Hector Rebaque

An ambitious young Mexican hot-shot, Rebaque came to England in 1974 as a raw 18-year-old to try his hand at Formula Atlantic as a protégé of Fred Opert in a Chevron. The following year, he moved into Formula 2 in Opert’s Chevron, before returning across the pond to contest the Canadian Formula Atlantic series in 1975 and 1976.

Itching to get into Grand Prix racing, Hector joined the Hesketh team for a few outings in 1977, qualifying just once. Determined to succeed, he set up his own team the following season, fielding ex-works Lotus 78s, but managed only one top-six finish, in Germany. For 1979 he had Lotus 79s at his disposal but results remained discouraging, so he took the brave – if foolhardy – step of commissioning his own chassis, which only appeared for the last three Grands Prix of the year before the team folded.

In 1980 Hector kicked his heels until the opportunity arose to join Brabham in place of Zunino. Now in a top-notch car, it was up to the driver to prove himself, and on occasion he showed a good turn of speed. In Argentina in 1981, for example, he had the BT49C in a comfortable second place until a rotor arm broke.

Rebaque briefly tried his hand at Indy Car racing in 1982, luckily winning a race at Elkhart Lake when many of the leaders ran out of fuel, but after a mid-season crash at Michigan he developed a distinct aversion to ovals, and retired at season’s end at the age of 29.