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1982 Cams Australian Rally Championship

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1982 Cams Australian Rally Championship 1982 CAMS AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP THE EVENTS The 1982 CAMS Australian Rally Championship: 1 Lutwyche Shopping Centre Rally Queensland Brisbane Sporting Car Club Carr/Gocentas 2 Sunday Times Safari West Australia West Australia Car Club Portman/Runnalls 3 Dunlop 2GO New South Wales Deepwater Sporting Car Club Portman/Runnalls 4 Commonwealth Motors South Australia Barrier Sporting Car Club Portman/Runnalls 5 Alpine Rally Victoria Light Car Club of Australia Portman/Runnalls FINAL POINTS 1 Geoff Portman Vic 96 1 Ross Runnalls Vic 96 2 Greg Carr ACT 89 2 Fred Gocentas ACT 89 3 Doug Thompson Vic 29 3 Ron Lugg Vic 29 4 Tony Masling NSW 22 4 Monty Suffern Vic 22 5 Ed Mulligan NSW 18 5 Geoff Jones NSW 18 6 Wayne Bell NSW 6 Col Parry NSW 7 Clive Slater WA 7 Rod van der Straaten WA 8 Hugh Bell Vic 8 Steve Ellis Vic 9 Barry Lowe SA 9 Ted Dobrzynski SA 10 Steve Ashton Vic 10 Rosemary Nixon Vic Manufacturers Award Not awarded. In the absence of works-backed cars a 12 year old Datsun 1600 won the 1982 Championship, crewed by Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls 117 SUMMARY It was obvious from the start of the year that 1982 would be a two-horse race between Geoff Portman in a Datsun 1600 and Greg Carr in a Fiat 131 Abarth – and so it proved, with Carr winning one event and second three times (plus a fourth) and Portman winning four events out of the five, with one DNF. They formed the ‘A’ Team of the championship whilst the ‘B’ Team included Doug Thompson and John Atkinson in Datsun Stanzas, Wayne Bell (Holden Commodore), Ed Mulligan (Ford Escort RS 1800) and Tony Masling (Datsun Stanza V8). With Nissan now out of rallying (Ford the previous year) 1982 was to be the first year of the Australian Rally Championship that was not supported by at least one vehicle manufacturer. Portman was contracted to Nissan for the often promised new Bluebird Turbo but this didn’t eventuate due to the company’s circuit racing commitment with George Fury – and so Portman, with Ross Runnalls, were left to defend their 1981 national title using their own ‘Grunter Mk II’ Datsun 1600. The rules permitted virtual sports sedan rallying and the 12 year old 1600, and its crew, was good enough to take off four event wins and the championship title. Despite predictions that the Fiat 131 would not be reliable in Australian conditions it proved to have a 100 percent finish rate in Carr’s team hands. It took time for the combination to settle down but by season’s end Carr was equal with, if not ahead, of Portman’s performances. Of those in the ‘B’ Team, Doug Thompson/Ron Lugg in their Datsun Stanza took third in the championship, a fitting reward for a solid year’s contribution. Tony Masling, navigated by Monty Suffern due to George Fury’s commitments to racing, became a serious contender during the year with his Stanza and finished fourth, while Ed Mulligan, with Geoff Jones, was fifth but they were stymied by reliability problems with their Escort. Wayne Bell had a difficult year with the ageing Commodore, whilst Hugh Bell put in a string of performances that made his previous run of not finishing seem to be in the past. For others in the top echelon of Australian Rallying, former champions Colin Bond, Ross Dunkerton and George Fury made a cameo appearance at times throughout the series but were really never part of the scene. Promising of potential things to come were Barry Lowe (Stanza), Gary Burns (ex-works Escort IYK-000), and a pair of Victorians, David Officer and Steve Ashton. The events included the Dunlop 2GO Rally, based at Gosford, taking over from the long running Bega Valley Rally. South Australia couldn’t mount an event near Adelaide, and attention turned to the Commonwealth Motors Rally based at Broken Hill, which was short, had a poor field of 36 and hardly in keeping with a forest championship concept – but at least it ran, and ran well! By year’s end it was being realised that Australia was no closer to returning to the mainstream of world rallying, having lost the Castrol International Rally based at Canberra and the Southern Cross International Rally (Port Macquarie). Thoughts were starting to be given to the need for rule changes to attract back manufacturers and longer terms plans were being considered by the National Rally Committee. ROUND ONE: LUTWYCH SHOPPING VILLAGE RALLY - Queensland Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas (Fiat 131 Abarth) added a new spark to Australian rallying when they drove their ex-works Fiat 131 Abarth to a win in the first round of the 1981 championship in the Lutwyche Shopping Centre Rally in Queensland. They won by six and half minutes from Ed Mulligan/Geoff Jones (Ford Escort RS 1800), with Wayne Bell/Col parry (Holden Commodore) third in their ex-Repco Trial Holden Commodore and further four and half minutes behind. Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas in the ex-works Fiat 131 Abarth 118 The biggest news was the disqualification of the provisional winners, Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls (Datsun 1600). They held the lead mid-way through the final division but their Datsun ‘Grunter’ ground to a halt with a broken differential carrier and it seemed they were out of the event but when the stage was cancelled (as later crews had to compete in daylight) they were able to make emergency repairs and continue to finish in first place. However, a series of official enquiries ruled that they had notified their retirement from the event and could not be included in the placings. The 300 kilometre event was divided into three divisions and run through rally familiar country north of Brisbane and attracted 85 entries. The rally started with a special stage in the Mt Coo-tha quarry near Brisbane city and Portman showed he meant business by taking three seconds from Mulligan. Carr was getting accustomed to the left-hand-drive Fiat and was off the pace for the whole of the first division. Hugh Bell/Steve Ellis (Datsun 1600) was an early dropout, rolling the 1600 and Murray Coote, in a new turbocharged Datsun 200B also dropped out with differential troubles while Bob Nicoli put his ex- Fury Datsun Stanza away with gearbox and differential woes. Portman established a comfortable lead while Mulligan, Wayne Nell and Dennis Brown/Warren Tegg (Ford Escort) were going well. Carr was hampered by unsuitable tyres. Division two took crews further north to Gympie and seven special stages. Portman showed the way and Carr was slowed by a puncture but finally got on the pace when he changed the Fiat over to softer compound tyres halfway through the night. Mulligan was showing his potential with the Escort and Doug Thompson/Jim Maude (Datsun Stanza) were making up places with a tidy drive. Dennis Brown, who had been fourth after division one, dropped back to tenth during the night with fuel pump troubles. Ed Mulligan/Geoff Jones took the Ford Escort BDA to second place. Some doing well included Peter Glennie/Brian Smith (Datsun Stanza) and Mark Taylor/Errol Bailey (Mitsubishi Lancer) and Peter Marcovich/Greg Weale (Ford Escort) who were eventually to get just inside the top ten finishers. The stage that troubled Portman also troubled Dennis Brown when he crashed and did considerable damage to the front left corner of the Escort. John Atkinson, with Monty Suffern in a Datsun Stanza, lost any chance of a top group finish when he dropped a bundle of time. Ron Cremen’s Datsun Stanza, the oldest still running, broke its differential with two special stages to go. Carr/Gocentas ended an 11-straight winning streak by Datsuns and confounded the many predictions that the Abarth would be too fragile for Australian conditions. Mulligan’s second was his best result with the often-troublesome BDA while Bell had done his usual job with the unwieldly Commodore. Glennie’s fourth was quite outstanding, while Thompson and Atkinson had a promising start to the new season. 1 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Fiat 131 Abarth 2 Ed Mulligan Geoff Jones Ford Escort RS 1800 3 Wayne Bell Col Parry Holden Commodore 4 Peter Glennie Brian Smith Datsun Stanza 5 Doug Thompson Jim Maude Datsun Stanza 6 Dennis Brown Warren Tegg Ford Escort 7 John Atkinson Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 8 Mark Taylor Errol Bailey Mitsubishi Lancer 9 Peter Marcovich Greg Weale Ford Escort 119 ROUND TWO: SUNDAY TIMES SAFARI – Western Australia Once again it was Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls (Datsun 1600) and Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas (Fiat 131 Abarth) who were the only serious contenders for victory and the result was only sealed in the former’s favour after the Fiat punctured five stages from home. The competition throughout the event was fierce and just 13 minutes covered the top ten place-getters. The rally attracted a 75-strong entry and the top crews crossing the Nullabor included Portman and Carr, Wayne Bell/Col Parry (running for the last time in the Holden Commodore), Hugh Bell/Steve Ellis (Datsun 1600), Tony Masling/Geoff Jones (Datsun Stanza), Doug Thompson/Jim Maude (Datsun Stanza) and John Atkinson/Monty Suffern (Datsun Stanza). Locals include Clive Slater/Rod van der Straaten (Toyota Corolla), Bob Nicoli/David Hartley (Datsun Stanza) and Jim Martin/Peter Macneall (Datsun 1600), and Ross Dunkerton/Mike Ryan (Datsun 1600) as well as Danny Bignell/ Braimbridge (Datsun 120Y) and Frank Johnson (rotary-powered Mazda 323). Slater headed the field on the first special stage and John Macara was lucky to get through after hitting a tree with his Mazda but was able to continue until the second division when he was outed with electrical troubles.
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