formula143

Grand Prix History in Scale Models

1977, Ensign, FDS, Patrick Tambay

1977 Ensign N177 Tambay

Mo Nunn, Ensign owner, after difficult 1976 season managed to compile a budget big enough to build a new car. The car itself was a further evolution of the existing N176 with detail design changes only. The sponsorship money came from Teddy Yip, whose Theodore team ran a new N177 for Patrick Tambay in the second half of the year. Three cars were built in 1977, and one more in 1978. Two chassis were used by works team’s driver Clay Regazzoni, and one was at the disposal of Theodore Racing. Hong Kong real estate magnate Teddy Yip Yip, who backed Ensign since 1974, has founded his own Theodore Racing team in 1976 to enter Formula 1 in 1977. Yip signed French F2 driver Patrick Tambay, and appeared on F1 scene starting from the British Grand Prix. Tambay drove the Theoodor’s Ensign in 8 races and scored 5 points – exactly the same amount as factory driver Regazzoni in 17 races of the season.

SeasonSeriesEvent
1977F1WC
Driver No.Entrant
Patrick Tambay23Theodore Racing Hong Kong
Scale ManufacturerCollection
1:43FDS Automodelli
Cat. No.QualityRarity
63

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