Theodore (called Teddy) Yip had an absolute passion about car racing. He would spent a lot of money, but always with an unbelievable generosity. Where did his fortune come from ? No one really knows.
Yip was born from Chinese parents in Medan in Indonesia in 1907. He studied in the Netherlands and took the Dutch nationality. In the 30’s he went to live in Hong Kong. He started with trading rice and wood with good profits. With his brother-in-law Stanley Ho, he created in 1961 la sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau; that started his real fortune. He began to build up his business empire which included travel agencies, hotels, casinos and trading companies. In 1962, he secured a monopoly to run all the casino operations in Macau. Being a millionaire, he transformed Macau into a major tourism destination. Yip was also the driving force behind the creation of the still popular Macau Grand Prix. He participated himself in some races with a Jaguar XK120, a Lotus 47 or a Porsche Carrera 6.
In 1974, he met Irishman Sid Taylor, who was already running cars in different championships. He wanted a seat for his driver Vern Schuppan in the F5000 and Teddy Yip became the sponsor. When the Ensign F1 team got into a difficult financial situation when their sponsor and driver Rikky von Opel had left, it was again this Sid Taylor who invited Yip to sponsor that team, on condition that Schuppan got the drive. It was in 1974 that the F1 world finally met the little Chinese man with the small moustache and his burning vitality and charm.
Rikky Von Opel from the Opel dynasty, living in tax haven Liechtenstein had enough money to invest and after his success in Formula 3 he commissioned Mo Nunn, who already had built F3 cars, to build a Formula 1 car. Nunn designed the MN01 (also called N173) a conventional chassis - a monocoque for a Ford DFV engine powered by a Hewland FGA400 gearbox. The car had a very characteristic appearance: a kind of spade-shaped front and a closed fiberglass body around the engine with large rear wing. The first Ensign debuted at the French GP at Paul Ricard in July 1973 and raced in 7 GP’s.
A new chassis was built for 1974, technically identical to the first but with more conventional bodywork and appearance. The N174/MN02 in its green and yellow colour was again for Rikky von Opel. However, after the practice sessions of the Argentina GP in January, Von Opel did not get the car properly adjusted. He left the team immediately.
Mo Nunn could go on thanks to the money from Teddy Yip. In May the orange coloured Ensign MN02 and Vern Schuppan made his debut at the Belgian GP in Nivelles. He finished the race in P15. After a first lap crash in Monaco, a P12 in Sweden ( he was excluded from the results; the organisers said he was not allowed to start the race). After a disqualification in Zandvoort for an illegal tyre change and two non-qualifications in France and England, the Ensign had a DNF in Germany. Teddy Yip and Schuppan left after that and returned to the F5000.
Teddy Yip ran a Lola T332 in the “Shellsport European Formula 5000” in 1975 and recruited Alan Jones for the American F5000. There was a small F1 outing as sponsor for the March 761 of Ronnie Peterson and Hans Stuck in the Long beach GP.
In 1977, Teddy Yip returned to the F1 world. Team Ensign had a new driver, ex-Ferrari Clay Regazzoni and a new car, the MN06 (N177).
The Theodore team rented the new monocoque N177 (chassis MN08). Yip chose Patrick Tambay as driver; that was inclusive his Elf sponsoring.
The first race was at Silverstone. While Regazonni was not able to qualify, Tambay to retire after just three laps. In Hockenheim, during the warm-up, Sid Taylor presented a contract to Patrick Tambay for the rest of the season and for 1978. Teddy Yip said: “sign now…or no car”. Tambay replied: “ok, no problem, then I will not drive”. They came to an agreement, but it deteriorated the relationship. Despite that it was a top race for the Theodore Team.
A sixth place after the retirement of Peterson on the 43rd lap. And… a contract for McLaren in 1978 for Tambay !
Two weeks later in Zeltweg, Tambay, after a P07 in qualifying, retired with engine problems when he was running in 5th place. Total disbelief in Zandvoort. Both Ensigns qualified fine. In the race, Regazonni climbed from P08 on the first lap to P06 when the throttle cable broke and Tambay ran out of fuel on the last lap while driving in third place! In Monza Tambay had a crash in practice when a wheel came lose. In the spare car for the race, he had an engine problem.
And at Watkins Glenn, Tambay already had engine problems in qualifying. A week later in Canada, it was Patrick Tambay who finished fifth. The last race of the season took place at Fuji circuit. Unfortunately, both Ensigns had to retire with engine problems. This was unfortunately at a time when Tambay was driving in second place (lap 14) and Regazzoni driving third (lap 43).
When Ron Tauranac sold the remains of Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone, he retired. But not for long, because he restarted with Ralt. He even bought the old Brabham factory terrain. So F1 seemed not that far away. But then, realistically, he decided different. He had already given an order to Len Bailey to design a chassis. But then he realized he was not a FOCA member, so any transport to the F1 circuits would come out his own pocket.
But for Teddy Yip and his friend Sid Taylor, this was an excellent opportunity to by the Ralt F1 plan. The Theodore TR1 was constructed in the free space left by Ron Tauranac in Woking (Surrey). Len Bailey further developed the design and Vince Higgins and Bruce Cary became the chief mechanics. They decided to construct just 1 car. Now a driver. Yip wanted Alan Jones, but Frank Willliams got to him first for the new start of his racing team. Sid Taylor then gave the seat to the young American Eddie Cheever.
It was in Argentina, 15th of January 1978 that the car made his debut. The first testing days were a disaster with engine problems, so the TR1 was not qualified. Same scenario fourteen days later. Yip and Taylor were no softies, so out went Cheever.
They contact the young Finish driver Keke Rosberg for the next race in South-Africa. Keke was looking for a F1 seat, so he immediately took the offer. After a three day testing in the UK, he was ready for South Africa. Unfortunately he had a big accident. When he hit the brakes after the long straight, he saw that the discs were badly fixed and he crashed the car into the fence. The only chassis was destroyed, the pilot unharmed. Sid Taylor urgently let the second chassis come over. And by surprise, Keke Rosberg got qualified on the last row. After the first lap, he was in P16. A fuel hose leak made that the cockpit became full of fuel, so a retirement was inevitable.
A little angry over the overall preparations, Yip and Tayor fired a number of mechanics and got Alan McCall on board. The team went to the non-championship race, the International Trophy Silverstone in March. Fourteen cars started the race in the rain. It was so difficult to drive in these conditions that Lauda and Peterson spun out of the track on the warm-up lap. Rosberg started P9. He mastered the rainy conditions as a full blown rain-master and got a great win, even beating Emerson Fittipaldi.
Rosberg immediately signed for the rest of the 1978 season. But he was a non-qualifier in the next four races. The team was not there in Sweden and France. Yip then decided to buy two Wolf-chassis from 1977. The team was not allowed to race in England, but in Germany the Theodore racing was there with Wolf WR03 and 04 painted in a red livery. There was again a non-qualification, but in Austria Rosberg qualified last. In the rain he was a master again and got to P11 when the race was stopped in lap 7. When the race was restarted, the gearbox failed. Yip became more and more frustrated. When there was again an accident due to mechanical failure in Zandvoort and a NQ in Monza, he did not took part in the last races.
For the 1979 season, Teddy Yip decided to help his friend Mo Nunn again. There was a new race car, the N179. It was the first ground effect wing car designed by the duo Morris Nunn & Dave Baldwin and the Pakistan engineer Shahab Armed. It was also the ugliest car, because the oil radiator and two water radiators were placed in the front of the rectangular nose, had wide sidepods and spoilers and three separate fuel cells (one under the seat and two in the back). Because that concept did not work (1 No-qualification), Nunn came back to a conventional concept. Despite the money from Yip, the season was a disaster. First with Derek Daly; usually a not-qualified result. He was replaced by Patrick Gaillard (5 races) and later Marc Surer (2 NQ, 1 DNF). Best result: P13 in the Great Brittain F1 race (with Gaillard).
The never tired Yip was unstoppable. To the general surprise, he bought the remains of the Shadow team. This team was in deep financial troubles and raced with an outdated car. The take-over was finalized during the Belgian GP; Shadow presented the DN12 as a last attempt to stay in F1.
The black Shadow cars became white and were stickered with Theodore Shadow. David Kennedy and Geoff Lees did their best, but could not get qualified for the Monaco and French F1 race. Yip stopped the show early in an attempt to bounce back stronger next season.
The Theodore racing moved out of his Woking location and moved to an industrial site near Birmingham. In a non-championship race in South-Africa, Yip entered an old Shadow DN12 (with a new name: Theodore TR2) for Geoff Lees with extra money from Irishman Jack Kallay (Hi-Line Car Stripes). It was a bad start, because in lap 11, Lees lost the car and drove through the fences.
Also good news. Theodore Racing got on board engineer Tony Southgate, recently sacked by Arrows. Because there was a lot of parts from Shadow, he designed a simple car with one new item: an elevated spoiler higher placed on the central part in order to maximize the airflow in the lateral radiators. Sid Taylor put Patrick Tambay again behind the wheel. Patrick did had some low years at Mclaren and found his racing appetite again in the CanAm. He found the team around Yip ideal for a F1come-back.
After a small test, the car was presented at the Long Beach GP. The official presentation took place on the Queen Mary with the girls from the Moulin Rouge in Paris. First race was a success. Tambay finished sixth, scoring the first points for Theodore. In Brazil he finished P10 and retired in Argentina. Back in Europe, Tambay was 11th in San Marino but got a non-qualification at Zolder. That was a strange situation. There were only 30 cars allowed for practice, Theodore was not elected. But when Toleman gave forfeit, the Theodore was allowed for the qualifications Saturday afternoon. Tambay did his best on a wet track, but did not get qualified. It was a bit better in Monaco. They got through the pre-qualifications with the first chassis and then got TY01#2 for the qualifications and the race. Tambay got into the top 6 when the gearbox failed. He drove the last 30 laps stuck in third gear and finishes 7th.
After the race gave Dave Simms his demission as team manager. He got replaced by Jo Ramirez. In the race at Jarama, Tambay finished P13, 2 laps behind the winner.
But then he got recruited by Ligier to replace JP Jabouille. The departure of Tabay also meant the loss of the Michelin tyres. Teddy Yip immediately took Marc Surer on board. He was very enthusiastic but had to adapt to the Avon tyres. He finished P12 in his first race at Dijon, P11 at Silvesrtone,P14 at Hockenheim where he got an accident because of a suspension failure in the last lap. In Austria, the car broke down on the grid and in Zandvoort, Surer got an eight place at the finish. Then there was a non-qualification at Monza, P09 in Canada and suspension failure in Las Vegas.
After the good TY01, Tony Southgate designed a very different TY02.
Driver for the season was Derek Daly. He drove the old car in the first race in South-Africa, so the TY02 made his debut in Brasil. Here Daly drove a solid race here and in Long Beach. As an English team, Theodore participated in the boycott of the San Marino GP. And then, Daly was recruited by Williams to replace Carlos Reutemann, who abruptly decided to stop his racing-car. Bad for the sports, but good for the team; they got a lot of compensation money.
But again, the team had a vacant driver seat and on top of that the Avon tyres seemed unable to compete against Michelin or Goodyear tyres. Through team manager Jo Ramirez, the selected driver was Jan Lammers. He knew the Dutchman from his time at Shadow and ATS. At his first race at Zolder (Belgium), Lammers could not get qualified. Remember it was there that Gilles Villeneuve had his fatal accident. Just before the Monaco GP, Avon decided to quit the F1 scene. The team had no tyres for the Thursday training. On Friday, Yip made a deal with Leo Mehl from Goodyear for the rest of the season. Jan did his best and on Saturday morning he was 18th fastest (of 26 cars). In the afternoon, he did not get a free lap, so not-qualified for the race. It was also clear that the suspension was not designed for the Goodyear tyres. In the qualifying for the Detroit GP, Lammers broke his thumb when he hit the wall with a failing accelerator. Sid Taylor tried to convince Mario Andretti to replace him, but he declined.
For the Canadian GP, there was Geoff Lees as replacement for Lammers. He got involved in the accident with Ricardo Paletti at the start. No spare car, no second start. Back in Europe, Lammers could get qualified on the last spot on the grid for his home GP(and his last F1 race) at Zandvoort. Engine troubles in the race made retire. But when Lammers could not qualify in Brands Hatch and at Le Castellet, he was sacked.
In came Tommy Byrne, a rising star who won the Formula Ford Festival in 1981 and brought sponsor money from Rizla and Ventaire. Just as Lammers, he could not get a qualification in Germany and was last on the grid in Austria. For the Swiss GP at Dijon, there was a new suspension configuration installed, but that also did not improve the performance of the car. For the last race in Last Vegas, Byrne was allowed to start when Osella did not start; the race ended in a spin.
Ensign boss Mo Nunn was again in financial troubles. His only chance to survive was to suggest to Teddy Yip to merge Theodore and Ensign. So the Theodore team moved out of Birmingham and into Lichfield. The best mechanics from both teams could stay and Terry Gibbons stayed as head mechanic. The Ensign car from 1982 with a fabulous chassis, designed by Nigel Bennet and Graham Humphrys was retained.
Two cars, now named and slightly modified Theodore N183, were entered for the F1 circus. The driver choice was easy. Roberto Guerrero had massive sponsoring from “Café de Columbia” and Johnny Cecotto had money from “Segafredo” and “Sanyo”.
In the first race at Rio, there were problems linked to the joining of two teams. Both cars were racing in the midfield, but fading brakes delayed them both. But at Long Beach, it started again with a big party in the Hilton at Queensway drive, including a long Chinese meal. Guerrero qualified 8th but had to start from the back because his chassis was 10 mm too wide. Cecotto finished P6 despite gearbox issues. Both drivers crashed at Imola and did not pre-qualify for Monaco. Johnny was 10th in Belgium, had two retirements and could not get qualified on the next three occasions. He ran out of money. Yip generously offered him money for two more races, but before the European GP at Brands Hatch he was out of the team. Roberto Guerrero did better, but never finished within the top 10.
The team did not start in the last race of the year. Nunn lost interest and Teddy Yip, now 76 years old, decided that the F1 was done for him. He would need an expensive Turbo engine for the next season anyhow.
So, this is an example that F1 became and still is big business…
