 18th and showed a revival of form, climbing to seventh place, in the old Ensign N174 and contesting sixth with Mario Andretti in the Parnelli Ford, in the last laps before a last minute refueling stop left him 14th. Thereafter results began to improve, with Amon qualifying 17th and finishing eighth in theUSA West GP; qualifying tenth and finishing fifth in theSpanish GP; and then qualifying eighth for theBelgian GP. More points then seemed likely from the race until his car lost a wheel 19 laps from the finish and Amon was lucky to escape unhurt from the ensuing accident. He then achieved a third-place grid position start for theSwedish GP using a Nicholson rebuilt Cosworth for the first time and in the race looked as if he would join Tyrrell driversJody Scheckter andPatrick Depailler on the podium, untilsuspension failure threw him from the track after 38 laps.
Amon had again been lucky to escape serious injury and decided to miss the next race, theFrench GP. He returned for theBritish GP, qualifying in sixth and running fourth in the race when his Ford-Cosworth DFV engine developed a water leak. Rather than risk losing an engine, his team called him in to retire.
At theGerman GP problems dogged his attempts to qualify well, but it wasNiki Lauda's crash during the second lap of the race that had a far greater impact. Amon refused to restart the race and Nunn fired him from the team. Amon declared his retirement from the sport and returned to New Zealand.
"I'd seen too many people fried in racing cars at that stage. When you've driven pastBandini,Schlesser,Courage andWilliamson, another shunt like that was simply too much. It was a personal decision..."
(Amon, on his retirement in 1976)[29]
However,Walter Wolf contacted Amon and persuaded him to drive for hisWolf–Williams team in theNorth American races near the end of the season. After recording some promising times in preparation for theCanadian GP, however, Amon was involved in a heavy collision with another car during qualifying and once again was lucky to walk away unharmed. He then did not take part in either the Canadian orUnited States Grands Prix.
Amon turned down an offer of a full-time F1 drive for 1977, but did attempt a return to Can-Am racing in 1977 with a Wolf-Dallara WD1. However, after only one race he quit, saying "I'm just not enjoying this anymore". His place was taken by the young and then unknown CanadianGilles Villeneuve, whom Amon would, later that year, recommend to Enzo Ferrari.
In the meantime, Amon returned once again to New Zealand, this time to retire from F1 motor racing for good.
Amon came out of retirement for a one-off appearance in the 2003Dunlop Targa New Zealand with motorsport commentatorMurray Walker as his navigator.[30] The pair completed the week-long Auckland to Wellington Tarmac Rally in aToyota Camry Sportivo, the same car previously used by Walker andColin Bond in Australia'sTarga Tasmania.
After his retirement from F1, Amon dedicated himself to running the family farm in New Zealand'sManawatū District for many years.[31] After retiring from farming, he lived inTaupō in New Zealand's North Island. In the early 1980s he became more well known in New Zealand from test-driving vehicles on the TV motoring seriesMotor Show and later consulted forToyota New Zealand, tuning the 1984Toyota Corolla and subsequent cars for sale there. He also appeared in TV commercials for the company, where much was made of the acclaim he won from Enzo Ferrari. Amon participated in the 2004 EnergyWise Rally where he won ahead ofBrian Cowan. Amon drove aToyota Prius for the event.[32]
In the1993 Queen's Birthday Honours, Amon was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire, for services to motor sport.[33]
Amon was involved in the design of the upgradedTaupo Motorsport Park circuit, used for the New Zealand round of the2006–07 A1 Grand Prix season in January 2007. At the New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing in 2011, Amon's life and career were honoured with a selection of his cars being driven and also used the event to raise funds for the Bruce McLaren trust.[34] Amon was also honoured at the festival in January 2013.[35]
Amon died inRotorua Hospital on 3 August 2016, aged 73, of cancer.[6] He was survived by his wife Tish Wotherspoon, who married in 1977, their three children and their grandchildren.[36] One of his sons, James, is a qualified High Performance personal trainer. He trainedCentral Districts Stags cricket team,[37][38] and was revealed to beBrendon Hartley's personal trainer.[39]
Amon is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championshipGrand Prix. His reputation for bad luck was such that fellow driverMario Andretti once joked that "if he became an undertaker, people would stop dying".[40] FormerFerrari Technical DirectorMauro 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".[41]
Despite never winning a championship Formula One Grand Prix, Amon won two non-championship GPs, the Silverstone International Trophy, the 1000 km Monza, theDaytona 24 Hours, six Tasman Series races and one series championship, and, perhaps most significant of all, the famous24 Heures du Mans (alongsideBruce McLaren). These races included many of Amon's otherwise more successful fellow Formula One drivers. Amon also remains the only driver from New Zealand andOceania to have raced forScuderia Ferrari in Formula One.
In Formula One, Chris Amon took part in 96 Grands Prix, achieving 5 poles, leading 183 laps in 7 races, reaching the podium 11 times and scoring a total of 83 Championship points. Amon holds the record for the most different makes of car raced by a Formula 1 World Championship driver, with thirteen.[42] A biographyForza Amon by journalistEoin Young charts Amon's racing career and gives some insights into his personal life. The book makes clear one point on which Amon himself disagrees with most commentators, the issue of his bad luck. Amon has pointed out on several occasions that he competed for a decade and a half in Formula One and survived some serious accidents, notably in 1976, whilst others, including friends like Bruce McLaren, suffered serious injury and death. In 2008, motorsport journalistAlan Henry rated Chris Amon as his 13th greatest driver.[43]
Reflecting on the 1968 racing death ofJim Clark, Amon said: "If this can happen to Jimmy, what chance do the rest of us have? I think we all felt that. It seemed like we'd lost our leader."[44][45] In 1995, Amon was inducted into theNew Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.[6]
Amon's name has been given to theToyota Racing Series driver's championship trophy, and the International Scholarship to support drivers who win his trophy to further their careers in single-seater racing. The Toyota Racing Series serves as motorsport's version of "winter ball" in New Zealand during January and February.[7] Following his death, his name was also lent to theManfeild Autocourse inFeilding,Manawatū.
† As Amon was a guest driver, he was ineligible for championship points.
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Rank | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Reg Parnell Racing | LolaMk4A | Climax FPF 2.5 L4 | LEV Ret | PUK Ret | WIG Ret | TER Ret | SAN | WAR | LAK | LON | NC | 0 |
| 1968 | Chris Amon | Dino 246 Tasmania | Ferrari 2.4V6 | PUK 1 | LEV 1 | WIG 2 | TER 4 | SUR Ret | WAR 4 | SAN 2 | LON 7 | 2nd | 36 |
| 1969 | Scuderia Veloce | Dino 246 Tasmania | Ferrari 2.4V6 | PUK 1 | LEV 1 | WIG 3 | TER 3 | LAK 1 | WAR Ret | SAN 1 | 1st | 44 | |
| 1971 | STP Corporation | March701 | Ford Cosworth DFW 2.5V8 | LEV 3 | WIG 5 | TER | 5th | 15 | |||||
| Lotus70 | PUK 9 | WAR 2 | SAN 4 | SUR | |||||||||
| 1975 | McCormack Racing | Talon MR1 | Chevrolet 5.0V8 | LEV Ret | PUK 7 | WIG Ret | TER 1 | WAR 4 | SUR Ret | AIR 4 | SAN 5 | 5th | 17 |
Source:[47] | |||||||||||||
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 | Sunbeam-Talbot Ltd | Sunbeam Rapier Series IIIA | B | SNE | OUL | GOO | AIN | SIL ? | CRY | SIL | BRH | BRH | OUL | SIL | NC | 0 | NC |
| 1973 | BMW Motorsport | BMW 3.0 CSL | D | BRH | SIL | THR | THR | SIL | ING | BRH | SIL DNS | BRH | NC | 0 | NC | ||
Source:[48] | |||||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | Co-drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 |  Briggs S. Cunningham |  Jochen Neerpasch | Shelby Cobra Daytona-Ford | GT +3.0 | 131 | DSQ | DSQ |
| 1965 | Shelby-American Inc. | Phil Hill | Ford GT40 Mk.II | P +5.0 | 89 | DNF | DNF |
| 1966 | Shelby-American Inc. | Bruce McLaren | Ford GT40 Mk.II | P +5.0 | 360 | 1st | 1st |
| 1967 |  SpA Ferrari SEFAC | Nino Vaccarella | Ferrari 330 P3 Spyder | P +5.0 | 105 | DNF | DNF |
| 1969 | SpA Ferrari SEFAC |  Peter Schetty | Ferrari 312P Coupe | P 3.0 | 0 | DNF | DNF |
| 1971 |  Equipe Matra-Simca | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra-Simca MS660 | P 3.0 | DNF | DNF | |
| 1972 | Equipe Matra-SimcaShell | Jean-Pierre Beltoise | Matra-Simca MS670 | S 3.0 | 1 | DNF | DNF |
| 1973 | BMW Motorsport | Hans-Joachim Stuck | BMW 3.0CSL | T 5.0 | 160 | DNF | DNF |
Source:[49] | |||||||
Chris Amon sporting positions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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