Scuderia Veloce was an Australian motor racing team founded by journalist racer David McKay and his chief mechanic Bob Atkin. The team, which competed in many motor racing categories in the 1960s, is regarded as the first professional motor racing operation in Australia. It was based in

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

's upper North Shore. It later became a motor car dealership Specialising in Volvo, Porsche and Ferrari with Bob Atkin as the Managing Director. Amon-AGP-Graham-Ruckert

McKay gained prominence as a racing driver and as a motoring writer during the 1950s. He won many races including the inaugural

Australian Touring Car Championship The Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) is a touring car racing award held in Australia since 1960. The series itself is no longer contested, but the title lives on, with the winner of the Repco Supercars Championship awarded the troph ...

in 1960 driving a

Jaguar Mark 1 The Jaguar Mark 1 is a British luxury saloon car produced by Jaguar between 1955 and 1959. It was referred to in contemporary company documentation as the Jaguar 2.4 Litre and Jaguar 3.4 Litre. Its designation as Mark 1 was retroactive, follow ...

. McKay's operation began sporting the Scuderia Veloce name in 1960, following a change of sponsorship from

Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,800 Ampol-branded service stations across the country . Amp ...

Castrol Castrol Limited is a British oil company that markets industrial and automotive lubricants, offering a wide range of oil, greases and similar products for most lubrication applications. The company was originally named CC Wakefield; the nam ...

.Barry Lake, Gentleman racer, Motor Racing Australia, No 84, Feb/Mar 2005, pages 75-78 It ran

Cooper Cooper, Cooper's, Coopers and similar may refer to: * Cooper (profession), a maker of wooden casks and other staved vessels Arts and entertainment * Cooper (producers), an alias of Dutch producers Klubbheads * "Cooper", a song by Roxette from ...

Climax Climax may refer to: Language arts * Climax (narrative), the point of highest tension in a narrative work * Climax (rhetoric), a figure of speech that lists items in order of importance Biology * Climax community, a biological community th ...

, then

Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., commonly known as Brabham ( ), was a British race car, racing car manufacturer and Formula One racing team. It was founded in 1960 by the Australian driver Jack Brabham and the British-Australian designer Ron Ta ...

open racings cars in the

Tasman Series The Tasman Series (formally the Tasman Championship for Drivers)Tasman Championship for Drivers, CAMS Manual of Motor Sport with National Competition Rules 1974, pages 80 to 83 was a motor racing competition held annually from 1964 to 1975 ove ...

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual Formula One motor racing event, taking place in Melbourne, Victoria. The event is contracted to be held at least until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Gran ...

and

Australian Drivers' Championship The Australian Drivers' Championship is a motor racing championship contested annually since 1957 by drivers of cars complying with Australia's premier open-wheeler racing category. This category was determined by the Confederation of Australia ...

. In 1969 the team was

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

's official Tasman Series team and had

Chris Amon Christopher Arthur Amon (; 20 July 1943 – 3 August 2016) was a New Zealand racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win a Formula One Grands Prix, ...

and Derek Bell in the drivers seats. The venture was a success with Amon winning the 1969 Tasman Series, which included winning the

at Lakeside and

New Zealand Grand Prix The New Zealand Grand Prix, sometimes known as the New Zealand International Grand Prix, is an annual motor racing event held in New Zealand. First held in 1950 New Zealand Grand Prix, 1950, it is best known for hosting rounds of the Tasman Seri ...

Pukekohe Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. The town is located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Puke ...

. Scuderia Veloce also competed in

Appendix J Touring Cars Appendix J Touring Cars was an Australian motor racing category for modified, production based sedans. It was the premier form of Touring car racing in Australia from 1960 to 1964. The category was introduced by the Confederation of Australian Mo ...

running a variety of cars, as well as competing in

Sports Car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

racing with Ferraris. A Scuderia Veloce entered Ferrari 250 LM won the

1965 Six Hour Le Mans The 1965 Six Hour Le Mans was an endurance race open to Sports Cars, Improved Production Touring Cars & Series Production Touring Cars. The event was staged at the Caversham circuit in Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmo ...

, the 1966 Rothmans 12 Hour International Sports Car Race, the 1967 Rothmans 12 Hour and the

1968 Surfers Paradise 6 Hour The 1968 Surfers Paradise 6 Hour was an Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance race for sports car racing, sports cars and touring car racing, touring cars, staged at the Surfers Paradise International Raceway in Queensland, Australia on 1 Sept ...

. As well as his own racing efforts, McKay supported several drivers including Brian Muir and Greg Cusack, although the driver most associated with SV would be Spencer Martin.

Tasman Series results

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; font-size:95%" , - ! Year ! Entrant ! Chassis ! Driver ! 1 ! 2 ! 3 ! 4 ! 5 ! 6 ! 7 ! 8 ! Rank ! Points , - , rowspan="2",

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 Patria ...

! rowspan="2", Scuderia Veloce ! Brabham BT4 , align="left",

Graham Hill Norman Graham Hill (15 February 1929 – 29 November 1975) was a British racing driver, rower and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "Mr. Monaco", Hill won two Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles ...

, LEV , PUK , WIG , TER , SAN , style="background:#DFFFDF;", WAR
4 , LAK , style="background:#FFFFBF;", LON
1 ! 6th ! 12 , - !

Brabham BT6 The list below summarizes Brabham racing cars built by Motor Racing Developments in the United Kingdom. Note that many of the earlier models are badged as Repco Brabhams. References {{reflist Brabham Motor Racing Developments Ltd., com ...

, align="left",

Greg Cusack Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory (given name), Gregory. Greg (sometimes spelled "Gregg (surname), Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people * ...

, LEV , PUK , WIG , TER , SAN , style="background:#CFCFFF;", WAR
11 , style="background:#CFCFFF;", LAK
7 , style="background:#CFCFFF;", LON
10 ! - ! 0 , - ,

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

! Scuderia Veloce ! Repco Brabham BT11A , align="left",

, style="background:#FFFFBF;", PUK
1 , LEV , WIG , TER , style="background:#dfffdf;", WAR
5 , style="background:#EFCFFF;", SAN
Ret , style="background:#dfffdf;", LON
4 , ! 7th ! 14 , - ,

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

! Scuderia Veloce ! Repco Brabham BT11A , align="left", Spencer Martin , style="background:#EFCFFF;", PUK
Ret , style="background:#FFDF9F;", LEV
3 , style="background:#dfffdf;", WIG
4 , style="background:#EFCFFF;", TER
Ret , style="background:#dfffdf;", WAR
5 , style="background:#EFCFFF;", LAK
Ret , style="background:#EFCFFF;", SAN
Ret , style="background:#dfffdf;", LON
5 ! 7th ! 11 , - , rowspan="2",

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

! rowspan="2", Scuderia Veloce ! rowspan="2",

Dino 246 Tasmania Dino () was a marque best known for mid-engined, rear-drive sports cars produced by Ferrari from 1957 to 1976. The marque came into existence in late 1956 with a front-engined Formula Two racer powered by a brand new ''Dino'' V6 engine. The name ...

, align="left",

, style="background:#FFFFBF;", PUK
1 , style="background:#FFFFBF;",

LEV Lev or LEV may refer to: People and fictional characters *Lev (given name) *Lev (surname) Places *Lev, Azerbaijan, a village *Lev (crater), a tiny lunar crater Religion *an abbreviation for Leviticus, the third book of the Hebrew Bible and the ...

1 , style="background:#FFDF9F;",

WIG A wig is a head covering made from human or animal hair, or a synthetic imitation thereof. The word is short for "periwig". Wigs may be worn to disguise baldness, to alter the wearer's appearance, or as part of certain professional uniforms. H ...

''3'' , style="background:#FFDF9F;",

TER Ter or TER may refer to: Places * River Ter, in Essex, England * Ter (river), in Catalonia * Ter (department), a region in France * Torre (river), (Slovene: ''Ter''), a river in Italy * Ter, Ljubno, a settlement in the Municipality of Ljubno ob ...

3 , style="background:#FFFFBF;", LAK
''1'' , style="background:#EFCFFF;",

WAR War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

Ret , style="background:#FFFFBF;", SAN
1 , ! style="background:#FFFFBF;", 1st ! style="background:#FFFFBF;", 44 , - , align="left", {{flagicon, GBR Derek Bell , style="background:#dfffdf;", PUK
4 , style="background:#efcfff;",

Ret , style="background:#dfffdf;",

5 , style="background:#dfffdf;",

5 , style="background:#dfdfdf;", LAK
2 , style="background:#dfdfdf;",

2 , style="background:#dfffdf;", SAN
5 , ! 4th ! 21

References

Australian auto racing teams Sports clubs and teams in Sydney