Mon Nunn
Morris "Mo" Nunn (born September 27, 1938 in Walsall , England , † July 18, 2018 in Tucson , United States ) was a British engineer . He was the owner of the Ensign team in Formula 1 and was one of the most recognized team owners in the US Champ Car series.
Life
Beginnings in motorsport
Nunn came into contact with racing when he saw a Cooper - Climax in a showroom of a car dealership and bought it. In 1963 and 1964 he gained his first experience in motorsport with his Cooper and a Lotus sports car. In 1965 he founded his own team, Lewis-Nunn Racing , with partner Bernard Lewis , and entered British Formula 3 on a Lotus . Nunn won his first Formula 3 race at Mallory Park . After further successes, he entered the European level in the same year and was able to take fourth place. In 1967, Nunn drove in a private Lotus 41 , won several races and was able to secure sponsorship money with which he could contest the 1968 season. In 1969 Team Lotus signed him for Formula 3 and occasional Formula 2 assignments . At the end of the year, Nunn tried his hand at Formula 5000 , but failed and opted for a career as a vehicle developer.
Nunn built his first Formula 3 racing car, the LNF1 , in the garage behind his house in Walsall in 1970. On its debut at Brands Hatch in March 1971, the car finished second in the first round of the British Formula 3 Championship with Bev Bond at the wheel. The two following races could be won and Nunn began selling his cars to other teams. Due to the success in the first year, there were many interested parties for the 1972 season. The LNF3 used by Nunns Ensign team in Formula 3 was able to win races, but the LNF2 remained unsuccessful in Formula 2.
formula 1
At the end of 1972, Rikky von Opel , a descendant of Adam Opel and a Formula 3 driver in the Ensign team, commissioned Mo Nunn to build a car for Formula 1 . Dave Baldwin joined Nunn's team to look after the Formula 3 cars, and Nunn himself developed the N173 for the top motorsport class. The car made its debut at the French Grand Prix in 1973 and was used in six other races that season, but could not achieve any notable success. For 1974 Nunn developed the car further, but Ensign turned his back on Opel and switched to Brabham .
Nunn and his Ensign team were represented in Formula 1 until 1983 . In 1980 Clay Regazzoni had an accident with Nunn's car at the US Grand Prix , in which he sustained such severe vertebral injuries that he has been paraplegic ever since. Marc Surer achieved the best result for Ensign in the 1981 season when he finished fourth at the Brazilian Grand Prix .
Champ Car and Indy Racing League
Nunn eventually sold his Formula 1 team to Teddy Yip and went to the United States to compete in the Champ Car series with Roberto Guerrero on the Bignotti-Cotter team . After a few years with Newman / Haas Racing , Nunn moved to Patrick Racing in 1989 and looked after Emerson Fittipaldi in his victory at the Indianapolis 500 and in winning the Champ Car Championship. In 1992 Nunn went to Ganassi Racing , where he won four consecutive titles as chief engineer with drivers Jimmy Vasser ( 1996 ), Alex Zanardi ( 1997 and 1998 ) and Juan Pablo Montoya ( 1999 ).
In 1999, Nunn end his own team in the Champ Car series, Mo Nunn Racing , and sat Tony Kanaan in a Reynard - Mercedes one. The team, like Ensign in Formula 1, was underfunded and unsuccessful. In 2001 Alex Zanardi joined the team as the second driver. However, he had a serious accident while racing at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz in which he lost both legs. In 2002 Nunn used one car each in the Champ Car series with Kanaan and in the Indy Racing League with Felipe Giaffone . The season in the IRL was more promising and the following year Nunn focused on that series. In 2003, the former Formula 1 driver Tora Takagi took tenth place in the championship. The following season was less successful and was overshadowed by Takagi's accident in Motegi . Nunn used his own car for the last time at the Indy 500 in 2005. Most recently, he worked as a technical consultant at Ganassi Racing .
statistics
Individual results in the sports car world championship
| season | team | race car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4th | 5 | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Tech-Speed Racing | Chevron B8 |
 DAY
|
SEB
|
 BRH
|
 MON
|
TAR
|
 ONLY
|
 SPA
|
WAT
|
 ZEL
|
 LEM
|
| 14th |
Web links
- Mo Nunn Racing Profile - on champcarworldseries.com (English)
- Statistics of Formula 1 cars designed by Nunn
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Well, Mon. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Nunn, Morris (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British engineer and team owner in motorsport |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 27, 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Walsall , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | 18th July 2018 |
| Place of death | Tucson , United States |