Ensign LNF3

[RTH]

Top picture was my Ensign I owned it from 1983 to 1985 bought it in Liverpool and sold it to Paris

http://img455.imageshack.us/img455/1599/brg3ii.jpg

[fyrth]

Richard

Thank you for that pic. May I ask a question - is the strut into which the rear wing is mounted bolted directly to the rear of the gearbox? Did you drive the car much, and what were your impressions?

[RTH]

Yes it was, that's very well spotted as that was the non-original part of the car.

You will remember the original was 2 rear wings located either side of the high engine cover.

Although I had the car for 2 years other pressures meant I only did 3 races in it , in one it dropped a valve in one it had chronic fuel surge in fast corners and some very old tyres so I didn't really give the project enough time to get the best out of it . It had good suspension geometry with its very wide based wishbones and was low drag through the air compared with other cars of the time. No question they were a competitive car in their hayday.

[Derek Lees]

His name was actually Bernard Lewis and he lived in Sutton Coldfield. He went into partnership with Mo to run the Lewis-Nunn F3 racing team. This later consisted of The Lotus 41 for Mo Nunn and his old Lotus 22 which was driven by Bernard Lewis's son.
I am Mo Nunns ex brother in-law and spent many hours working in his garage on his F3 cars from the age of 14, eventually working fulltime building the Ensign F3, F2 and Atlantic cars, finishing off building the F1 cars before getting out of racing in 1975.

[allenbrown]

Welcome Derek

Do you have any idea who might have any records of the cars Ensign built before getting into F1? There seem to have been at least a couple of dozen of them and it would be a huge help if we could uncover any records of original customers.

Allen

[Derek Lees]

Originally Posted by allenbrown

Welcome Derek

Do you have any idea who might have any records of the cars Ensign built before getting into F1? There seem to have been at least a couple of dozen of them and it would be a huge help if we could uncover any records of original customers.

Allen

Allen,
All of the chassis records and owners were recorded in a book held by Mo Nunn at the factory where we used to build the cars. Unfortunately don't know what happened to this after I left the team. Can't remember the chassis numbers myself.
There were 3 Iberia works cars in use, one race car each for Mike Walker (Mechanic - Simon Arkless) and Rikki von Opel (Mechanic - me) and a test development car (Mechanic - Brian Day) used by Rikki. The test car was used for 1 race after Rikki badly crashed his race car.
If my memory serves me well, I think the 2 Modus cars were the last F3 cars we built, before we concentrated on the the F1 project.
Looking at the chassis number data you have so far, reminded me of a funny thing that happened when the American Mike Tyrell came to pick up his car. We opened the door and there stood this "Man Mountain", about 6' 3" and 16 stone and caused an immediate panick in how we were going to fit him in a car. After a few days mods we finally managed it. Sadly, he was later killed in a road crash in the States.

Derek

[fyrth]

Derek

How good that you have become involved with this thread. Please can I ask a couple of questions if you can remember?
1. What changes were made to the chassis as the cars were deveoped - I have the impression it was just the slight lowering the chassis mount of the front rear radius arm?
2. Was the chassis rail beneath the o/s engine mount always removable?
3. Were the chassis all numbered, and where?

I continue to enjoy the Mike Wilds car, its refreshed twin cam to be collected this weekend!

[Derek Lees]

Originally Posted by fyrth

Derek

How good that you have become involved with this thread. Please can I ask a couple of questions if you can remember?
1. What changes were made to the chassis as the cars were deveoped - I have the impression it was just the slight lowering the chassis mount of the front rear radius arm?
2. Was the chassis rail beneath the o/s engine mount always removable?
3. Were the chassis all numbered, and where?

I continue to enjoy the Mike Wilds car, its refreshed twin cam to be collected this weekend!

The nose cone underbody panel was dispensed with during 1972.

The removable o/s chassis rail was introduced during 1972 I think, to reduce time when changing engines, which we did quite frequently.

The chassis numbers were letter stamped onto the the rear LH side of chassis frame at the rear of the cockpit chassis cross member in front of the engine section, if I remember correctly.

I seem to remember the top link on the rear of the front suspension was moved slighlty to change the anti-dive characteristics.

As a basic suspension set-up, cambers were 1/4 degrees negative and toe-in 1/16" front and rear. Minor adjustment was then made according to tyre temperatures at each track. I think castor was set around 3-4 degrees.
Ride height was 2 1/2" front and 2 3/4" rear.

Two sizes of front wings were used depending on the downforce required. The small wings were 1/2 the length of the full wings.

The Iberia works cars were fitted with Bilstein gas shocks in 1972, rather than the Armstrong adjustable standard units supplied to customer cars, a definate improvement in handling. They also had special machined wheels with reduced thickness to reduce unsprung weight.

In normal race condition the works cars were below the minimum weight and required lead ballast to be added.

The Mike Wilds chassis that I think you have would be using a replaced chassis frame still using the original chassis no., built by Arch Motors. Mike's car was one of the most crashed of all the Ensign F3 cars. The car was prepared by mechanic Colin Bennet.

I hope this information helps you, as the memory is going these days.

If I can help you any further please contact me.

Good luck with your racing.

Regards,
Derek

[fyrth]

Derek

Thank you, interesting and useful, particularly the chassis setup not 1000 miles from what it is now. History suggests that the cars has been well used and broken on occasions, not least when later owner Kevitt Payne had a serious at Werrington Hill Climb near Launceston and removed all the corners, happily walking away. The car was there this year without harm but someone else managed this at the same spot, car damage but minimal personal damage thankfully.

I had the impression that several cars were sold with a spare bare chassis, would that be correct? And were the wheels normally supplied as OE from Astralli, just down the road from you? Did Bernard Lewis have local business interests in Walsall - Brineton Engineering comes to mind, who are of couse still trading engineering Bugatti parts amongst other things.

Please excuse the further questions, all helping to build a picture and will be duly logged with the cars's history.

[Derek Lees]

Astrali used to make the steering wheels only. In the 60-70's they were a leading supplier of steering wheels in the UK. The guy who owned it was a personal friend of Mo Nunn. The company has since been taken over, http://www.astrali.co.uk/

Brineton Engineering machined the wheels, which were cast by Aeroplane and Motor, West Bromwich, the same company who cast the engine blocks for the DFV Cosworth engines. Brineton Engineering were a small engineering firm next door to the Ensign workshop when it was based in Walsall. The director of the company is Graham Madeley, http://www.brineton-eng.co.uk/contact.htm

Bernard Lewis was managing director of a compressor firm in Walsall. I can't remember what they were called, now defunct.

As far as I can remember all the cars were sold as a single unit only. Only when a chassis was written off was a new one supplied, which was manufactured by Arch motors, http://www.archmotor.co.uk/.

Since the last post I have thought more about the removable chassis tube in the engine bay. If I remember correctly, removing the tube gives you better access to the oil pump, without having to remove the engine.

I hope this helps you?

Regards,
Derek

[John Turner]

I've re-archived this to include all the recent posts:-

http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91463

So, now locking this one!