Dear Nigel,
In June of 1977 I was wandering through the paddock of Mont Tremblant when I found myself standing in front the Wolf Can-Am car… These where those modified F5000 cars. (This was the weekend Brian Redman’s car got airborne on the back straight and Brian had quite an accident.) I remember looking directly into one driver’s eyes and he looked tired and frankly a bit scared. The driver of course was Chris Amon and I think this was his last motor race. I had seen Chris race in many Canadian Grand Prix and Can-Am races at Mosport and St Jovite. I had to wonder how such a talented drive ended up in that car. What are your recollections of the latter stages of Chris Amon’s career?
Craig Rowsell
Dear Nigel,
I’ve been an avid reader of your ‘Ask Nigel’ columns since the Autosport days, so it’s great to see you going strong with Motor Sport. Keep it up. My question is this: following the sad news of the passing of movie and motor sport legend Paul Newman, just how good a driver was he?
It’s obvious he had more than a little natural talent, but do you think he could have become a top-line driver in either F1, CART or sports cars had he decided to hang up the acting shoes in favour of a full-time racing helmet? What did drivers who worked with him, the likes of Mario Andretti, Alan Jones and Dick Barbour make of his wheel skills?
Neil Briscoe