Photo: Bahnfrend, “Brabham BT19,” National Sports Museum, CC BY-SA 3.0 (FEATURED IMAGE CREDITS AT THE END OF THE CONTENT)
The 1966 F1 season marked a dramatic shift in the sport, and the story of Brabham BT19.
The reason behind it, the FIA doubled the maximum engine capacity to 3.0 liters, prompting a scramble among teams to create powerful new engines.
We have seen the same stories in F1, even in the modern era, when a team outsmarts the giants at the start of a new season.
For example, the 2009 season, when Brawn GP appeared out of nowhere and dominated with their double diffuser.
Also the Lotus in the seventies; they knew how to outsmart the giants even taking a lot of risks with their bold innovations.
Jack Brabham and his BT19
However, the story of Brabham in 1966 is really about the engine. While big teams like Ferrari and BRM wrestled with complex, heavy V12 and H16 designs, Jack Brabham approached the challenge differently.
The Birth of the BT19
Brabham’s BT19 was not born out of extravagance, but out of smart engineering.
The chassis was a modified 1965 design, originally intended for a 1.5-liter engine. Its steel spaceframe construction allowed it to weigh just 518 to 567 kg, far lighter than competitors.
And this simple, well balanced platform made the car incredibly nimble and easy to repair, an understated advantage in a season defined by mechanical failures.
Repco 620 Engine: Simplicity Wins
Here you can see the Brabham BT19, powered by the lightweight Repco 620 engine that helped Jack Brabham dominate the 1966 season.
At the heart of the Brabham BT19 was the Repco 620 engine, a marvel of minimalist design.
Instead of chasing raw horsepower like his rivals, Brabham went with a modified Oldsmobile F85 aluminum V8 block, pairing it with SOHC cylinder heads designed by the legendary Australian engineer Phil Irving.
The engine produced roughly 300 to 315 bhp, modest on paper, but light, reliable and fuel-efficient.
Where Ferrari and BRM struggled with overheating, vibrations, and mechanical failures, the Repco 620 engine delivered consistency.
The BT19 could achieve nearly seven miles per gallon, allowing it to carry a smaller fuel load of 35 gallons (160 liters). It maintained race-long efficiency that heavier, thirstier competitors could only dream of. In contrast, rivals had to carry 55 gallons (about 250 liters) to cover the same distance for the entire race.
Outsmarting the Competition
Their brilliance did not lay in power, but in strategy, Brabham anticipated that the first year of the 3.0-liter era would favor reliability over raw horsepower, a lesson he learned from the 1961 regulation changes (shifting from 2.5-liter engine to 1.5-liter).
Rivals scrambled to debug over-engineered V12 and H16 engines. Brabham, meanwhile, built a car that was ‘smart’ rather than relying on brute force.
According to reports, at the 1966 Dutch GP, critics mocked his age—40 at the time—but he famously arrived wearing a fake beard and carrying a cane, only to dominate the race and prove the doubters wrong.
Here below you can see Jack Brabham before the Dutch GP, during a practice session on the day before the race.
Engineering Approaches Compared
Ferrari pursued a 3.0-liter V12 engine that promised high power but suffered from weight and cooling problems.
BRM’s 16-cylinder H16 was complex, heavy, and unreliable. Cooper stuck with an older Maserati V12 that lacked agility.
By contrast, with lightweight engine, Brabham built a car capable of winning consistently without breaking down.
The Brabham BT19’s Repco 620 V8 engine was far lighter than its rivals, weighing around 150 kg, compared to Ferrari’s 220 kg V12 and BRM’s massive 252 kg H16.
Historic Triumph of Jack Brabham in 1966
Jack Brabham won four races in a row in 1966, securing his third and final F1 World Championship. Remarkably, he remains the only driver in history to win the title in a car of his own making, triumphing with his very own team.
The BT19’s clever balance of light construction and reliable engineering allowed the Australian driver to outsmart the big F1 giants.
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Why the BT19 Endures
The BT19’s story is different from any other story, marking a new era when you had to find power to fight the giants. Brabham opted for a simple and reliable car.
With Ron Tauranac’s proven chassis and the lightweight Repco 620 engine, Brabham dominated the season, and the car became iconic, a symbol of ingenuity.
FEATURED IMAGE CREDITS:
Photo: Bahnfrend, “Brabham BT19,” National Sports Museum, CC BY-SA 3.0 – Source: Wikimedia
