Ken, the car was less than a year and two months from its first appearance (Sandown Park 1965, my colour photo on the Primotipo page) when Andy Buchanan first drove it. A year and a few days later Bill Brown took over the driving honours as McKay bought the car back.

There's little doubt that the deal between McKay and Buchanan was aimed at saving on import duty.

At the start of 1965 McKay bought a new Brabham-Climax, which Martin spannered on and Graham Hill drove during the Tasman Cup. He also bought the Ferrari, he spent something like ŁAU50,000 on the cars and obtained a similar amount from Shell Oil Company. Running costs for the cars would come from appearance money and some of the prizemoney, it worked out and McKay owned both cars at the end of the year.

A few months earlier, about November 1964, McKay realised that I had arrived at Surfers Paradise with Mike Kable. Tiring of seeing me around so much and not knowing who I was, he asked Mike, "Who is that young chap? I seem to see him everywhere!"

Mike replied simply, "His name is Ray Bell and the reason you see him everywhere is that he is almost everywhere!"

It was David's open relationship with Mike which led to the revelation about the finances of the team that year. I was, from June 1966, to board with Mike and his wife, Joy. Together with my friend, Bob Levett, the friendship with David firmed (though I didn't like it when he took a dislike to the state of my Morris Minor when I pulled up at their workshop one Wednesday afternoon) and we were to write a letter in his defence to Racing Car News which was published in February 1967.

Bob and I were very much aware of the many people looking at us in the wake of the letter at the ensuing Warwick Farm Tasman Cup meeting. As always, we wandered about the paddock area talking to many competitors prior to going to our flag point to perform our duties.

A while earlier, when Spencer Martin had suddenly departed from Scuderia Veloce, we visited the man we might almost have called our mentor, Geoff Sykes. Geoff always invited us in to his office, as a true gentleman, and was willing to talk about the split.

"Spencer," he began, "is of the Roman Catholic faith." He studied our reactions. "And Bob Atkin is a Seventh Day Adventist." With a shrug of the shoulders he then said, "And David's a Calathumpian or something..."

Then he explained how Bob Atkin wasn't there to prepare the cars on Saturday, Spencer took one of the tow cars every Sunday morning to go to mass and David and Bob would be champing at the bit hoping he'd be back in time with the heavy spectator traffic leading up to the meetings. Ultimately, things came to a head and Spencer left, Shell arranged a deal with Bob Jane for him to increase his team's size to include Spencer.

This was all a part of the string of events that led to me writing for Racing Car News from mid-1970 and working there between mid-1972 and late-1979. I continued writing for them for another four or five years.

Thank you all for the information I can now convey to Manuel about this most exciting car...