A little shed in Croydon Hills, New South Wales provided the grounding for an innovative engineer to develop upon and improve on existing projects.
Working from a shed situated in his parent’s backyard, Bob Britton formed Rennmax Engineering in 1962. The name derived from the German word for race, Renn and the abbreviation of maximum, max.
Britton’s original design was based on a severely damaged Cooper utilising the usable components and the 2.2-litre Coventry Climax engine termed the BN1.
Drawing up his plans first on his board, Britton then used high-specification machinery to construct state-of-the-art designs.
After building his first Cooper-based design, Britton then developed the BN1 single-seater using a combination of Lotus’ 20 and 22 chassis.
Formula Vee was on Britton’s agenda next building nine Rennmax chassis, which were driven successfully by Greg Cusack before a big break came when sports car racer Alec Mildren came calling.
Britton built the Mildren Maserati utilising components from the Cooper T51 and powered by a 2.9-litre Type 61 engine built by the Italian manufacturer.
Then another legend in Frank Matich engaged Rennmax Engineering to construct his SR3 sports cars for a tilt at the 1967 Can-Am season before success came courtesy of Mildren.
Again calling on Britton to design an open-wheeler based on the Brabham BT323, the Mildren Waggott took Max Stewart to the 1969 and 1970 Australian Formula 2 Championships in addition to the 1971 Australian Drivers’ Championship Gold Star.
During this time, Rennmax Engineering also designed a sports car in the form of the BN6 featuring a BMW 2.0-litre engine in 1970 for Doug Macarthur, while Ray Hanger commissioned a second build in 1982.
Britton continued to develop sports cars, Formula 2 and Formula Vee concepts until the early 1980s before giving it away to focus on his family, while also letting his superior skills not go to waste by constructing hydraulic arms in a factory.
Along the way, Britton and his family moved to Annangrove near Amaroo Park where he continued to pursue his passion as he finally constructed a concept from the 1950s – a 500cc Formula 3.
Britton was presented the Phil Irving Award for his contributions to motor racing by Motorsport Australia.
Check out the documentary below.