NZFMR 2011 Chris Amon Festival

1964 Shelby Cobra 289 CSX 2202 & Le Mans Hardtop 4727cc.
1964 Shelby 289 Cobra CSX2203

Chassis# CSX203 –Owner: Ernie Nagamatsu, California, USA Ernie Nagamatsu’s good friend Max Balchowsky (creator of all the famous Old Yeller sports racers) helped Ernie buy this Cobra long ago. Californian dentist, Ernie Nagamatsu is the second owner of this 1964 Shelby 289 Cobra chassis number CSX...

Maserati 250f 1953
1953 Maserati 250F

Chassis# 2501 (#2523) – Owner: Peter Giddings, USA Of all the Maserati 250Fs built, without doubt the one now campaigned by Peter Giddings has one of the most complex and fascinating of histories. #2501 was in fact the very first 250F built and test-driven during 1953....

Bruce McLaren's 1968 BRM
Bruce McLaren’s 1968 BRM

P126 chassis# 01 V12 2493 cc – owner: Graham Adelman, USA Graham Adelman from Virginia, USA, is bringing two 1968 Tasman cars to the New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing celebrating Chris Amon. The first car is the 1968 Ferrari 246T car that Chris Amon drove...

1974 Talon MR1A 03 F5000
1974 Talon MR1A-03 F5000

Owner: Peter Burson, New Zealand The Talon MR1A Chev F5000 was a production version of the McRae GM2 designed by New Zealand’s Graham McRae. American-based Jack McCormack purchased the GM2 project from McRae and built five Talon MR1A cars, but these were some 50kg heavier than the...

1974 BRM P210-02 F1 V12
1974 BRM P210-02 F1 V12

Chassis#02 – owner: Peter Burson, New Zealand Chris Amon had had a wretched season in 1974 with his advanced but untested new 1974 Amon AF101 F1 car, and the car was finally shelved after only four races. Thereafter Chris accepted a drive as a British Racing...

1974 Amon AF1 01 Racing
1974 Amon AF1-01

Story by Ron Maydon I was in Germany a while ago, and whilst talking to the owner of a workshop he showed me a pile of bits he said was a 1974 Amon F1 car – the only one ever built. He said that Chris Amon...

Chris Amon’s 1954 Maserati 250F – Renwick 50, 10 November 1962
1954 Maserati 250F

Chris Amon started his single-seater circuit-racing aged only 16 years in April 1960, driving his 1947 A40 Special. By early 1961 Chris owned a 1956 Cooper T41 Climax, and when racing at the small Levin track on 15 April 1961 he was impressed by the...

Chris Amon 1970 March 701 1 F1
1970 March 701-1 F1

Chassis 1 Ford Cosworth 3.0-litre V8 – Owner: Roger Wills, UK This March F1 works car was driven when brand-new by Chris Amon in 15 F1 races from March 1970 until October 1970. It was put into the Donington Collection in the UK at the end...

1968 Ferrari 246T Dino V6
1968 Ferrari 246T Dino V6

Chassis 004 – Owner: Graham Adelman, USA Perhaps the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ for many attending the New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing celebrating Chris Amon will be the 1968 Ferrari 246T-004 Dino V6 formerly driven in the 1968 Tasman Series by Chris Amon and now...

1947 A40 Special
1947 A40 Special

Chris Amon’s first race car was the Herrick A40 Special. Chris purchased it, as a 16-year-old, from Keith Smith in 1960 after it had been totally rebuilt following a bad accident when Herb Gilroy lost control at the Houghton Bay hillclimb. Around 1956 Herb sold...

Can Am 1969 Chris Amon
Can-Am 1969 with Chris Amon

A driver with extraordinary ability. By Bill Gavin Photo Above: Chris Amon in his 1969 Ferrari 612 Can-Am. (Photo from Chris Amon collection in book Champions of Speed p167) In April of 1969 at the Spanish Grand Prix at the Montjuïc circuit in Barcelona, Chris Amon told me...

Chris Amon - a brief history of a great driver
Chris Amon – A brief history

A Brief History of a Great Driver By Michael Clark The talent was evident when he was barely out of school. Driving a Maserati 250F at the age of 18 in his first New Zealand Grand Prix in pouring rain gave him a taste for oversteer that...