Chris Amon’s Ferrari at the 1968 British Grand Prix. Amon wasn’t known for his luck, and his car would seem to have gotten luckier than Chris that day… But he did come in second at the race.
More images from this moment captured by Mike Hayward—though this particular photo is not his, if I understand correctly—and are available on his site.
Thanks, AutoMotivated.
It’s never an encouraging thing when you encounter a photo like this one. This photo of a “written off” BMW CSL popped up this morning on Bring A Trailer’s Facebook feed. I remember seeing this photo last fall shortly after a driver fell asleep at the wheel and careened into Jon Furley’s 1972 BMW 3.0 CSL. The loss of a CSL is a bad thing.
Any CSL is rare, but this is one of only 500 RHD models made. That sounds bad, right? But Furley’s example is a damn-sight rarer, as her original owner was Chris Amon. This CSL was Amon’s street car during the era when he raced the Batmobile BMWs. Noooo!
So, what has happened in the year since the crash? I’d assumed that this one was stripped of her valuable bits and given a tearful good bye. Thankfully that’s not the case. A very brave team has decided that she must live again. After all, what’s one lost corner between friends?
This album on CSI Garage’s Facebook shows that her restoration has begun this past November. Looks like they’ve welded in a replacement front end, rebuilt part of the frame, and pulled and assessed the engine (which was relatively unscathed with only a broken timing case cover and cylinder head cover).
There’s something infectious about the optimism in the vintage sports and racing car community that I love. Insurance adjusters look at this and call her a write off. A random person off the street looks at it and calls it scrap. Hell, most “car guys” would see these photos and say it’s beyond saving. A good restoration workshop looks at this and says, “Yeah, we can do that.” This is not a project for the weak of heart and I’m looking forward to their continued updates—though perhaps not as much as Jon.
Also see this thread on PowerFanatics for many more photos of the teardown. More good news, the family cat that went missing after the crash made it home. Ok, now I’m going from concerned sports car nerd and entering weird internet stalker territory.
The late 60s were, by any measure, a high-water point for sports car racing. The cars were absolutely beautiful. The science of aerodynamics was coming into its own. The cars were fast. Very fast. Faster than Formula 1 cars of the era.
Here’s a lovely example of the era that is coming available as part of RM Auctions’ Leggende e Passione auction: A meticulously preserved Ferrari 330 P4. Chassis 0858 is a majestic example, with a fairly impressive history. This is, after all, a car that was driven by Jackie Stewart and Chris Amon. Beyond a win at Monza, they shared the car for a wonderful meeting at Brands Hatch for the the British BOAC International 500. This was the last championship points winning race of the season and the World’s Sportscar Manufacturer Championship was on the line. Ferrari held a small lead, but Porsche was nipping at the horse’s heels. Jo Siffert was racing hard in his 910 to show that Porsche wasn’t just going to let Ferrari walk away with it. Through a handful of lead changes and hard battles, Jackie Stewart took the car back from Amon in the final hour to hold on to second place and secure Ferrari’s championship (Mike Spence and Phil Hill won the meeting in their Chaparral).
A Ferrari 330 P4 is indeed a very special car. In many ways, however, this era is bittersweet for me because it represents the real turning point in sportscar sophistication. The era of the garagista as a force in racing then started its slow decline. Wind tunnels, aerodynamicists, space-aged materials, and technological leaps permanently placed sportscar racing—any racing for that matter—in the hands of professional engineers, not amateur gearheads. I know, I know, I’m always singing the praises of the 917, a car perhaps even more the culprit for this shift. But it’s sad all the same.
On another tangent, I really have to commend RM Auctions on not only securing a marvelous roster of cars for their auction, but on investing in high quality photography for the catalog. These shots are simply stunning and it’s worth hopping over to the catalog just to take them all in.