Theodore-Ford N183

We will see these F1 gems at the GP Revival 2024 in Brno: Theodore-Ford N183

Text and photo: Roman Klemm

The Englishman Morris (Mo) Nunn ventured into F1 with his own construction for the first time in 1973. Unfortunately, his Ensign brand was mostly operating at a financial minimum, so after 10 years he decided to cooperate more closely with his sponsor, the millionaire Teddy Yip from Hong Kong. Ensign N183, painted by Nigel Bennett, was therefore named "Theodore" in 1983. The team could afford two drivers: Johnny Cecott, a well-known motorcycle star in Brno, who made his debut in Formula 1, and Nunn's driver from 1982, the talented Roberto Guerrero. Both the Venezuelan and the Colombian were certainly top-class pilots - the car, the team, Nunn and Yip, however, quickly began to run out of breath during the season. The Theodore N183, which was basically a modified Bennett Ensign N181 (using carbon parts), drove Cecott to a 6th place finish in the second event of the year at Long Beach. A little later, guest Brian Henton finished fourth with him in a hostile event at Brands Hatch. However, the Anglo-Chinese cooperative failed to repeat a similar "coup". On the contrary. The car suffered from unreliability and lack of development. Guerrero finished the year only five times, Cecotto six times. They have already crashed several times in the qualification. A disgusted Cecotto left the stable two races before the end of the season, the Ensign-Theodore team did not enter the last event in Kyalami at all.
Except for Cecotta (he started for Toleman in 1984), 1983 was the end of the F1 chapter for everyone involved. Both Yip, Nunn and Guerrero went to the USA and the CART series to seek their fortunes. In the British and Colombian case very successfully…