Team Rebaque was a Mexican

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

entrant and constructor, based in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

, UK. They participated in 30 Grands Prix, initially entering cars bought from

Team Lotus Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport categories including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, American Championship Car Racing, Ind ...

, before finally building a car of their own. The Rebaque HR100 was entered for the team's final three races before the team's closure. The team qualified to race on 19 occasions, and achieved one

World Constructors' Championship Formula One, abbreviated to F1, is the highest class of open-wheeled auto racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), motorsport's world governing body. The "formula" in the name refers to a set of rules to which ...

point with its best finish of sixth at the 1978 German Grand Prix.

History

The team was founded by, and centred on,

Héctor Rebaque Héctor Alonso Rebaque (born 5 February 1956) is a Mexican former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Mexico City, Rebaque participated in 58 Formula One Grands Prix. He founded Rebaque i ...

, a Mexican driver who first drove in Formula One in 1977 for Hesketh. Following his debut season he was dropped by Hesketh, and with no other team willing to take him on as a driver Rebaque decided to start his own team. At the start of the

1978 Formula One season The 1978 Formula One season was the 32nd season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It featured the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the International Cup for F1 Constructors,''World Championship of F1 Drivers 1978'' & ''International Cu ...

Rebaque agreed a deal with

to buy their 1977

Type 78 The Type 78 is a Chinese-made 82 mm smoothbore recoilless gun designed to provide a rapid, direct fire support to infantry against hard targets such as light tanks, armoured vehicles, and bunkers. The Type 78 is an improved version of the Type 6 ...

model (JPS-15). He had very little experience, only having qualified for one race with Hesketh, and had a difficult year. Although he did score a point at the

German Grand Prix The German Grand Prix () was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in B ...

, he also suffered the ignominy of being forced to retire from the

Brazilian Grand Prix The Brazilian Grand Prix (), currently held under the name São Paulo Grand Prix (), is a Formula One championship race which is currently held at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Interlagos neighborhood, Cidade Dutra, São Paulo. The in ...

owing to driver fatigue.

Rebaque HR100

He continued the arrangement with Lotus for the season, this time buying the Championship winning Type 79 chassis. During the year he commissioned

Penske Penske Corporation, Inc. () is an American diversified transportation services company based in Bloomfield Township, Oakland County, Michigan. Roger Penske is the founder and chairman of the privately held company, and Rob Kurnick is the presid ...

to build a chassis, the Rebaque HR100. The design of the car - by Geoff Ferris with input from

John Barnard John Edward Barnard, (born 4 May 1946) is an English engineer and racing car designer. Barnard is credited with the introduction of two new designs into Formula One: the carbon fibre composite chassis first seen in with McLaren, and the sem ...

- was heavily influenced by the design of the Lotus 79, also incorporating some elements of the

Williams FW07 The Williams FW07 was a ground effect Formula One racing car designed by Patrick Head, Frank Dernie, and Neil Oatley for the 1979 Formula One season. Developed versions of the car were used in the , and seasons. Design 1979 It was clos ...

's sidepods. It was completed in time for the

Italian Grand Prix The Italian Grand Prix () is the fifth oldest national Grand Prix motor racing, motor racing Grand Prix (after the French Grand Prix, the United States Grand Prix, the Spanish Grand Prix and the Russian Grand Prix), having been held since 1921 ...

that year, although it either failed to qualify or to finish the final three races of the year. The team was closed down at the end of the year. Rebaque himself moved to the

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

team midway through the following season.

Complete Formula One results

( key) (results in bold indicate pole position; results in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap) * Lotus-Ford finished 1st in the 1978 Constructors' Championship, scoring 86 points, but the 1 point scored by Team Rebaque did not contribute to the total (only the best result for each constructor at each race counted towards the championship)
** Lotus-Ford finished 4th in the 1979 Constructors' Championship, scoring 39 points, but Team Rebaque did not contribute to the points total

History

Rebaque HR100

Complete Formula One results

References

Further reading