Graham Hill departed Brabham at the end of 1972, dissatisfied with the atmosphere there, and established his own team with around 20 engineers and mechanics working from a warehouse on an industrial estate in Hanworth, West London. Securing title sponsorship from Embassy, Hill acted as both team owner and race driver from the outset.
For their debut season in 1973, the team purchased customer Shadow DN1 chassis. Results were modest; the team's best finish was ninth at Zolder, which was the last classified position among just nine finishing cars. Hill, a five-time Monaco Grand Prix winner, qualified 23rd of 23 starters at that same Belgian race.
The team switched to Lola T370 chassis for 1974. Hill drove the full season and scored the team's only championship point of the year at the Swedish Grand Prix. The second car was shared among Guy Edwards, Peter Gethin, and Rolf Stommelen across the season.
The Lola T370 continued into the early races of 1975 until the team's new car was ready. The car, initially designated the Lola T371, was renamed the Hill GH1 after designer Andy Smallman left Lola to join Embassy Hill full-time. The GH1's design drew heavily from the Lola lineage.
The season was marked by disaster at the Spanish Grand Prix when Stommelen's rear wing mounting collapsed, pitching his car into the crowd and killing four spectators. Stommelen was injured and did not return until mid-season.
After failing to qualify for the Monaco Grand Prix — a race he had won five times — Hill stood down from driving duties. Tony Brise, considered a rising star of British motorsport, took over the primary seat. Brise demonstrated real speed: he finished sixth in the Swedish Grand Prix and qualified sixth at the Italian Grand Prix. Alan Jones substituted in the second car for most of Stommelen's absence, finishing fifth at the German Grand Prix.
With Brise proving his worth, the team developed an all-new car, the Hill GH2, designed from scratch by Andy Smallman. The GH2 used the Cosworth DFV engine and featured a smaller, more streamlined chassis drawing comparisons to the Brabham BT44 and McLaren M23. Testing at Silverstone and later at Circuit Paul Ricard showed the GH2 to be significantly faster than the GH1, and times from the Ricard tests indicated a competitive 1976 season was possible.
On the evening of 29 November 1975, Hill piloted a Piper Aztec light aircraft back to England from Paul Ricard with team manager Ray Brimble, driver Tony Brise, designer Andy Smallman, and mechanics Terry Richards and Tony Alcock on board. The aircraft was bound for Elstree Airfield when, shortly before 10pm, it struck trees beside a golf course at Arkley in thick fog. Everyone on board was killed.
With the team reduced to deputy team manager Allan Turner and two mechanics, continuation was impossible. Most of the team's assets were purchased by Walter Wolf, who merged them with those of Hesketh Racing and Williams to form his new team.
Embassy Hill's story encapsulates the dual nature of 1970s Formula One: the romantic appeal of a champion striking out on his own, and the brutal reality of the era's dangers. Tony Brise's death at 23 robbed the sport of a driver many believed was destined for the top. The Hill GH2 was eventually completed and survives in a British automobile museum, a reminder of what might have been for a team that was, by all testing accounts, on the verge of genuine competitiveness before tragedy intervened.