F1
Maurice Hamilton 6y

Mo Nunn 1938-2018

Formula 1

Many in the German Grand Prix paddock may not remember Morris 'Mo' Nunn, who passed away at the age of 79 on Wednesday, and yet Hockenheim has a certain significance in the Englishman's varied career.

It was here in 1978 that Nunn's Ensign team gave Nelson Piquet his Formula One debut. Although the future World Champion qualified near the back and retired with engine failure, the entire scenario was typical of Nunn's shoestring effort while, at the same time, underscoring Ensign's small but meaningful contribution to F1's history. It also encompassed every facet of a man who was no mean driver himself and could build and engineer a decent race car.

Motor cars were bound to be in Mo's blood when Nunn senior christened his boy Morris Nuffield Nunn after Viscount Nuffield, the English aristocrat and philanthropist who founded Morris Cars in 1912. Typically, though, Mo never gave racing a thought until he saw a Cooper-Climax in a car showroom in his native Midlands and, on the spur of the moment, bought the F2 single-seater for £850 (a tidy sum in 1962).

The first motor race Mo ever saw was the one he was in at Mallory Park. The result that day is not well chronicled but his name was rapidly established when he became quick enough in F3 to be hired by the Lotus works F3 team. When that led nowhere in particular (despite Mo beating the likes of James Hunt and Francois Cevert), Nunn decided at the age of 31 to forget about driving and get into F1 as a constructor.

Starting in a formula he knew well, Nunn built a F3 car in his garage and named it Ensign after the British naval flag. He was anything but at sea as the F3 car broke the lap record on its first outing and won its second race. By the end of 1971, Mo and three employees had built 33 cars.

That was well and good but F1 seemed as far away as ever -- until Ricky Von Opel used his family wealth to help Nunn build his first F1 car, Ensign making its Grand Prix debut halfway through the 1973 season.

Nunn employed high calibre drivers, some of whom had seen better days and some, such as Piquet, showing great potential. Even though the Ensign garage was always a friendly port of call (helped by the very British tea pot always on the go), the operation was forever hamstrung by a shortage of cash.

That seemed to have changed for the better in 1980 when Unipart arrived as a sponsor but the promising little operation was to receive a devastating blow at Long Beach. Clay Regazzoni was paralysed following a huge crash when the brake pedal snapped at the end of the 175 mph straight.

Disillusioned, Nunn gave up F1 at the end of the 1982 season and headed for the United States with nothing more than his reputation as a decent man and a single credit card to his name. Many thought that was the last they would see of him.

Nunn was rejuvenated. Focussing solely on engineering, Mo rapidly earned a fine reputation in Indycar for setting up cars, particularly on ovals. He worked for Newman Haas (engineering Mario Andretti) and Pat Patrick, winning Indy and the CART title with Emerson Fittipaldi in 1989 before moving to Ganassi where he enjoyed a very special winning relationship with Alex Zanardi and, later, Juan Pablo Montoya.

"Morris was the best at getting the most out of our drivers," Chip Ganassi told respected Indycar commentator Robin Miller on Wednesday morning. "They threw away that mould. He worked tirelessly in ways I don't see today. His fingerprints are still all over our team and he left an indelible mark in our sport."

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