Brabham-Repco

Interesting facts

When the rules doubled engine capacity to 3 litres in 1966, suitable engines suddenly became scarce - Brabham responded by partnering with the Australian firm Repco, which supplied a light aluminium V8 built around blocks from a cancelled Oldsmobile F85 project. Few expected the combination to be competitive, yet the light, reliable Repco-powered Brabhams ran at the front from the very start of the season. Jack Brabham won the 1966 World Championship in his own car - the only driver ever to win an F1 title in a car bearing his own name - and became the first man to win a championship Grand Prix in a self-named car, at that year's French Grand Prix. The Brabham Racing Organisation also clinched the 1966 Constructors' Championship, with 42 points. In 1967 his teammate Denny Hulme took the drivers' title, partly thanks to better reliability through the year while Brabham himself often trialled new parts first. In 1968, with Austrian Jochen Rindt replacing Hulme, the increasingly powerful but unreliable Repco V8 fell behind the new Cosworth DFV, and the team managed only 10 points all season. Brabham-Repco's Formula 1 history ran from 1966 to 1969, 4 seasons in total as a British team. Brabham-Repco won the Constructors' Championship 2 times, in 1966, 1967. The team scored a total of 119 constructors' championship points.