David McKay (14 May 1921 – 26 December 2004) was an Australian journalist and prominent motoring identity. While most well known as a journalist, specifically as a motoring writer, McKay was also a prominent figure in motor racing as both a driver and a race team owner. That team, Scuderia Veloce, was the first Australian-based professional racing team, and in addition to furthering McKay's own racing career also furthered the careers of many young racing drivers including Spencer Martin, Brian Muir and Greg Cusack amongst others. One of McKay's first forays into competitive motorsport was following the purchase of the ex-Dick Cobden MG TC, known as The Red Cigar. The single-seat, aluminum-bodied racer with Maserati style lines quickly propelled McKay to on track success finishing as the highest placed MG in the 1952 Australian Grand Prix at Bathurst along with solid wins and placings at events in Gnoo Blas, Nowra and Mount Druitt across the season of 1953. In 1958 McKay won the Australian Tourist Trophy at Bathurst in an Aston Martin DB3S. Then in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

McKay achieved the most memorable victory in his career, winning the inaugural Australian Touring Car Championship at the

Gnoo Blas circuit The Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit was a motor racing circuit at Orange, New South Wales, Australia. The circuit was formed from rural roads and highways outside the town, around the grounds of Bloomfield Hospital and what is now known as Sir J ...

in Orange driving a Jaguar Mark 1. A post-race penalty which was later proven an incorrect judgement for a jump start meant McKay was cheated of victory when he won the

1961 Australian Grand Prix The 1961 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula Libre motor race held at the newly completed Mallala Race Circuit in South Australia on 9 October 1961. The race, which was Round 5 of the 1961 Australian Drivers' Championship, had 17 starters.

at Mallala in South Australia (he was placed 3rd due to the penalty), only 4 seconds behind Lex Davison and Bib Stillwell. McKay had the right to protest and have his name added to the list of Australian Grand Prix winners when it was found later that day that he had not committed a jump start after all. McKay's background was so deeply ingrained that the act of protesting was unthinkable. McKay drove a Cooper T51- Climax FPF in the Grand Prix. Despite continuing to race various cars from open wheelers to sports cars and Production Touring Cars until his last race, the

1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 The 1979 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 was the 20th running of the Bathurst 1000 touring car race. It was held on 30 September 1979, at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst. The race was open to cars eligible to the locally developed CAMS G ...

in a standard

Volvo 242 GT The Volvo 200 Series (or 240 and 260 Series) is a range of mid-size cars produced by Swedish company Volvo Cars from 1974 until 1993, with more than 2.8 million total units sold worldwide. Like the Volvo 140 Series (1966 to 1974), from which it ...

with Spencer Martin where they finished 20th, McKay never again contested the ATCC as a driver following his win in 1960. McKay was also responsible for the first ever factory backed

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...

team in 1968 when he formed the Holden Dealer Racing Team. The team ran 3 brand new Holden Monaro GTS 327's in the

1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 The 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 was a production car race held on 6 October 1968 at the Mount Panorama Circuit just outside Bathurst in New South Wales, Australia. It was the ninth running of the Bathurst 500. For the first time factory supported ...

Mount Panorama Mount Panorama Circuit is a motor racing track located in Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia. It is situated on Mount Panorama (Wahluu) and is best known as the home of the Bathurst 1000 motor race held each October, and the Bathurst 12 Hour ...

, Bathurst. Jim Palmer and Phil West finished 2nd outright behind the winning Monaro of Bruce McPhee and Barry Mulholland. Brian Muir and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

winner George Reynolds finished 5th while the Paul Hawkins / Bill Brown car was disqualified. McKay also organised a separate team of Holden Monaros to contest the 1968 London-Sydney Marathon.Holden Dealer Racing Team, Australian Muscle Car, Issue 67, May/June 2013, pages 40 to 50 The cars were prepared by

, entered under the "Sydney Telegraph" name, and sponsored by the Daily Telegraph, a Sydney newspaper for which McKay was a motoring writer. McKay himself drove the lead car with Sydney's Barry Ferguson the lead driver in the team's second car while three time

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...

winner Doug Whiteford was drafted in to drive the third Monaro. McKay failed to finish, Ferguson finished 12th while Whiteford finished 14th. McKay's career as a writer began in 1949 and he worked for the Sir Frank Packer owned newspapers '' The Daily Telegraph'' and '' The Sunday Telegraph'' from 1956 to 1975, first as a writer and later as the motoring editor. It was while working for Packer that McKay convinced him to co-sponsor the London-Sydney Marathon, as well as the Monaros McKay would run in the rally. McKay died of cancer on 26 December 2004. He was 83.Barry Lake, Gentleman racer, Motor Racing Australia, No 84, Feb/Mar 2005, pages 75–78

Career results

Complete Phillip Island/Bathurst 500/1000 results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, David 1921 births 2004 deaths Australian Army soldiers Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Touring Car Championship drivers Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Motoring writers Racing drivers from Sydney 20th-century Australian journalists