Forza Amon!: A Biography of Chris Amon

Chris Among has been described by Sir Jackie Stewart as 'One of the most skilful and natural drivers ever to grace Formula One.' Yet, for all his undeniable talent behind the wheel, Amon didn't win a single world-championship Grand Prix. His bad luck was legendary. As one of his fellow drivers quipped: 'If Chris Amon quit racing and took up undertaking, people would stop dying The youngest of New Zealand motor-racing's 'big three' - driver-engineer Bruce McLaren and 1967 world champion Denny Hulme made up the trio - Amon wove his special brand of motoring magic in the years before saturation TV coverage could assure him hero status at home. Many New Zealanders are still surprised to learn that for three seasons in the late 1960s, one of their own led the Ferrari team, today synonymous with superchampion Michael Schumacher. Seasons followed with March, Matra, Tecno, his own Amon project and Ensign, punctuated by CanAm, sports-car and Formula Two events and the popular Tasman Series. Finally, after a decade of spooking the world's finest drivers, Amon quit the track for the family farm near Bulls. Forza Amon! is a tale of heroic persistence in the face of relentless ill fortune. Lear