Chris Amon made his Formula One debut in 1963, driving for Reg Parnell's privateer team. After finding himself without a full-time drive in 1966, he entered a Brabham BT11 powered by a 2-litre BRM engine at the Italian Grand Prix, 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 1967 until 1972, Amon drove for Ferrari, March and Matra, winning several non-championship F1 races while developing a reputation for bad luck in World Championship events. He then struggled in 1973 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 1974. Financial backing came from John Dalton, and the car, designed by Fowell, followed the Lotus 72 in some areas of construction, with sophisticated torsion-bar suspension and side radiators.[1]
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.
n.b. Unless otherwise stated, all data refer to Formula One World Championship Grands Prix only.
The AF101 was the only Formula One car built by Amon Racing; the AF101 designation deriving from A for Amon and F for Fowell.[1] Fowell and Tom Boyce designed the car which featured a single central fuel tank, titanium torsion bars 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.[1] 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. 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.[3]
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.[4] Further problems meant Amon was not able to reappear with the AF101 until the German Grand Prix when both Amon and Larry Perkins failed to qualify.[5] Amon did not reappear with the AF101 until the Italian Grand Prix, three races before the end of the season, but this time he was unable to qualify.[6] 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.
Chris Amon in the AF101 at the NZ Festival of Motor Racing 2011
Although World Championship races held in 1952 and 1953 were run to Formula Two regulations, constructors who only participated during this period are included herein to maintain Championship continuity. Constructors whose only participation in the World Championship was in the Indianapolis 500 races between 1950 and 1960 are not listed.
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