In the late 1940s and ‘50s the south-eastern corner of the city of Sydney took on a special aura on Saturday nights. This was when the rambling and often somewhat rundown and raffish inner-city suburbs of Paddington, Kings Cross, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills and the central city itself were suffused with a background roar of the dirt track action of speedway racing at the Sydney Showground and Sports Ground. With crowds of up to 40,000 attending and the urban background resonance of Australia’s largest city being periodically overwhelmed by this very audible presence, there was no ignoring the impact of motor racing. And it was in this world that a young auto electrician with a fascination for the engineering of fast cars found an exciting home.
With his workshop, on the edge of bohemian Sydney’s Kings Cross, within a couple of kilometres of both the Showground’s Speedway Royale and the Sports Ground, Hedley McGee was ideally located to apply his talents to the leading stars of the day.
After fielding a midget of his own in 1939 and ’40 (for other drivers), he
