Ensign (racing team)

Ensign (racing team)
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Base	Walsall, United Kingdom
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Drivers	Clay Regazzoni Chris Amon Jacky Ickx Nelson Piquet Jan Lammers LIE Rikky von Opel
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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 team 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

An Ensign N177 being raced in a Historic Grand Prix at the Lime Rock Park circuit in 2009.

In 1973 Ensign was promoted to Formula One financed by Rikky von Opel. Their first season was not successful with von Opel only finishing three races. The team's best result that season was 13th at the British Grand Prix. Ensign kept Rikky von Opel for 1974, but he left after the first race of the season to retire from racing and later moving to the Brabham team. Vern Schuppan replaced von Opel. Schuppan only finished only at the Belgian Grand Prix and later that season he was replaced by Mike Wilds. Wilds only qualified in America; he finished the race but was not classified.

For 1975 Ensign was sponserd by HB Bewaking (a Dutch company) leading them to sign Dutch drivers. Roelof Wunderink and Gijs van Lennep. Wunderink did not have much of 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 Chris Amon stayed with Ensign having great qualifying results. He qualifying 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 would race the next four races. Derek Daly would race 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 the 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 in 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 a sensational fourth place in Brazil where he also took fastet lap of the race. Surer also finished sixth in Monaco. Eliseo Salazar replaced Surer from Spain onwards. Salazar finished sixth in Holland. In 1982 Roberto Guerrero raced for Ensign. He only finished in two races. 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. The Theodore F1 team did not last the 1983 season, though, and shut down late in the year.

Complete World Championship Formula One results

(key) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Chassis	Engine(s)	Tyres	Drivers	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Points	WCC
1973	Ensign N173	Ford V8	F		ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	FRA	GBR	NED	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			0	—
				Rikky von Opel								15	13	DNS		Ret	Ret	NC	Ret
1974	Ensign N174	Ford V8	F		ARG	BRA	RSA	ESP	BEL	MON	SWE	NED	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	ITA	CAN	USA			0	—
				Rikky von Opel	DNS
				Vern Schuppan					15	Ret	DSQ	DSQ	DNQ	DNQ	Ret
				Mike Wilds												DNQ	DNQ	DNQ	NC
1975	Ensign N174 Ensign N175	Ford 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	Ensign N174 Ensign N176	Ford 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	Ensign N177	Ford 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		Ret	7	7	DNQ	Ret	Ret	Ret	5	5	Ret	Ret
				Jacky Ickx						10
1978	Ensign N177	Ford V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	MON	BEL	ESP	SWE	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	USA	CAN		1	13th
				Danny Ongais	Ret	Ret
				Lamberto Leoni	Ret	DNS	DNQ	DNQ
				Jacky Ickx					Ret	12	Ret	DNQ
				Derek Daly									DNQ	Ret		DSQ	Ret	10	8	6
				Nelson Piquet											Ret
				Brett Lunger															13
1979	Ensign N177 Ensign N179	Ford V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	ESP	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA			0	—
				Derek Daly	11	13	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	DNQ	DNQ
				Patrick Gaillard								DNQ	13	DNQ	Ret	DNQ
				Marc Surer													DNQ	DNQ	Ret
1980	Ensign N180	Ford V8	G		ARG	BRA	RSA	USW	BEL	MON	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	USA				0	—
				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	Ensign N180B	Ford V8	M A		USW	BRA	ARG	SMR	BEL	MON	ESP	FRA	GBR	GER	AUT	NED	ITA	CAN	CPL			5	11th
				Marc Surer	Ret	4	Ret	9	11	6
				Eliseo Salazar							14	Ret	DNQ	NC	Ret	6	Ret	Ret	NC
1982	Ensign N180B Ensign N181	Ford V8	P		RSA	BRA	USW	SMR	BEL	MON	DET	CAN	NED	GBR	FRA	GER	AUT	SUI	ITA	CPL		0	—
				Roberto Guerrero	DNQ	DNQ	Ret		DNQ	DNQ	Ret	Ret	DNQ	Ret	DNQ	8	Ret	Ret	NC	DNS

*Includes five points scored by Patrick Tambay in an Ensign chassis entered by Theodore Racing.

Results of other Ensign cars

(key) (Results in bold indicate pole position)

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	Ensign 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	Ensign 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	Ensign N177			Harald Ertl											11	Ret	DNPQ	DNPQ