Bob Watson, former champion rally driver and six times Vice President of the LCCA has written the complete history of this famous club, from its inception in 1924 through to its financial collapse in 1992.

The Light Car Club of Australia was Australia’s leading motor sports club for almost 70 years. Founded in 1924 by motor sport minded members of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria, the club organised the first Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in 1928. Another seven AGPs were run at Phillip Island before the race began to be rotated around the various states.

The name changed to the Light Car Club of Australia in 1931, and the club went on to establish the Rob Roy hill climb in 1937, run motor racing at Albert Park in the 1950s and inaugurate endurance production car racing with the Armstrong 500 races 1960-1962 at Phillip Island which morphed into the Bathurst 1000 race of today.

In 1966 the Light Car Club took over organization of motor racing at Sandown Park, and ran a further five Australian Grands Prix there. Sensational meetings were run in September 1978 when Juan Manuel Fangio drove his Silver Arrow Mercedes Benz, and in February 1982 when the Race of Champions was attended by Formula 1 world champions Jack Brabham, Alan Jones, Denny Hulme, Phil Hill, and John Surtees, and stars Stirling Moss, Chris Amon and Dan Gurney.

The club also organised the classic Alpine Rally, the BP Rally of South Eastern Australia, the Experts Trial, racing at Point Cook, Nar Nar Goon, Fishermens Bend and Ballarat and the Lakeland Hill climb. There are also chapters on the Women for Wheels track fire and rescue organization and the formation of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.

In 1984 the club won government funding to upgrade the Sandown motor race track to Formula 1 standards for a round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The politics of the track upgrade, including the failure of the Victorian Government to support the Grand Prix bid, the running of two World Endurance Championship (sports car) races which lost large amounts of money, and the reasons behind why the club was declared bankrupt in 1992 are all covered in the book.

Leading motor sport personalities Arthur Terdich, Lex Davison, Bib Stillwell, Bill Patterson, Bill and Jim Leech, Bruce Walton and Allan Moffat all served on the LCCA committee, and visitors to the clubrooms at 46 Queens Road Melbourne included Jim Clark, Graham Hill, Jackie Stewart, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jack Brabham, Richard Attwood and Piers Courage.

The Light Car Club of Australia was at the forefront of Australian motor sport for almost 70 years, and introduced many classic events to the calendar. This book traces the complete history of the club, and is liberally illustrated with photographs, many never before published.

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