1968 Formula One season Formula One World Champion Denny Hulme and team founder Bruce McLaren. McLaren won the non-championship Brands Hatch Race of Champions, then the Belgian Grand Prix was the scene of the team's first Championship win. In doing so, McLaren became only the third driver to win a race in a car manufactured by his own team – Jack Brabham having done it in 1966 and Dan Gurney in 1967 at Spa Francorchamps. Hulme won the Italian Grand Prix and Canadian Grand Prix later in the year. Repco produced a more powerful version of their V8 to maintain competitiveness against Ford's new
1967 Formula One season in a dramatic South African Grand Prix in which John Love came close to victory in his outdated and privately entered Cooper-Climax. Hulme became the first of two drivers to win the title without achieving a single pole position in the season. Only Niki Lauda managed to repeat this feat in . He is also the only New Zealander to win the World Championship of Drivers. Two drivers died in Formula One related events in 1967. Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini died in a fiery accident during the Monaco Grand Prix on 10 May. While running second behind Hulme's Brabham BT20