Chris Amon: 1943 - 2016

Another of the heroes from youth has sadly gone, Chris Amon.  I was there to witness first hand, his day of days - the French Grand Prix, Clermont Ferrand, 1972.  This from Golf in the Wild:

The next day Chris Amon drove the race of his life in his Matra Simca
MS120, leading the field by 10 seconds before a puncture forced him
in for a tyre change. Losing almost a minute in the pits, he rejoined
the race in ninth and then drove like a man possessed to finish third.
Once again, he confirmed his position as the greatest racing driver to
never win a Grand Prix but he was certainly on fire that day. Talking
to fellow Kiwi and sports writer, Norman Harris, some years later he
described such occasions like this:  ‘It’s very like ‘form’ in cricket or
golf. But you wouldn’t be aware of form when you’re driving along
a public road, it’s when you’re driving at the limits - cornering, correcting
it as it’s sliding rather than just catching it at the end, this is
the thing'.

To me, an avid supporter of Amon, Clermont Ferrand seemed like a turning point; it just felt from there on he was fated never to win a Grand Prix and maybe he felt the same, certainly the fire burned a lot less brightly at Brands Hatch just two weeks later. (it would seem he definitely felt the same:  Remembering Chris Amon).  Nevertheless, he was successful in other branches of the sport, not least winning Le Mans with Bruce McLaren whilst anyone surviving that era of motor racing can hardly be described as unlucky.  When you look at how the cars were prepared for these events you can only wonder at the sanity of all those involved; this oily rag scene looks medieval compared to the operating theatre conditions that prevail in modern Formula 1. The MS120 is not on jacks, it is supported by a couple of spare springs.


The extra blip shows the mechanics – these two look like extras from a Jean-Luc Godard film; they don’t exactly inspire confidence: