Hi!
Were they really stronger than the Chevy
units? John McCormack (Elfin-Repco) and John
Goss (Matich-Repco) respectively won the
1973 NZGP and 1976 AGP because of their
horsepower advantage, the reports say.
Was anyone there? Who remembers the "howling
of the flat crank Repco"?
Speaking of John Goss, who saw his fight with
John Cannon`s slowly disintegrating March
at Sandown in 1976?
Repco F5000 engines
Started by
island
, Apr 09 2000 02:50
1 reply to this topic
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#2
Ray Bell
-
- 81,451 posts
- Joined: December 99
Member
Posted 09 April 2000 - 03:14
Surely, Island, you are going through back issues of Racing Car News and picking out the races I didn't see?
Let's stick to the Repco engines, which many readers won't know were based on the Holden V8. When the General Motors Austrralian subsidiary went into the V8 market, they used the Chev as an interim measure, then put out a V8 that had many common parts with their sixes. It was this engine that Repco developed.
As to its power, in the early stages it may have had slightly more than a good Traco Chev, but I believe its torque was more of an advantage. Certainly, it was a little lighter.
One developmental problem they had was with valves - a problem solved by going to a lot of trouble to make sure they rotated as they popped up and down. Their rewards were fairly high, but stopped after Goss dropped out, his Matich being the car that really got the wins. Matich took the 1972 Gold Star for Repco, and as you mention, there was McCormack's NZGP win in the Elfin. Oh, yes, McCormack pulled off the Gold Star when he reverted to the Repco Holden for the ML6 after Dale Konnecke rebuilt the car from its Surfers crash and refused to reinstall the troublesome Leyland.
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
Let's stick to the Repco engines, which many readers won't know were based on the Holden V8. When the General Motors Austrralian subsidiary went into the V8 market, they used the Chev as an interim measure, then put out a V8 that had many common parts with their sixes. It was this engine that Repco developed.
As to its power, in the early stages it may have had slightly more than a good Traco Chev, but I believe its torque was more of an advantage. Certainly, it was a little lighter.
One developmental problem they had was with valves - a problem solved by going to a lot of trouble to make sure they rotated as they popped up and down. Their rewards were fairly high, but stopped after Goss dropped out, his Matich being the car that really got the wins. Matich took the 1972 Gold Star for Repco, and as you mention, there was McCormack's NZGP win in the Elfin. Oh, yes, McCormack pulled off the Gold Star when he reverted to the Repco Holden for the ML6 after Dale Konnecke rebuilt the car from its Surfers crash and refused to reinstall the troublesome Leyland.
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Life and love are mixed with pain...
