As an extremely light, compact and highly competitive engine for decades, the Land Rover V8 engine was used not only to power the Range Rover but also had a long and fruitful career in a variety of racing disciplines.

The Rover SD1 Vitesse was probably the greatest example of this, with changes to FIA Group 1 and Group A allowing the 3.5 litre V8 engine (tuned to run with five cubic centimetres less displacement) to be used instead.

This success, alongside the rally raid Bowler Wildcat and its continued popularity in classic car racing, means that a lot of stories have emerged over the years about its capabilities, 

However, one misconception was that the Rover V8 engine was used to power a Formula One car, which whilst not true, also is not entirely false either.

First of all, the Australian Repco V8 engine was first designed in 1964 and first raced in 1966, a year before the Rover V8 was first used in the P6 saloon car.

It was a response to changes in the engine rules for Formula One in 1963, which increased the maximum capacity from 1.5 litres to three litres.

Jack Brabham conscripted Repco to design an engine for the specifications, and they opted to use a longer engine stroke to turn their 2.5-litre V8 into a three-litre one.

The engine itself was based on the Oldsmobile Jetfire engine block, which was itself based on the Buick 215 engine block that became the Rover V8.

From a certain point of view, there is a shared lineage, but the problem is that the “Rockette V8” was much heavier, had a sixth head bolt rather than the five on the Buick (meaning the parts were incompatible with each other), and had different cylinder heads.

However, there is a desire to link this engine to the Rover V8 because, in 1966, Jack Brabham used it in the Brabham BT19 to win both the Formula One World Drivers and Constructors championships, the only time a driver has won the world championship in his own car with his own name.