Repco facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Repco

Formerly	Automotive Grinding Company
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1922
Founder	Geoff Russell
Headquarters	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Area served	Australia, New Zealand
Products	Auto parts
Services	Auto parts distributor
Number of employees	4,000
Parent	Genuine Parts Company

A Repco company car, a Mitsubishi Lancer.

Repco is an Australian company that works with cars. Its name is short for Replacement Parts Company. For many years, Repco was known for fixing car engines and making special car parts. Now, it is mostly known for selling spare parts and car accessories in stores.

The company became famous for building the engines that powered the Brabham Formula One race cars. With these engines, drivers Jack Brabham and Denny Hulme won the World Championship of Drivers in 1966 and 1967. The Brabham-Repco team also won the championship for car makers in those same two years.

Today, Repco has many stores across Australia and New Zealand. These stores sell car parts and accessories for all kinds of vehicles.

Repco's Story

Repco was started by Geoff Russell in 1922. It was first called the Automotive Grinding Company. Its first location was in Collingwood, Victoria.

Repco became a public company in 1937, meaning its shares could be bought and sold on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Later, in 1988, another company called Pacific Dunlop bought Repco. This meant Repco was no longer listed on the stock exchange.

In 2001, a group of investors bought Repco. Then, it was listed on both the ASX and the New Zealand Exchange again. In 2006, another company, CCMP Capital, bought all of Repco's shares, and it was taken off the stock exchange once more. Finally, on July 1, 2013, Genuine Parts Company bought Repco and its related businesses.

Sports Sponsorships

Since 2021, Repco has been the main sponsor for the Bathurst 1000 race and the Supercars Championship. This means these events are named after Repco.

Before this, Repco sponsored other racing teams like Garry Rogers Motorsport and Dick Johnson Racing. They also sponsored the 1979 Round Australia Trial, a long car race around Australia. In 2024, Repco became the main sponsor for the D1NZ National Drifting Championship in New Zealand.

Repco V8 Engines for Racing

In 1964, a new racing series called the Tasman Series started. Engines in this series could not be bigger than 2,500 cc. Jack Brabham asked Repco to build an engine for his cars. They decided to use a special Oldsmobile Jetfire engine block as a base. Repco then designed new parts like cylinder heads and camshafts. By 1965, they had built a 2.5-liter engine.

Later, in 1963, the main international racing group, the FIA, announced a big change for Formula One. Starting in 1966, engines could be up to three liters. Many teams were not ready for this change because a major engine supplier in the UK decided to stop making race engines.

Jack Brabham used his friendship with engineer Phil Irving at Repco. He suggested they make a three-liter version of their 2.5-liter engine. The Repco company agreed. A small team at Repco, led by Phil Irving, developed the F1 engine. It used parts from the 2.5-liter version.

The first Repco 620 V8 engine was small and light. This meant it could fit into existing Formula One cars. Even though it had less power than other new three-liter engines, it used less fuel, was light, and was reliable. Because it was lighter and had less power, it put less stress on the car's parts like the chassis, suspension, brakes, and tires.

Winning World Titles

In 1966, the Repco engine was very good. Jack Brabham won three pole positions (starting from the very front of the race). He also won four races in a row and both the driver's and constructor's championships that year. This was a special achievement because he was both the driver and the car builder.

The 1966 Repco V8 engine produced about 285 horsepower at first. Later, it could reach about 315 horsepower. In races, it usually had around 299 horsepower.

In 1967, other teams had improved their engines. Repco made a new version, the 700 series, with its own engine block design. Jack Brabham won two pole positions early in the year. However, a powerful new engine, the Ford Cosworth DFV V8, appeared. This new engine had about 410 horsepower. Even though the Lotus cars using the Ford engine were sometimes fragile, the Brabham drivers still won two races each. Denny Hulme won the driver's championship, and Jack Brabham won the constructor's title again.

More Powerful Engines and Challenges

The new Ford engine, which other teams could also use in 1968, showed Brabham that Repco needed more power. Repco tried to make a new V8 engine for 1968. This new engine had more advanced parts, aiming for 400 horsepower. However, it only reached about 380 horsepower and had many problems with its valve system. It was very unreliable.

The Repco engine project faced challenges because of the long distance between the UK (where the cars were built) and Australia (where the engines were made). This made it hard to fix problems quickly. Repco had spent a lot of money and sold very few of these engines to other teams, so they stopped the project.

In 1969, the Brabham team started using the more common Cosworth engines. A few older Brabham-Repco cars were used in the first race of the 1969 season by local drivers, but they did not score any points. This was the last time the Repco engine appeared in the world championship.

Other Racing Successes

The Repco Brabham 760 series 5-liter V8 engine in the Matich SR4 sports car.

Repco was involved in Australian motor racing for many years before working with Brabham. In the 1950s, they helped develop engines for special cars called Maybach Specials. These cars won several races, including the 1954 New Zealand Grand Prix.

The Brabham-Repco project first focused on the Tasman Series. The 2.5-liter Repco V8 engine was not very successful in this series at first. However, Jack Brabham did win one Tasman Series race in 1967 with his Repco-powered Brabham BT23A car.

Brabham-Repco cars also raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 1968 and 1969. In 1969, Peter Revson finished fifth in a Repco-powered car and won another USAC race that year.

Repco also made other versions of their V8 engine. These included a 4.3-liter engine for sports car racing and a turbo-charged engine for US races. These versions did not have much international success. The turbo engine was even nicknamed 'Puff the Tragic Wagon' because it lacked power.

However, the sports car engine (which was later made into a 5.0-liter version) was very successful in Australia. It powered cars to many wins in the Australian Sports Car Championship. Famous drivers like Frank Matich and Garrie Cooper used these engines in their Matich and Elfin Sports Cars.

Repco Brabham Racing Cars

The Repco Brabham badge on the front of a Repco Brabham BT6 racing car.

When Jack Brabham started building his own race cars in England, he named them Repco Brabhams. This was part of a sponsorship deal between Brabham and Repco. The cars kept this name even if they used a different engine. This agreement helped Repco promote its car parts and services around the world because of Brabham's racing wins.

Repco-Holden Formula 5000 Engine

Repco also designed and built the Repco-Holden Formula 5000 engine for Formula 5000 races. Repco used parts from the Holden 308 V8 engine as a starting point. But they made many changes, adding special fuel injection and ignition systems, and over 150 unique parts designed by Repco. This engine first won a race in the 1970 Australian Grand Prix with Frank Matich driving a McLaren M10B.

The Repco-Holden engine was used a lot in various racing cars. These included cars in the Tasman Series, the Australian Drivers' Championship, and other Australian racing championships.

By 1976, the 5.0-liter Repco-Holden V8 engine produced about 500 horsepower. This was similar to other main engines used in Australian Formula 5000 races.

Because the Repco-Holden V8 was so successful, Holden asked Repco to help develop their own 308 engine for their road cars.

Championship Wins with Repco-Holden Engine

The Repco-Holden Formula 5000 engine helped win many races and championships:

• Australian Grand Prix:
  • 1970 – Frank Matich, McLaren M10B
  • 1971 – Frank Matich, Matich A50
  • 1976 – John Goss, Matich A53

• Australian Drivers' Championship:
  • 1972 – Frank Matich, Matich A50
  • 1973 – John McCormack, Elfin MR5
  • 1975 – John McCormack, Elfin MR6

• New Zealand Grand Prix:
  • 1973 – John McCormack, Elfin MR5
  • 1974 – John McCormack, Elfin MR5

• Australian Sports Car Championship:
  • 1975 – Garrie Cooper, Elfin MS7

• Australian Sports Sedan Championship:
  • 1980 – Tony Edmondson, Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV

• Australian Tourist Trophy:
  • 1976 – Stuart Kostera, Elfin MS7

• Toby Lee Series:
  • 1974 – John McCormack, Chrysler Charger

Formula One Team Results

Repco engines helped the Brabham team win the International Cup for F1 Manufacturers:

• 1966 Brabham-Repco – 1st place
• 1967 Brabham-Repco – 1st place
• 1968 Brabham-Repco – 8th place
• 1969 Brabham-Repco – Not Classified (NC)

Repco engines also helped drivers win the World Championship of Drivers:

• 1966: Jack Brabham (World Champion), Denny Hulme (4th)
• 1967: Denny Hulme (World Champion), Jack Brabham (2nd)
• 1968: Jochen Rindt (12th), Jack Brabham (23rd)
• 1969: No points scored by Repco-powered cars.