Famous Amon Stories [Archive] - 10 Tenths Motorsport Forum

Ray Bell

1 Jul 2001, 19:16

As we stand 1260 posts adrift of the Atlas marathon, I trust someone will add something about this legendary driver that hasn't been seen or heard before. Quotes from magazines are acceptable, pictures, anecdotes, whatever.

This driver was the winner of the 1969 Tasman Cup series, beating Jochen Rindt and Graham Hill in the otherwise unbeatable bewinged Lotus 49s - and he was in a V6 Ferrari Dino!

Winner of the Australian GP that year, and other races, a winner in Sports Cars and all sorts of things except World Championship races, please give this now-reclusive Kiwi his due...

Perhaps the only drive to span the gap from the Maserati 250F of his early career to the cars of the immediate pre-ground effect period.

Keir

1 Jul 2001, 21:21

Well said, Ray
Now all we need is the proper response.

Come on, one and all, 994 posts to go!!!!

Ray Bell

2 Jul 2001, 01:36

Well, can anyone think of any other driver who raced competitively in the front engined cars of the fifties as well as the latter years DFVs with serious aerodynamics?

Roger Clark

2 Jul 2001, 07:31

fines

2 Jul 2001, 21:01

Originally posted by Ray Bell
Well, can anyone think of any other driver who raced competitively in the front engined cars of the fifties as well as the latter years DFVs with serious aerodynamics?
A. J. Foyt
Bobby Unser
Jim McElreath
Roger McCluskey
Johnny Rutherford
Mario Andretti (he started in front-engined Indycars, and of course ran front-engined sprint cars before)
Gordon Johncock (ditto)
George Snider (well, he was never REALLY competitive...)
Bob Harkey (ditto)

Speaking of Amon, of course... ;)

Keir

2 Jul 2001, 22:11

I think Ray meant F1 drivers, but that is a fine group of Indy drivers.

This thread has had 145 views, but only 10 posts??
Come lads, I know you can do better than that!!!

FORZA AMON

AAReagles

9 Jul 2001, 06:08

Originally posted by Keir

This thread has had 145 views, but only 10 posts??
Come lads, I know you can do better than that!!!

All right, very well then....

courtesy of Road & Track info;

Monaco 69' - After the heartbreak at the Spanish GP (damn car broke again, while leading none the less :mad: ), Monaco smiled him even less. After one Ferrari had fuel metering problems, he went to the back up only to have differential lock up in the approach of Casino Square, almost spinning him in the process.

As one spectator told R&T reporter, Eoin Young, if there had been a door on the Ferrari, he would have slammed it!

My observation of this is, maybe he should have used the TASMAN v-6 model instead of that bloody contraption Ferrari provided him. :(

AAReagles

9 Jul 2001, 06:17

...while at Ferrari.

Help me out please, as I may be wrong on the title of this book, which was written during or after the 1970 season, while Stewart spent the most part driving a March: the book is called, I believe...
"FASTER!: an Autobiography of Jackie Stewart"

In it Stewart reffered to Amon's 'rainbow' moods...for example, one time he had something go terribly wrong with the Ferrari (again!), and he simply stepped out of the car, shouting a new version of English the folks from Maranello weren't accustomed to hearing.

It's really quite a funny piece to read. Read it sometime should you have the chance to find this book.

UAtkins

9 Jul 2001, 06:46

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/4c0f94da/bc/My+Photos/Chris+Amon+Cobra.jpg?bc0pZm7ATybJsqTs

Sorry, not sure how posting photos works on this site so here is a link to a photo I just found when I was visiting Mum, it shows Chris driving my Dad's Cobra, does anyone have any idea which track this is? I don't remember what Chris's record was in the sports cars...anyone?

Also, if anyone can tell me how to post this photo properly I would appreciate their help. Thanks.

Ursula

Ray Bell

9 Jul 2001, 07:05

I think you'll need to get a Homestead site and upload to that, Ursula. www.homestead.com is the url to start you on your way... when you have it uploaded, just post here as you do on Atlas.

What I'm interested to know is how come he drove it without the rollover bar...

UAtkins

9 Jul 2001, 07:39

Ray, Thanks for the Homestead site info. Will check it out. Your question about the rollover bar is a good one...wish I had a good answer, perhaps this was a new car and no time? I do know that in Roy Salvadori's book he says that the car handled terribly and that they finally straightened the handling out with two wing-type contraptions in the front. I have another photo of it later on with the wings, since I haven't got the posting sorted out you will have to put up with a link. As you can see, there is definitely a roll bar.

Ursula

http://us.f1.yahoofs.com/users/4c0f94da/bc/My+Photos/Cobra+2.jpg?bcQ2am7A.tWo3Sly

Ray Bell

9 Jul 2001, 12:09

The link's all very well, Ursula, but this is what you get when you click on it:

FORBIDDEN
You must supply a local referer to get URL '/users/4c0f94da/bc/My+Photos/Cobra+2.jpg?bcQ2am7A.tWo3Sly' from this server.

Maybe I should post mine, from the Nigel Snowden book, to keep things on a roll for now...

http://members.atlasf1.com/raybell/pics/amoncobra.jpg

This one is at Snetterton, 1964 or 1965.

Keir

9 Jul 2001, 14:20

Ah,
Posting photos, definitly a "black art" if you ask me!!!
You do need your own site, which I will have at Atlas when I have the time to get it all sorted.

I would like to thank Ursula for the grat Amon shot, wish I couls post it!!1

Looks like we have some "tales of Amon" sneaking in. Now we need more!!!!

UAtkins

9 Jul 2001, 20:38

OK, let's try this, very amateurish but hopefully will work

http://uatkins.homestead.com/index.html

Several photos, will post more as I get time today. My computer broke while I was doing this so there aren't any captions but they should be self-explanatory. I'll figure out how to post them later on.

The Homestead site is pretty user friendly, thanks Ray. I made the suggestion that Atlas provide the option for a site for all users if they want to pay for it but they haven't responded. I will never reach the posting level that gives you the free site but I would be willing to pay a nominal amount for a place to post photos from. Oh well.

Ursula

Keir

9 Jul 2001, 23:20

See what happens when you post in the DARK!!!!

What I meant to say was, Thanks for the "GREAT" photos and I wish I "COULD" post them!!! :eek:

9 Jul 2001, 23:33

To help you all out, also so I can see the photo's ;)

At the bottom right of the text block that you type into is an area labelled "Attach File". Simply add the link from your files into the grey box and the photo will be included in the text. There is no need to download from another website. The file must be a gif jpg jpeg though.

I would add though the file size is limited to 102400 bytes and 500 x 500, so it is sometime hard to get it to fit.

Simon

UAtkins

9 Jul 2001, 23:55

OK, I will try this once with a red face, I tried this before and previewed the result but couldn't see a photo so I gave up....let's see what this does.

Ursula

10 Jul 2001, 00:00

Well done !

Is this the Cobra owned by your Dad ? Have you any info at all on it Reg number, chassis number, model etc ?

Looks like the roll hoop is now fitted if it is the same one.

As a side issue what years did your dad race in the TT ?

Simon

UAtkins

10 Jul 2001, 00:09

Speaking of AMON of course.....follow this lead and you may find the information you requested. I honestly haven't found any sites that provide the information I need to check what races that Chris drove Dad's Cobra. If anyone has any suggestions they are always welcome.

http://www.atlasf1.com/bb/showthread.php?threadid=13932.

Thanks for the help with the photo listing, I guess I was looking to actually see the photo in the post so now I know.

Ursula

Keir

10 Jul 2001, 02:15

Great thread, Ursula!!!

Too bad the pics have to be so small!!! :eek:

fines

13 Jul 2001, 13:52

During the closing stages of the 1973 Canadian GP Chris was reduced to a crawl in the spare Tyrrell, dropping from 5th to 10th in the last ten laps and losing about two minutes in the process. Does anyone know the reason for that?