Ensign N180
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The Ensign N180 was a Formula 1 racing car from Ensign Racing , which was developed for the races of the 1980 Formula 1 season and was also used. In the Aurora AFX Formula 1 Series , also known as the British Formula 1 Championship , this type of racing car was driven until the end of the 1982 season.
Development history and technology
With the financial support of Unipart, Ralph Bellamy and Nigel Bennett developed a new Ensign Formula 1 racing car, the N180, within two months in autumn 1979. The car had a smooth one-piece body and outwardly resembled the Williams FW07 . The proven DFL V8 engine from Cosworth was used as the engine .
Formula 1 World Championship 1980
The N180 made its racing debut in January 1980 at the Argentine Grand Prix with Clay Regazzoni at the wheel. The Swiss had celebrated great successes at Ferrari in the early 1970s and only lost the drivers' championship to Emerson Fittipaldi in the last race in the USA in 1974 . Regazzoni had already ridden for Ensign for a year in 1977 and, after an unsuccessful year with Shadow, made a highly regarded comeback at Willams in 1979 . Despite the fact that he had ensured the Williams team's first Grand Prix victory with his victory at the British Grand Prix, he had to leave Frank Williams' racing team at the end of the year.
In qualifying, the Swiss achieved the 15th training time with 1.47.18 and was more than three seconds slower than the fastest Alan Jones in the Williams FW07. In the race, Regazzoni had to pit twice due to technical problems. He finished the race nine laps behind the winner Jones and was not classified for lack of sufficient distance. At the second round of the season in Brazil , after finishing 12th on the grid, a broken rear wheel suspension stopped the Swiss on lap 13. In both races Regazzoni was able to qualify the N180 without problems in midfield and also set fast lap times in the respective races up to the technical problems.
In the fourth race of the season, the Grand Prix of the USA West , there was a serious accident that ended Regazzoni's career and brought the N180 project to a standstill. In the race, Regazzoni was in fourth place on lap 51 when his titanium- made brake pedal broke in the braking zone after the Shoreline Drive straight . He raced unrestrained in the run-off area standing Brabham BT49 by Ricardo Zunino and in the behind of car tires poorly protected concrete wall. It took a long time to rescue the Swiss from the completely destroyed car and the Swiss was transferred to the St. Mary Hospital with several lower leg fractures as well as head and spine injuries. The vertebral injuries turned out to be so severe that he remained paraplegic for life .
After the Regazzoni accident, Ensign was suddenly left without a driver. At the Belgian Grand Prix , Tiff Needell took over the cockpit, who also drove the N180 at the Monaco race. In Zolder , the Needell qualified in 23rd place, but retired from the race after just 12 laps due to engine failure. In Monaco, the Briton clearly missed qualifying.
From the French Grand Prix , the unsuccessful Needell was replaced by Jan Lammers . But the further development of the car got stuck and the Dutchman had no chance to qualify the car for a race in the next races. It was not until his third attempt, the German Grand Prix , that Lammers made his first race start with 24th training place. He finished the race one lap behind the winner Jacques Laffite in the Ligier JS11 / 15 in 14th place. In the races in the Netherlands and Italy , the team started a second car and signed Geoff Lees for it . Both Lammers and Lees almost always failed on the qualifying hurdle. The best place in the second half of the season was twelfth place at the Canadian Grand Prix .
1981 Formula 1 World Championship
In 1981 the N180 was revised and again entrusted to a Swiss national as the N180B . Marc Surer became the new Ensign works driver. At the Brazilian Grand Prix , Surer achieved the best result of the season with fourth place. He also drove the fastest lap in this race. From the Spanish Grand Prix , Eliseo Salazar took over the cockpit from Surer, as the Chilean brought in important sponsorship money for the team. He did not finish in the points.
In 1982 the N180 was replaced by the N181 .
Aurora AFX Formula 1 Series
In 1982 Jim Crawford secured the overall ranking of the Aurora AFX Formula 1 series on a works N180 .
literature
- David Hodges: Racing cars from A – Z after 1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-613-01477-7 .
Web links
Racing car from the 1980 World Automobile Championship