geoffrey russell headquarters melbourne australia area served australia new zealand products auto parts services auto parts distributor number of employees 4 000 parent genuine parts company website http www.repco.com.au repco mitsubishi lancer company car . repco is an australian automotive engineering company . its name is an abbreviation of replacement parts company and it is best known for spare parts and motor accessories . the company gained fame for developing the engines which powered the brabham formula one cars in which jack brabham and denny hulme won the 1966 and 1967 world championship of drivers titles respectively . brabham repco were awarded the international cup for f1 manufacturers in the same two years . 1 repco currently runs a series of stores across australia and new zealand specialising in the sale of parts and aftermarket accessories . the company was founded by robert geoffrey geoff russell in 1922 and first traded under the name automotive grinding company from premises in collingwood victoria . it currently has over 2 000 employees in almost 400 stores . repco was briefly a publicly traded company being first listed on the australian stock exchange in 2003 however following acquisition of all shares by ccmp capital asia repco has been delisted from the australian stock exchange . from 1 july 2013 repco and the entire exego group consisting of ashdown ingram mcleod accessories and motospecs were all acquired by gpc asia pacific . as at the end of 2013 repco australia has 295 stores and repco new zealand has 81 repco stores and an additional 10 appco automotive trade only stores . contents 1 repco v8 engine 2 four world titles for the single camshaft 16 valve 3 no success for the double camshaft 32 valve 4 other racing 5 repco brabham racing cars 6 repco holden formula 5000 engine 7 international cup for f1 manufacturers results 8 world championship of drivers results 9 references 10 external links repco v8 engine edit in 1964 the australian new zealand tasman series was created with a 2500cc capacity limit applied to engines . jack brabham approached repco to develop a suitable engine and together they decided to base the sohc design on oldsmobile jetfire 215 ci block with 6 cylinder head stud per cylinder . combined with a short stroke flat plane crankshaft repco designed cylinder heads camshafts and two stage chain gear cam drive a 2.5 l engine was built in 1965 with its cylinder head cast by commonwealth aircraft . in 1963 the international motor racing body the fia announced that the maximum engine capacity for the formula one category would be doubled to three litres to start from the 1966 season . despite calls for a return to power having been made few teams were prepared as the main engine supplier in the uk coventry climax decided to get out of race engine building . 2 jack brabham exploited his existing relationship with australian automotive components manufacturer repco . he proposed they design and build a 3l version of the 2.5 l engine by using a longer stroke flat plane crankshaft . the repco board agreed to his proposal in light of the expected rival 2.75 l coventry climax fpf dohc engine being of 4 cylinder configuration deemed to be near obsolete and the plan to build cosworth dfv revealed at the end of 1965 by ford its sponsor was not known yet . a small team developed the f1 engine fitted with 2 valve per cylinder sohc heads from the 2.5 l version . the first advantage of this repco 620 v8 was its compact size and lightness which allowed it to be bolted into an existing 1.5 litre formula one chassis . with no more than 310 bhp 231 kw the repco was by far the least powerful of the new 3 litre engines but unlike the others it was frugal light and compact . 3 also unlike the others it was reliable and due to low weight and power the strain on chassis suspension brakes and tyres was low . this engine being based on british american rover v8 buick 215 block 4 is a common misconception as the rover buick v8 although quite similar in appearance and size had 5 cylinder head studs per cylinder 14 studs per head with 6 shared studs in between cylinders configuration that can not accommodate the 6 stud 18 studs per head with 6 shared studs in between cylinders repco rb620 heads . the difference in block design originated in oldsmobile s intention to produce the higher power turbo charged jetfire version . gm s later use of parts diagrams drawn for oldsmobile in buick parts catalog showing a 6 stud cylinder block further fueled the confusion . four world titles for the single camshaft 16 valve edit in 1966 the repco engine was good enough to score 3 poles for jack brabham . in his one off bt19 it helped him get 4 consecutive wins and both titles in the 9 races long season a unique accomplishment for a driver and constructor . this was his third title . the 2 995.58 cc v8 repco had a bore and stroke of 3.50 x 2.375 88.9 x 60.3 mm . initially it gave about 285 bhp 213 kw ; 289 ps . a test bed figure of 310 bhp 231 kw ; 314 ps at 7 800 rpm with 230 lb ft 310 n m torque at 6 500 rpm was obtained . in race trim about 299 bhp 223 kw ; 303 ps was available . in 1967 the bore and stroke remained unaltered . in that year 325 330 bhp at 8 500 rpm was often quoted . a test bed figure of 327 bhp 244 kw ; 332 ps at 8 300 rpm was recorded . for 1968 a 32 valve version with 400 bhp 298 kw ; 406 ps at 9 500 rpm was planned . but only about 380 bhp 283 kw ; 385 ps at 9 000 rpm was achieved . in 1967 the competition had made progress . repco produced a new version of the engine the 700 series this time with a repco designed block . brabham scored 2 poles early in the year but then the new ford cosworth dfv v8 appeared in the lotus 49 setting a new pace with its 410 hp 310 kw at 9 000 rpm with jim clark and graham hill taking all poles in the rest of the season . as the lotus was still fragile the brabham pilots scored 2 wins each . brabham used new parts on his cars which was not always helpful so denis hulme collected more results and the title followed by brabham himself who again won the constructors title . no success for the double camshaft 32 valve edit the new ford engine which was made available to other teams in 1968 also convinced brabham that more power was needed . with hindsight brabham commented that the single cam motor s reliability may have been enough to supplant the more powerful cosworths as late as the 1968 season . a new version of the repco v8 with gear driven double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder was produced for 1968 to maintain its competitiveness . a figure of 400 bhp 298 kw ; 406 ps at 9 500 rpm was targeted but only about 380 bhp 283 kw ; 385 ps at 9 000 rpm was achieved . the season was a disaster as it proved very unreliable due to unsurmountable valve gear unreliability . there was also a 4.2 litre derivative for the indy 500 . jochen rindt who had moved to brabham at the wrong time managed to score two poles and two podiums that year while brabham himself collected only two points . the repco project had always been hindered by the lengthy lines of communication between the uk and australia which made correcting problems very difficult . repco having spent far more money than originally envisaged and having sold very few customer versions of their engine stopped the project . for 1969 the works brabham team and most of the private brabham entries also used the ubiquitous cosworth powerplant . a pair of older brabham repcos were entered in the season opening 1969 south african grand prix by local drivers sam tingle and peter de klerk but no points were scored on the engine marque s last appearance in the world championship . also lds fitted with repcos were used in the south african grand prix in the late 1960s as well as in the national f1 series there . other racing edit repco brabham 760 series 5 litre quad cam v8 engine in the matich sr4 sports car repco had been involved in australian motor racing many years prior to the association with brabham . most famous had been development of the engine of the series of maybach specials in the 1950s to various wins including the 1954 new zealand grand prix . the brabham repco project was initially aimed at the tasman series where coventry climax s obsolete fpf 4 cylinder engine was dominant in the mid 1960s . the 2.5 litre version of the repco v8 was never very successful in this series initially producing no more power than the fpf . it did however record one tasman series round win with jack brabham driving his repco powered brabham bt23a to victory in the 1967 south pacific trophy at the longford road circuit in tasmania . brabham repco s were also prepared and entered in the 1968 and 1969 indianapolis 500 . in 1969 peter revson finished fifth in such a car . he also won a usac race in the same year . further versions of the v8 engine were produced including a 4.3 litre variant for sports car racing and a turbo charged version intended for united states automobile club races . neither version met with any international success the turbo in particular being labelled puff the tragic wagon by its development team due to its lack of horsepower compare with puff the magic dragon . the sports car engine increased in size to 5.0 litres was however dominant domestically powering cars to several wins in the australian sports car championship and its predecessor the australian tourist trophy most notably powering the matich sports cars built and raced by frank matich and elfin sports cars built and raced by garrie cooper . repco brabham racing cars edit repco brabham badge on the nose of a repco brabham bt6 racing car when jack brabham began building racing cars in england he named his cars repco brabhams 5 the result of a sponsorship deal between brabham and repco . 6 this name was applied regardless of the engine used 7 and the arrangement existed through to the end of the 1960s . 8 the agreement saw repco s international marketing of its automotive parts and service equipment supported by brabham s racing achievements . 7 repco holden formula 5000 engine edit repco also developed and built the repco holden formula 5000 engine for formula 5000 racing . repco used the block and head castings of the holden 308 v8 engine as its basis 9 but it featured many modifications including lucas fuel injection and dual coil bosch ignition and more than 150 special components designed by repco . 10 the engine first tasted success in the 1970 australian grand prix which was won by frank matich driving a repco holden powered mclaren m10b . the engine was then used extensively in racing vehicles including cars competing in the tasman series the australian drivers championship the australian sports car championship and the australian sports sedan and gt championships . by 1976 power for the 5.0 l repco holden v8 was rated at approximately 500 bhp 373 kw ; 507 ps . due to the success of