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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.〔1974 FIA Yearbook, Grey section, pages 120–121〕 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. == Repco V8 engine == 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 2.5L 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.〔Setright, L.J.K. "Lotus: The Golden Mean", in Northey, Tom, ed. ''World of Automobiles'' (London: Orbis, 1974), Volume 11, p.1232.〕 Jack Brabham exploited his existing relationship with Australian automotive components manufacturer Repco. He proposed they design and build a 3L version of the 2.5L 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 2.5L 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 , the Repco was by far the least powerful of the new 3 litre engines, but unlike the others it was frugal, light and compact.〔Fearnley, Paul (May 2006) "The powerhouse that Jack built" (''Motorsport'' ) p.36〕 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〔Pinder, Simon (1995) ''Mr Repco Brabham Frank Hallam'' pp. 20–23 Pinder Publications〕 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 cannot 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. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Repco」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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