We cover grassroots circuit racing at Killarney, drag events around Gauteng and rallying in the Western Cape, working with contributing mechanics, fabricators and club racers instead of a remote content desk.
The magazine did not start in an office. It started in the Killarney paddock, in the back of a workshop in Cape Town, and in the long argument between two builders about what belongs under a bonnet.
2016
It began as a shared folder of lap notes and dyno sheets passed between club racers at Killarney. No masthead, no plan. Just people who wanted the numbers written down properly instead of argued about from memory.
2018
The first proper issues were written with contributing mechanics, fabricators and gearbox specialists rather than a remote editorial team. Technical explainers came from people who had their hands in the engine that week, and photography came from actual race weekends.
2020
Backyard garages started sending in their own stories. The build diary format grew out of that, alongside reader-submitted lap notes and event calendars for regional motorsport clubs. Coverage widened from Western Cape rallying to drag events around Gauteng.
2022
Longer conversations with team managers and fabricators became a regular section, and the weekly dispatch gave readers a fixed point in the week. The tone stayed plain: closer to a paddock conversation than a showroom brochure.
Today
Known Velocity remains an independent Cape Town publication. The readership is club racers, apprentices, engineering students, weekend track-day drivers and the families who fund half of them. Submissions still arrive as build stories and dyno sheets, and that is how they stay.
Known Velocity did not start as a business plan. It started as a shared folder of race weekend notes and a stubborn belief that South African club motorsport deserved its own pages, written by people who get their hands dirty.
2019
Cape Town
A handful of club racers began trading lap notes and setup sheets after Saturday practice sessions. Those loose pages became the first printed issue, stapled and handed out at the next race meet.
2020
Western Cape
Wet gravel stages and long service park days pulled the team into rallying. Working mechanics started writing the technical explainers themselves, covering alignment, tyre compounds and the compromises that show up only when the road turns to mud.
2021
Gauteng
Trips north to Gauteng drag events widened the editorial reach. Backyard garages began sending in their own build stories and dyno sheets, and those submissions turned into a regular diary section.
2022
Editorial desk
Fabricators, gearbox specialists and team managers came on board for long-form interviews. The publication settled into a rhythm built around people who actually race, repair and tune cars rather than a remote writing team.
2023
Regional clubs
Regional motorsport clubs asked for a shared calendar, so the magazine started publishing race weekends, track days and rally stages in one place. Reader-submitted lap notes grew alongside it.
Today
Weekly dispatch
The weekly dispatch now reaches club racers, apprentices, engineering students, weekend track-day drivers and the families who fund half of them. Photography still comes from real race weekends, never a studio set.