The 1980 formula one champion never raced for Ferrari. Twice he came close. In 1978 Ferrari wanted Mario Andretti as they thought an American F1 driver would be good for road car sales in the USA,he signed with Lotus.Jones was signed up by Ferrari as there lead driver for '78. In turn Ferrari signed Villeneuve and told AJ they did not need him as they had signed an American,of course great favour to Jones as we went onto become a World Champion in 1980. In 1982 Pironi had a prang,which put him out of that years Italian GP at Monza.Once again Ferrari offered Jones the drive,he turned it down,in fact did not even come to the phone.Andretti drove got pole and was second in the race. To my knowledge Jones never drove a Ferrari sports car,he drove others including Jaguar,Porsche and Toyota in Group C. In Australia he drove Porsche 935,Alfa Romeo's and others including Group C,A and super car V8s before retiring for good some 10 years apart from the odd historic race in the UK. I do remember he had some Ferrari road cars in the early 80's including a Daytona spider? and I think a 275GTB. Any other stories to be added?
Is Jones doing a Ford, and building his own "GT40" http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and-reviews/motorsports/alan_jones_ajf1_set_for_2011
An old Ferrari book I used to borrow from the library featured a 250 GT Lusso that the caption stated was owned by Alan Jones (the F1 driver). He also drove an F50 (I assume it was Sutton's) back in '96 around EC with big Daryl Eastlake by his side for a segment aired after the GP coverage (which was televised on CH 9 back then).
I remember the F50 segment. I enjoyed his comments during the F1 telecasts. He had been there, done that.
I still have that segment on VHS. He and Daryl Eastlake were great at hosting the GPs on 9. As you say, AJ had been there and done that, Eastlake was just enthusiastic, and they were funny and had great rapport.
I bought this from him.... he lived in Far Kew at the time. I was a bit excited about meeting him. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
When I bought my car (308 QV, #57579) in February 1986 it was at Scuderia Veloce in Artarmon. I was told (breathlessly) that this car was first given to Alan Jones, who was establishing a branch of Scuderia Veloce in Qld (Gold Coast), and this was his 'demonstrator'. According to the salesman AJ had decided against setting up a dealership and ws going back to racing!!! Of course I didn't twig to the fact at the time that Ferraris were NEVER demonstrated. Prior to this I had been to Ron Hodgson in Parramatta. The salesman told me in no uncertain terms that if I wanted a drive of a new car I had better buy one (there was a yellow one on the floor) Anyway I bought this car, with 448kms on the clock for $86k, and enjoyed it for the next 16 years, selling it in 2002 when we moved to a farm on the coast, with 42K on the clock and $87K. It NEVER gave one ounce of trouble and was great fun to drive. I lived Ferrari-less for 7 years then bought the 575 in 2009. This will be going shortly to help finance a 330 or 365 GTC (for chrissake don't tell Julie ) which, at my age, will be the last Ferrari I will ever buy. The wonderful return on the stockmarket, combined with retirement and no cash flow means only one Ferrari in this little household The 575 is an awesome modern Ferrari. People say they prefer a gate to F1 and for the first 30kms of driving I agreed. Once over that hump the F1 becomes second nature and far more 'sporty' to drive up twisty hills, ie Brown mountain, the Clyde ... IMHO of course. Philip C
I'm now wondering weither you even bought the bike,but just saw it in the street and took a photo. And now claim to have owned a AJ bike!
Here are some more of the AJ's bikes that he parked in my parents' back yard. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
CB1100R was a wild bike in it's day (80-81 from memory) I remember driving around the back road into Amberley in my 350chev doing 100mph as usual and my mate on the CB1100R pulled along side, ifted his visor, said "not bad for a piece of crap" and then did a wheelie into the distance .... this same moron dropped it at Surfers International and had to wait weeks for the hand-made tank to be made
