Built in Cape Town garages, written from the paddock

Known Velocity is an independent motorsport magazine for people who actually build, tune and race cars. We cover club racing at Killarney, drag events around Gauteng and rally stages across the Western Cape, plus the workshop craft that keeps older machines alive.

Build diaries from backyard garages, technical explainers by working mechanics, regional event calendars and reader lap notes. Photography comes from real race weekends, not studio sets.

Send in your build story How we report

Weekly dispatch, no showroom gloss. See our editorial team or reach the desk at info@knownvelocity.com.

What You Get Every Week

Known Velocity is written for people who spend Saturdays under a car, not in a showroom. Here is what lands in the dispatch and why it is worth your time.

Build Diaries From Real Garages

Backyard builds, engine swaps and long-running projects, documented as they happen. You see the parts that failed, the money spent twice and the fixes that actually held up on track.

Technical Explainers by Working Mechanics

Engine mapping, brake bias, suspension geometry and tyre compounds explained by people who do the job daily. No marketing language, just what changes and what it does to the car.

Regional Event Calendars

Club racing at Killarney, drag events around Gauteng and Western Cape rally stages, listed with dates and entry details so you can plan a weekend around them.

Reader Lap Notes

Track-day drivers send in their session notes, tyre pressures and lap times. Reading someone else's data from the same circuit saves you a full day of guessing.

Long-Form Interviews

Fabricators, gearbox specialists and team managers talk about the work behind the car. Useful if you are learning a trade or hiring someone to do it properly.

Photography From Race Weekends

Every image comes from an actual event, not a stock shoot. Paddock, pit lane and gravel stages, shot as they looked on the day.

Want the background on how we work? Read our approach or meet the team behind the magazine.

Questions we get from the paddock

Straight answers about how the magazine works, what we cover and how to get your own car or story into it.

What does Known Velocity actually cover?

Grassroots circuit racing at Killarney, drag events around Gauteng, rallying in the Western Cape, and the workshop work that keeps older cars running. Build diaries, technical explainers from working mechanics, regional event calendars and long-form interviews with the people who fabricate, rebuild gearboxes and run teams.

Who writes the technical pieces?

Mechanics and fabricators who are still on the tools, not staff writers paraphrasing a forum thread. If a piece covers engine mapping, suspension geometry, brake bias or tyre compounds, the person explaining it has set those numbers on a real car.

Can I send in my own build or lap notes?

Yes. Backyard garages and club racers are the point of the magazine. Send a short write-up of what you built or changed, a few photos from the garage or the track, and your dyno sheet if you have one. We edit for clarity, not to make it sound like a brochure.

Do you only feature Cape Town cars?

No. Cape Town is home base, but the drag coverage comes out of Gauteng and the rally reporting follows Western Cape stages. If a build is interesting and the owner is honest about what broke, the postcode matters less.

How often does the dispatch go out?

Once a week, usually after a race weekend when there is something worth reading. No filler issues, no daily newsletter. If you want to reach the editorial desk directly, use the details on the contact page.

What happens to the details I send in?

They stay with the editorial team and are used for the piece you submitted. Photos and dyno sheets are not passed to sponsors or third parties. The full wording sits in our privacy policy.

What lands in every issue

Known Velocity is put together by people who spend their weekends in the pits, not in a marketing meeting. Each week we file from Killarney, from Gauteng drag strips and from Western Cape rally stages, then hand the technical pages to mechanics who actually turn the spanners.

If you want the reasoning behind the coverage, the editorial approach lays it out plainly.

Build diaries

Backyard garages, borrowed tools and slow progress. Owners write up what broke, what got replaced and what they would do differently on the next chassis.

Technical explainers

Engine mapping, suspension geometry, brake bias and tyre compounds, written by working mechanics rather than press officers. Diagrams where a photo will not do.

Event calendars

Club race weekends, track days and regional rally rounds, listed with entry notes so you can plan a season instead of finding out on the Friday.

Reader lap notes

Your session logs, tyre pressures and the corner that keeps catching you out. Send them in and they run alongside the workshop pieces.

Long-form interviews

Fabricators, gearbox specialists and team managers talk about the parts of the sport that rarely make the results sheet. Read past conversations in the article archive.