David McKay

The biography

McKay was a motoring journalist, racer and team owner. His Jaguar victory at Gnoo Blas in Orange in 1960 gives him the first place in the championship’s history, years before the Supercars name existed.

Wins and achievements: the first champion

McKay’s place in touring-car history rests on the inaugural ATCC at Gnoo Blas, near Orange, in 1960. The championship was decided by one race. Winning that contest made him champion outright; there was no season-long points cushion to protect or later round in which to recover.

His record also extended beyond saloons. In 1958 he won the Australian Tourist Trophy for sports cars in an Aston Martin DB3S at Bathurst. The Australian Motor Heritage Foundation records Derek Jolly finishing second. That earlier success matters when assessing the Jaguar result: the first touring-car champion was already an accomplished competitor in another branch of the sport.

Sources: [1][5]

Race report: Gnoo Blas, 1960

Supercars’ account of the inaugural race describes an unsettled opening. Ron Hodgson, McKay and Bill Pitt all ran wide on the first lap. Hodgson recovered the lead, then overshot under braking on lap two and lost roughly a minute getting back into the contest.

McKay built an advantage approaching half a minute, only to encounter a competitor’s parked car obstructing his path. Its driver had stopped to help another racer after a rollover. The delay cut McKay’s lead; a spin on the next lap handed first place to Pitt.

The decisive change came through Pitt’s gearbox trouble. McKay regained the lead and finished six seconds clear. The result was a victory recovered after disruption and a driving error, with the rival Jaguar’s mechanical problem providing the opening.

Sources: [2]

The Jaguar behind the illustration

The grey 1958 Jaguar pictured above belongs to the build-up to that title, rather than the championship-winning race itself. Bowden’s Own, which documents the surviving car, distinguishes it from McKay’s later red Jaguar.

Its Ampol connection also shows an early commercial challenge. Racing authorities restricted overt advertising, so red, white and blue stripes carried the sponsor’s identity without the modern approach of covering a car in logos. The relationship between a road-car shape, competition results and a sponsor was already developing.

Sources: [3]

A later setback: first on the road, third in the result

The following year brought a different kind of frustration. At the 1961 Australian Grand Prix, McKay crossed the finish line first in a Cooper-Climax but a one-minute jump-start penalty placed him third. The penalty turned an on-track win into a third-place classification.

This is a separate open-wheel result, not an ATCC loss. The result added a sharp contrast to his breakthrough at Orange: this time, crossing the line first did not bring the winner’s recognition.

Sources: [3]

Legacy: the racer who also built a team

Scuderia Veloce widened McKay’s influence beyond his own results. Grandprix.com’s obituary describes entries for Chris Amon and, later, Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart in Australia. McKay also helped develop commercial backing from Ampol and Shell.

For DriveAgent’s automotive audience, the lasting connection is between competition, journalism and the motor trade. His career brought those activities together: racing demonstrated the machinery, reporting brought it to readers, and the team grew into a business with strong Ferrari connections. That is a broader legacy than the single championship in the record box.

Sources: [4]