The N179 was the first all-new car Ensign car since the introduction of N175 in the 1975 season. Mo Nunn turned again to Dave Baldwin for the design of the car. The N179 followed ground-effect aerodynamic technology which Team Lotus introduced  during the 1977 season. Most of the design for the N179 was conventional and built around the Cosworth DFV engine and Hewland gearbox. During the opening two rounds of the year, Derek Daly drove a modified N177. At the South African Grand Prix, he switched to the new  N179, but failed to qualify. In order to make room for the tunnels, the radiators were moved to the front of the car, making the N179 one of the ugliest car of the period. This decision proved to be an inefficient design, and Ensign returned to conventional radiators after the South African Grand Prix. During the rest of the season, Daly, Patrick Gaillard, and Marc Surer managed to qualify the car for just a few Grand Prix events. This scale model representing Daly’s car from South African race, is made by CP Model. See also the model of the same car in the version of Spark.

SeasonSeriesEvent
1979F1WCSouth African GP
Driver No.Entrant
Derek Daly22Team Ensign
Scale ManufacturerCollection
1:43CP Model
Cat. No.QualityRarity