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Ensign Racing

(Redirected from Ensign N173)

Ensign was a Formula One constructor from Britain. They participated in 133 grands prix, entering a total of 155 cars. Ensign scored 19 championship points and no podium finishes. The best result was a 4th place at the 1981 Brazilian Grand Prix by Marc Surer, who also took fastest lap of the race.

Ensign
Full nameEnsign Racing Team
BaseBurntwood, United Kingdom
Founder(s)Mo Nunn
Noted driversSwitzerland Clay Regazzoni
New Zealand Chris Amon
Switzerland Marc Surer
Belgium Jacky Ickx
Brazil Nelson Piquet
Netherlands Jan Lammers
Liechtenstein Rikky von Opel
Netherlands Gijs van Lennep
Netherlands Roelof Wunderink
United Kingdom Tiff Needell
Formula One World Championship career
First entry1973 French Grand Prix
Races entered134 (98 starts)
Constructors'
Championships		0
Drivers'
Championships		0
Race victories0
Pole positions0
Fastest laps1
Final entry1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix

Ensign was founded by Morris Nunn who also carried out design duties during the first two seasons of the team's existence. Nunn would later go on to be a prominent chief engineer in the American-based Champ Car series, winning championships with drivers Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya in the late 1990s.

Formula One

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The N173, Ensign's first Formula One car, being driven at Silverstone in 2012.
 
An Ensign N177 being raced in a Historic Grand Prix at the Lime Rock Park circuit in 2009.

Ensign entered Formula One in 1973, with backing from pay driver, Rikky von Opel. Von Opel had driven for the team in Formula Three in 1972 and won the Lombard North Central, British Formula Three Championship that year.[1] Based upon that success, von Opel commissioned a Formula One chassis.[1] Their first season was not successful, von Opel only finished two races[2] and the team's best result that season was 13th at the 1973 British Grand Prix.[2] However, the partnership continued into 1974, but von Opel left after the first race of the season, having been offered a works Brabham drive.[1] He was replaced at Ensign by Vern Schuppan whose only finish was 15th at the Belgian Grand Prix[3] and was later himself replaced by Mike Wilds. Wilds only qualified in America; he finished the race after a pit stop for fuel but was not classified, nine laps behind.[4]

For 1975 Ensign was sponsored by HB Bewaking (a Dutch company) leading them to sign Dutch drivers. Roelof Wunderink and Gijs van Lennep. Wunderink did not have much success, qualifying for three races and finishing one. Gijs van Lennep qualified for all his races and took sixth place in Germany, securing the first points for Ensign in Formula One. Chris Amon also raced for the team in Austria and Italy finishing 12th both times. In 1976 Amon stayed with Ensign having great qualifying results. He qualified third in Sweden and sixth in Britain but only took points in Spain where he finished in fifth place. Patrick Nève replaced Amon in France and Hans Binder replaced Amon in Austria. Jacky Ickx would race the rest of the season for Ensign.

In 1977 Clay Regazzoni raced for Ensign, scoring five points with best finishes of fifth in Italy and America. In 1978 the team entered cars for Danny Ongais and Lamberto Leoni, but Ongais left after two races and Leoni after four races. Jacky Ickx contested the next four races and Derek Daly raced the rest of the season scoring a point in Canada. Also in 1978 Nelson Piquet made his debut in Formula 1 at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring driving an Ensign. In 1979 Daly stayed with Ensign but he left after the Monaco Grand Prix and was replaced by Patrick Gaillard. Gaillard only qualified at two out of five races and was replaced by Marc Surer for the final three races of the season.

 
The N180 at the Pavilion Kuala Lumpur

In 1980 Clay Regazzoni again joined Ensign but at Long Beach Regazzoni's brake pedal broke causing him to go straight on at the Queen's Hairpin crashing into the parked car of Ricardo Zunino leaving him paralyzed. Tiff Needell raced in Belgium, but failed to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix. Jan Lammers raced the rest of the season.

Marc Surer raced for Ensign in 1981 and finished in fourth place in Brazil where he also took fastest lap of the race. Surer also finished sixth in Monaco. Eliseo Salazar replaced Surer from Spain onwards. Salazar finished sixth in the Netherlands. In 1982 Roberto Guerrero raced for Ensign. He only finished in two races.

Meanwhile, the team was also involved in the last year of British F1 Championship, winning the championship with the old MN180B cars and Jim Crawford as driver.

After the 1982 season, Ensign was merged into the Theodore team, which it had previous ties to via financier Teddy Yip and took that team's name. During many seasons, the connection between Ensign and Theodore was so great that in some years they used almost the same car, much as Red Bull Racing has a second but separate team, Toro Rosso, in more recent times.

Ensign driver Roberto Guerrero continued on with the newly merged team for 1983, as did the team's main car designer.[5] The Theodore F1 team did not last the 1983 season, though, and shut down late in the year.[5]

Complete Formula One World Championship results

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(key)

Year Chassis Engines Tyres Drivers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Points WCC
1973 N173 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 F ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR NED GER AUT ITA CAN USA 0 NC
  Rikky von Opel 15 13 DNS Ret Ret NC Ret
1974 N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 F ARG BRA RSA ESP BEL MON SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA CAN USA 0 NC
  Rikky von Opel DNS
  Vern Schuppan 15 Ret DSQ DSQ DNQ DNQ Ret
  Mike Wilds DNQ DNQ DNQ NC
1975 N174
N175 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA ESP MON BEL SWE NED FRA GBR GER AUT ITA USA 1 12th
  Roelof Wunderink Ret DNQ DNQ NC DNQ Ret
  Gijs van Lennep 10 15 6
  Chris Amon 12 12
1976 N174
N176 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA JPN 2 12th
  Chris Amon 14 8 5 Ret 13 Ret Ret Ret
  Patrick Nève 18
  Hans Binder Ret
  Jacky Ickx Ret 10 13 Ret
1977 N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN 10* 10th*
  Clay Regazzoni 6 Ret 9 Ret Ret DNQ Ret 7 7 DNQ Ret Ret Ret 5 5 Ret Ret
  Jacky Ickx 10
1978 N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN 1 13th
  Danny Ongais Ret Ret
  Jacky Ickx Ret 12 Ret DNQ
  Derek Daly DNQ Ret DSQ Ret 10 8 6
  Nelson Piquet Ret
  Lamberto Leoni Ret DNS DNQ DNQ
  Bernard de Dryver DNP
  Brett Lunger 13
1979 N177
N179 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC
  Derek Daly 11 13 DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ DNQ
  Patrick Gaillard DNQ 13 DNQ Ret DNQ
  Marc Surer DNQ DNQ Ret
1980 N180 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW BEL MON FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN USA 0 NC
  Clay Regazzoni NC Ret 9 Ret
  Tiff Needell Ret DNQ
  Jan Lammers DNQ DNQ 14 DNQ DNQ DNQ 12 Ret
  Geoff Lees Ret DNQ
1981 N180B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 M
A 		USW BRA ARG SMR BEL MON ESP FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA CAN CPL 5 11th
  Marc Surer Ret 4F Ret 9 11 6
  Ricardo Londoño DNP
  Eliseo Salazar 14 Ret DNQ NC Ret 6 Ret Ret NC
1982 N180B
N181 		Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 P
A 		RSA BRA USW SMR BEL MON DET CAN NED GBR FRA GER AUT SUI ITA CPL 0 NC
  Roberto Guerrero WD DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ Ret Ret DNQ Ret DNQ 8 Ret Ret NC DNS

* Includes five points scored by Patrick Tambay in an Ensign N177 entered by Theodore Racing (see below).

Results of other Ensign cars

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(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine Tyres Driver 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
1977 Theodore Racing Hong Kong N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW ESP MON BEL SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN JPN
  Patrick Tambay Ret 6 Ret 5 Ret DNQ 5 Ret
1978 Mario Deliotti Racing N175 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 G ARG BRA RSA USW MON BEL ESP SWE FRA GBR GER AUT NED ITA USA CAN
  Geoff Lees DNQ
Sachs Racing N177   Harald Ertl 11 Ret DNPQ DNPQ

Non-championship results

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(key)

Year Entrant Chassis Engine Driver 1 2 3
1974 Team Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 PRE ROC INT
  Rikky von Opel DNS
  Brian Redman 8
1975 Bewaking Team Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT SUI
  Roelof Wunderink 10 Ret
N175   Chris Amon 9
1976 Team Ensign N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC INT
  Chris Amon 5
N176 Ret
1977 Team Ensign N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC
  Clay Regazzoni 13
1978 Tissot Ensign N177 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 INT
  Jacky Ickx Ret
  Lamberto Leoni DNA
1979 Smith & Jones N174 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ROC GNM DIN
  Robin Smith Ret
1980 Unipart Racing Team N180 Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 ESP
  Patrick Gaillard 6
?   Brian Henton DNA
1981 Ensign Racing N180B Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0 V8 RSA
  Marc Surer Ret

References

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  1. ^ a b c Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 273. ISBN 0851127029.
  2. ^ a b Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 272. ISBN 0851127029.
  3. ^ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 344. ISBN 0851127029.
  4. ^ Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 401. ISBN 0851127029.
  5. ^ a b Roberto Guerrero – Biography Archived 16 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
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