Amon and the Ensign

Chris Amon is on the attack at the wheel of his beautiful Ensign N176 and is ahead, in the photo above, of Gunnar Nilsson and his Lotus 77 and John Watson at the wheel of his Penske PC3, which can be seen in the distance, during the 1976 Monaco Grand Prix.

Ensign was a Formula One constructor founded by Morris (Mo) Nunn (1938–2018). The team competed in 133 Grand Prix races and scored 19 championship points, at a time when only the top six drivers scored. Its best result was the fourth place achieved by Swiss Marc Surer in Brazil in 1981.

Here in Monaco , Chris Amon did more than hold his own during qualifying in his Ensign N176 and qualified in twelfth position out of 25 entries. Among the non-qualifiers were Ickx, Pescarolo, Perkins, Ertl and Merzario. Places on the grid were at a premium.

The New Zealander fought bravely in the top ten in the race, but was slowed by mechanical problems and finished four laps behind the winner, Niki Lauda in his Ferrari. It was shaping up to be a difficult season for the small Ensign team.