Chris Amon Racing, also known simply as Amon, was a

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

team established by New Zealand driver

Chris Amon Christopher Arthur Amon (20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand motor racing driver. He was active in Formula One racing in the 1960s and 1970s, and is widely regarded as one of the best F1 drivers never to win a championship Grand ...

. It competed as a privateer team in the

1966 Italian Grand Prix The 1966 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Monza on 4 September 1966. It was race 7 of 9 in both the 1966 World Championship of Drivers and the 1966 International Cup for Formula One Manufacturers. The race was the 36th Itali ...

, then as a constructor in its own right in the

1974 Formula One season The 1974 Formula One season was the 28th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1974 World Championship of F1 DriversResults of 1974 FIA International Championships, 1975 FIA Yearbook, Grey section, pages 88–89 and the 1974 I ...

Background

Chris Amon made his Formula One debut in , driving for Reg Parnell's privateer team. After finding himself without a full-time drive in , he entered a Brabham BT11 powered by a 2-litre BRM engine at the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix ( it, Gran Premio d'Italia) is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been he ...

, under the banner of "Chris Amon Racing". With most of the other cars running 3-litre engines, Amon struggled in qualifying and failed to make the grid. From until , Amon drove for Ferrari,

March March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March ...

and

Matra Matra (an acronym for Mécanique Aviation Traction) was a French industrial conglomerate. During its years of operation, it was engaged in a wide range of business activities, primarily focused around automobiles, bicycles, aeronautics and w ...

, winning several non-championship F1 races while developing a reputation for bad luck in World Championship events. He then struggled in with the small Italian Tecno team. But encouraged by the potential of the underdeveloped Gordon Fowell chassis, Amon tried running his own Formula One car in . Financial backing came from John Dalton, and the car, designed by Fowell, followed the

Lotus 72 The Lotus 72 is a Formula One car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe of Lotus for the 1970 Formula One season. The 72 was a pioneering design featuring inboard brakes, side-mounted radiators in sidepods (as opposed to the nose-moun ...

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 bar A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...

s 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 The Spanish Grand Prix ( es, Gran Premio de España, ca, Gran Premi d'Espanya) is a Formula One motor racing event currently held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The race is one of the oldest in the world still contested, celebrating it ...

. 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. Following further work and testing, Amon returned for the Monaco Grand Prix and qualified twentieth, but due to mechanical problems, he was unable to start the race. Further problems meant Amon was not able to reappear with the AF101 until the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix (german: Großer Preis von Deutschland) was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history; the Nürburgring in Rh ...

when both Amon and Larry Perkins failed to qualify. Amon did not reappear with the AF101 until the 1974 Italian Grand Prix, Italian Grand Prix, three races before the end of the season, but this time he was unable to qualify. That signalled the end of both the car and Chris Amon Racing, leaving Amon to close down the team after the race when the money ran out.

Complete Formula One results

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Non-Championship results

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References

External links

F1 Rejects profile
{{Formula One constructors Formula One constructors Formula One entrants New Zealand auto racing teams New Zealand racecar constructors 1966 establishments in New Zealand 1974 disestablishments in New Zealand Auto racing teams established in 1966 Auto racing teams disestablished in 1974