Ensign Racing

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 name	Ensign Racing Team
Base	Burntwood, United Kingdom
Founder(s)	Mo Nunn
Noted drivers	Clay Regazzoni Chris Amon Marc Surer Jacky Ickx Nelson Piquet Jan Lammers Rikky von Opel Gijs van Lennep Roelof Wunderink Tiff Needell
Formula One World Championship career
First entry	1973 French Grand Prix
Races entered	99
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Race victories	0
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	1
Final entry	1982 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

 

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

(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	4^F	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

(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

(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

1. Small, Steve (1994). The Guinness Complete Grand Prix Who's Who. Guinness. p. 273. ISBN 0851127029.
2. 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. Roberto Guerrero – Biography 16 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine