Rebaque

Team Rebaque was a Mexican Formula One entrant and constructor, based in Leamington Spa, UK. They participated in 30 Grands Prix, initially entering cars bought from Team Lotus, 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 was founded by, and centred around, Hector Rebaque, 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 Rebaque agreed a deal with Team Lotus to buy their 1977 Type 78 model. 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, he also suffered the ignominy of being forced to retire from Brazilian Grand Prix owing to driver fatigue.

He continued the arrangement with Lotus for the 1979 season, this time buying the Championship winning Type 79 chassis. During the year he commissioned Penske to build a "Rebaque" chassis. The design of the car - by Geoff Ferris with input from John Barnard - was heavily influenced by the design of the Lotus 79, also incorporating some elements of the Williams FW07's sidepods. It was completed in time for the Italian Grand Prix 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 team midway through the following season. To date Rebaque is still the only Mexican team to have contested a World Championship Grand Prix. [cite journal | last = Diepraam | first = Mattijs | authorlink = Mattijs Diepraam | title = Not so speedy Gonzales | journal = 8W | month = February | year = 2000 | url = http://www.forix.com/8w/rebaque.html | accessdate = 2007-01-27 ]

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References