![\"Ferrari\u2019s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/john-surtees-ferrari-312.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe announcement of the extant 1.5-litre Formula 1 had drawn a volley of catcalls and bread buns. The best of British was gathered to celebrate the breakthrough 1958 world titles of Mike Hawthorn, Vanwall, and (in Formula 2) Cooper. Then the RAC\u2019s Pat Gregory rose to his feet, cleared his throat, and killed the party mood.<\/p>\n
In contrast, the news that this limit was to be doubled, as of 1 January 1966, caused zero furore \u2013 perhaps because this November 1963 decision was taken on the day of JFK\u2019s assassination.<\/p>\n
The word was that the British constructors\u2019 request for a three-litre limit had been proffered as an opening gambit, but that the Paris-based Commission Sportive Internationale caught them off guard by agreeing forthwith.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn excess of power? Wonderful! I thought it was going to be terrific: more speed, more acceleration, more wheelspin, more noise\u201d Jackie Stewart<\/p>\n
\u201cI was excited by it,\u201d said the late John Surtees years later. \u201cImmediately, there was talk of a brand-new engine at Ferrari. But generally, it was welcomed across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jackie Stewart concurs: \u201cAn excess of power? Wonderful! I thought it was going to be terrific: more speed, more acceleration, more wheelspin, more noise. At BRM, there was talk of huge revs and 500-plus bhp. I was convinced.\u201d<\/p>\n
But talk was cheap for monastic Jack Brabham. Necessarily parsimonious, too, he sought cheap torque. Having rejected the Japanese Prince V8 due to its fragile wet liners, he flew to LA in March 1964 to view a liner-less aluminium block from a 3.5-litre Buick V8.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ferrari\u2019s new three-litre V12 powered Surtees to Syracuse GP victory<\/p>\n
Photo by: LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n
There, he was informed of a sister unit, with an extra head stud, created at huge expense for a since-abandoned Oldsmobile project. They cost Brabham \u00a311 each. This would be his building block of consecutive drivers\u2019 and constructors\u2019 world championships.<\/p>\n
Much work, however, needed to be done. The base F85 unit featured overhead valves operated by willowy pushrods, actuated by a camshaft in the centre of the vee. It did not smack of a high-revving competition engine. Enter Melbourne\u2019s Replacement Parts Company.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Founded in the 1920s, to do as its name suggests, Repco boasted manufacturing and technical agreements with car manufacturers in America and Europe by the 1950s. Brabham had courted and promoted it \u2013 by deeds not words \u2013 ever since.<\/p>\n
Repco\u2019s board was not entirely on board with increasing its motorsport involvement, but chief engineer Frank Hallam talked it around<\/p>\n
It had helped with his world title-winning Coopers from 1959-60, and provided him with the Surbiton warehouse that was the first home of Motor Racing Developments, the company he founded in conjunction with designer Ron Tauranac. Repco\u2019s board was not entirely on board with increasing its motorsport involvement, but chief engineer Frank Hallam talked it around \u2013 and put Phil Irving, the legendary Australian motorcycle designer, on the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe set Phil up in a Croydon flat,\u201d explained Tauranac, who died in 2020. \u201cHe\u2019d start mid-morning and work deep into the night, smoking non-stop. I had no problem with him, but he had his own ideas and wouldn\u2019t always stick to the pre-arranged plan. Hallam had to come to England to get the project back on track.\u201d<\/p>\n
The first prototype, a 2.5-litre on carburettors, ran in March 1965, which was too late for that year\u2019s Tasman Cup, but in plenty of time for what Brabham always considered its primary purpose: F1\u2019s \u2018Return to Power\u2019.<\/p>\n
![\"Repco](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/denny-hulme-brabham-bt20-repco.jpg\")
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Repco engine\u2019s win at Reims was the first of a run of four victories<\/p>\n
Photo by: Autocar \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n
It retained Irving\u2019s mirrored cylinder heads \u2013 a method of easing the spares situation \u2013 with wedge-shaped combustion chambers, and two parallel valves operated by a chain-driven single overhead camshaft per bank. Its Laystall flat-plane crankshaft was lightened and balanced; its Daimler V8 conrods cost \u00a37 a throw: and a 3\/16in diaphragm vitally stiffened its bottom end.<\/p>\n
Entitled 620 \u2013 the hundreds referred to the block, and the tens to the heads \u2013 this 90-degree unit generated 285bhp at 8000rpm on Lucas indirect fuel injection. Just as importantly, it was frugal (7mpg), light (330lb), and compact (21in across the heads).<\/p>\n
Bolted into a tubular spaceframe originally intended for Coventry Climax\u2019s no-show 1.5-litre flat-16 of 1965, Brabham\u2019s BT19 \u2018Old Nail\u2019 was the only three-litre on the grid for South Africa\u2019s non-championship Grand Prix of 1966: on New Year\u2019s Day! He led comfortably from pole position, setting fastest lap.<\/p>\n
\u201cFerrari wasn\u2019t exactly bursting at the seams with money. They claimed 360bhp for it. It was more like 290\u201d John Surtees<\/p>\n
Then the fuel metering unit jammed and popped its drive belt 11 laps from home. A water leak would halt him after fewer than two laps of May\u2019s Syracuse GP. A brooding Brabham had to watch as Surtees topped out a Ferrari 1-2 in its new three-litre.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, but I was having to row it along like hell,\u201d said Surtees. That tuneful 60-degree twin-spark V12 could be dated back to the marque\u2019s 1947 birth. \u201cFerrari wasn\u2019t exactly bursting at the seams with money. They claimed 360bhp for it. It was more like 290. Our car was heavy, too. It didn\u2019t set the world alight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And nor would it at Silverstone\u2019s International Trophy a fortnight later, when Brabham\u2019s nimbler machine put the 312 to the sword. \u201cI told them that there was no point taking it to Monaco,\u201d continued Surtees. \u201cI wanted to use our 2.4-litre V6.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Pole,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jack-brabham-brabham-bt19-repc.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Pole, fastest lap and the race win went Brabham\u2019s way at Silverstone\u2019s International Trophy<\/p>\n
Photo by: Central Press \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
Neither Surtees nor Brabham would win around the houses in the championship opener. Coerced into driving the three-litre, Surtees\u2019s prediction of a brief lead before inevitable gearbox failure came to pass after 14 laps. Brabham\u2019s gearbox lasted only a few minutes more. Stewart won in a two-litre BRM, and Lorenzo Bandini was second in the Ferrari denied to Surtees.<\/p>\n
\u201cLuckily, it was a bit wet at Spa, and things worked out OK,\u201d recounted Surtees, who died in 2017. \u201cBecause there weren\u2019t many slow corners, I could keep up the momentum, so that weight was not such a major factor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A cautious Brabham finished fourth, two laps behind the victorious Ferrari, having survived a lurid spin in the opening-lap cloudburst.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had more control with Repco than with Climax. The latter\u2019s engines used to appear at our door. We\u2019d drop one in a car, run it, and, if it broke, take it out and send it back\u201d\u00a0Hywel Absalom<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the beginning of 1966, I didn\u2019t think that we had a winning combination,\u201d says Hywel Absalom, Brabham\u2019s 23-year-old \u2018Welsh Pom\u2019 number two mechanic. \u201cThe Repco kept knocking cam followers out, and there were lots of other little problems with it. Jack was in a quandary about reverting to a Climax.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut actually, we had more control with Repco than with Climax. The latter\u2019s engines used to appear at our door. We\u2019d drop one in a car, run it, and, if it broke, take it out and send it back. Repco\u2019s arrived as complete units in packing cases, but it was us who stripped and rebuilt them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mechanic charged with solving those \u201clittle problems\u201d was Bob Ilich, a 25-year-old from Perth: \u201cOne day, Jack said, \u2018Flying engines back and forth from Australia isn\u2019t going to work.\u2019 So, along with Jimmy Potton, a very experienced English mechanic who had worked for Aston Martin, I helped strip the first engine. Then, and I don\u2019t know why, Jimmy left, and Jack asked me, \u2018Did you watch how he pulled that engine to bits?\u2019 I replied, \u2018No, not really.\u2019<\/p>\n
![\"Brabham](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jack-brabham-pa-phil-kerr-john.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Brabham with Phil Kerr, John Judd, Ron Tauranac, Cary Taylor, Hywel Absalom, John Muller, Roy Billington and Bob Ilich<\/p>\n
Photo by: Victor Blackman \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019d worked on truck engines back home. So, I put it back together, and put it into Jack\u2019s BT19. It wouldn\u2019t go. The battery was flat. When it did start, we\u2019d flooded it: flames shot about 10 metres from the exhausts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnyway, it went to Reims \u2013 and won. I did the engines from thereon. Our biggest problem had been trying to do R&D while going racing. We didn\u2019t know how long our engines would last or what would break. A new one would arrive at the airport. Sometimes they were all right. Sometimes they were no good at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we decided that if we didn\u2019t rebuild them, we didn\u2019t race them. They eventually became bomb-proof. But I was buggered! Black around the eyes from working day and night.\u201d<\/p>\n
That French GP victory \u2013 the first by a car with its driver\u2019s name on its nose \u2013 started a sequence of four consecutive GP wins that put Brabham in the box seat for the world title<\/p>\n
That French GP victory \u2013 the first by a car with its driver\u2019s name on its nose \u2013 started a sequence of four consecutive GP wins that put Brabham in the box seat for the world title. He had just turned 40.<\/p>\n
Surtees was also in the midst of new beginnings. Feeling underappreciated at Ferrari, he had switched to Cooper. Its Italian 60-degree twin-spark V12 could be traced back only 10 years. Revived at the behest of Maserati\u2019s charming British concessionaire, Mario Tozzi-Condivi, whose Chipstead Motor Group now owned Cooper Car Company, Tipo 9 was said to give 360bhp at 9200rpm, but looked terrifyingly complex and bulky in the bulbous T81.<\/p>\n
Surtees: \u201cThe Ferraris had more top-end speed, but that Cooper was actually a nice little handler, and I was quicker through the sweeping first part of the Reims circuit. Then I picked up a tow from one of them, and split them on the front row. I led off the line, too, and thought, \u2018I\u2019m in with a chance here.\u2019 Suddenly, one of the fuel pumps packed up and left me high and dry. The Maser wasn\u2019t startling, but it did a good job.<\/p>\n
![\"It](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/john-surtees-ferrari-312-jacki.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
It turned out that Surtees was right not wanting to run the three-litre at Monaco<\/p>\n
Photo by: Rainer Schlegelmilch \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWith all due respect to Jack, who did a wonderful job, only by some bad luck did I manage not to win the championship. I was in a position to win at the Nurburgring, when I lost two gears. I was right with them at Monza, when a bag tank ruptured. And I was in the lead battle in America, sitting on the tail of Lorenzo Bandini\u2019s Ferrari, able to cope quite nicely, when Lotus\u2019s Peter Arundell came out of the pits and collected me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surtees\u2019s consummate win at the Mexico City finale came too late. Brabham, his Repco now giving 310bhp, had secured the driver\u2019s title at Monza, despite retiring due to an oil leak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI flew home with Jack,\u201d recalled Tauranac. \u201cWhen we landed at Fairoaks Airport, there was a crowd of journalists there. I asked Jack what it was all about. He replied that they probably wanted to interview us about winning the world championship. That was the first time I was aware of it. I had been so focused on each event that I hadn\u2019t taken in the bigger picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy driving had gone stale, but, with Repco behind me, I was fired up. I\u2019d had confidence in the project from the start\u201d Jack Brabham<\/p>\n
This \u2018husband-and-wife\u2019 pair were not bosom buddies, and often marched to their own states of tune. Brabham could see the financial sense of having an order book full of satisfied customers, but often chafed at his works team\u2019s resultant wait of expectation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter beating Ferrari [at Silverstone], my sights had definitely been on the championship,\u201d he reckoned. \u201cMy driving had gone stale, but, with Repco behind me, I was fired up. I\u2019d had confidence in the project from the start \u2013 I never actually fell out with Ron \u2013 but we had to make sure that the F1 side was going to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tauranac: \u201cAt the end of 1963, our first full year of F1, Jack had said that he would like to run his own team: Brabham Racing Organisation. The idea was to become a customer of Motor Racing Developments and pay \u00a33000 per car. After three seasons of no direct involvement, no feedback, and no money for development, I had lost interest in F1.<\/p>\n
![\"Stewart](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jackie-stewart-tony-rudd-brm-p.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Stewart admits he had been naive about the reality of the complex BRM H16<\/p>\n
Photo by: Rainer Schlegelmilch \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why, at the end of 1965, I said that I didn\u2019t wish to build any more. This cleared the air. A new agreement was drawn up, and I played a much bigger part from 1966. Jack and I had the partnership back the way we originally planned it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferrari scored a 1-2 that day at Monza, its performance boosted by three-valve heads. \u201cThey had been in the wind when I left,\u201d said Surtees. \u201cBut they were in such confusion that I didn\u2019t know what they\u2019d do. Someone made a decision and decided to salvage something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Something\u2019 that was beyond BRM\u2019s complex H16 engine. First seen rumbling around Monaco, it finally made its race debut at the Italian GP: Stewart and team-mate Graham Hill both retired, as they would at Watkins Glen and Mexico City.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hadn\u2019t considered that more also meant more cylinders, more metal, more friction, more radiators, more everything. It carried enough fuel, water and oil for the Queen Mary\u201d Jackie Stewart<\/p>\n
\u201cI had been naive,\u201d says Stewart. \u201cI hadn\u2019t considered that more also meant more cylinders, more metal, more friction, more radiators, more everything. It carried enough fuel, water and oil for the Queen Mary.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I learned a lot more in 1966, too. My 1965 season had been about seat-of-the-pants exuberance. The new three-litres caused what I call the \u2018speedboat concept\u2019: jam the throttle open, and the back sinks and the front rises. How you introduced speed, power and traction was now more sophisticated. A corner began, not when you braked, but when you took your foot off the gas pedal. More talent was needed to drive them.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that Brabham was so good because its engine was simple and flexible.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Surtees](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/john-surtees-ferrari-312-joche.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Surtees (6) won at Spa; Brabham (3) survived a spin to finish fourth<\/p>\n
Photo by: LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, at a drawing board near Northampton, a pale and drawn Keith Duckworth \u2013 he lost 40lb in nine months of 16-hour days, seven days a week \u2013 was designing the most important engine in F1 history: the brilliantly simple, and simply brilliant Ford-Cosworth DFV V8.<\/p>\n
No tangles of electrical \u2018spaghetti\u2019 or \u2018viper\u2019s nest\u2019 exhausts; just a neat, efficient package bolted snugly to the Lotus 49 \u2018bracket\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe writing was on the wall,\u201d remembered Surtees, who had joined Honda for 1967: its V12 was powerful but, with its pre-war Alfa Romeo cues, too large, thirsty and heavy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest problem racing against British machinery was the characteristics of their engines, which made them easier to drive. In Keith Duckworth, you had someone who fully appreciated what was required.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stewart: \u201cHis DFV was the best thing to happen to F1. Ken Tyrrell went to Zandvoort just to see it [win on its June 1967 debut]. As soon as he did \u2013 bingo!\u201d<\/p>\n
This article is one of many in the monthly Autosport magazine. For more premium content, take a look at the March 2026 issue and\u00a0subscribe today<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The game was changed beyond all recognition by the arrival of the Cosworth DFV<\/p>\n Photo by: Rainer Schlegelmilch \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n We want to hear from you!<\/p>\n Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/jim-clark-lotus-49-ford.jpg\")
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