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1966 to 1980 a HISTORY of the EVENTS
1966 to 1980 Conducted by SPORTING CAR CLUB LIMITED A HISTORY OF THE EVENTS Compiled by Tom Snooks RACING CAR NEWS - “Trials in Australia in 1966 have been the biggest ever, with principal ‘works’ teams doing battle in almost every state. Culmination of this highly exciting branch of the Sport will be the International Southern Cross Rally in October. Artist David Atkinson has presented a scene we may expect to see somewhere along the route. Reprints are available at 10 cents per copy”. Foreword by Bob Watson By the mid 1960s competitive road events in Australia had transitioned from the adventurous pioneering Round Australia trials of the 1950s to more compact events, generally over roads closed to the public and with the emphasis on driver and car speed rather than navigation by maps. This change, driven by public safety and ease of organisation, ushered in the golden era of rallying in Australia. There were two International rallies run in Australia in the period from 1958 to 1980. They were distinctly different: the BP Rally of South Eastern Australia which ran from 1958 to 1973 was a navigation event run over rugged hard to find tracks and disused easements, and using maps of dubious accuracy. The BP was organised by the then Secretary General of CAMS (now Motorsport Australia) Donald Thomson with help from BP Motorsport Manager John Pryce and BP lubricants engineer Graham Hoinville. The BP rallies attracted factory entries from Ford, Holden, BMC, Volkswagen and Datsun. Thomson was a merciless director – he prayed for wet weather to make the event more difficult- and he had the philosophy that “a road is anything between two fencelines”. -
Bob Holden – the Man Who Won’T Give Up
Bob Holden – the man who won’t give up By Paul Watson ob Holden is a legend of Australian motor sport and a hero of Peugeot lovers. But his success was won only through a combination of self- Bmotivation and persistence. Bob was born in 1932 at Notting Hill and lived at Oakleigh, near the Dandenong Road-Ferntree Gully Road intersection. As a child he had multiple medical problems, including the debilitating poliomyelitis, which all but crippled him. Walking with the aid of sticks was painful and his gait was ungainly. So Bob chases Len Lukey and an FJ Holden at Phillip Island, 1957. Bob Holden collection he spent a lot of time reading. “My mother used to go to the library and get books for me to read. When I had gone through the books from A to Z she joined another library and I “My fi rst road race, would you believe, was up Wheelers Hill, and I was went through that. So I read everything and anything and I developed my the only one who could get to the top.” He used to ride his bike to tech, 25 own speed-reading system. I learned about things that other people did, like miles (40km) each way. people-handling, good things, bad things, mechanical things.” Then Bob’s competitive streak really took over and he started entering At school Bob was a good student and when he was 13 he was invited to races all over Victoria, improving bit by bit until he was winning. “My nearly- take an entrance exam for a technical course. -
Port Macquarie - Sydney
Andrew Cowan/Gocentas in the Mitsubishi Lancer GSR – from the cover of the 1976 regulations booklet 1975 8 – 12 OCTOBER SYDNEY – PORT MACQUARIE - SYDNEY 125 PREAMBLE Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney Format In mid-1974 the Australian Sporting Car Club canvassed a return to the format of conducting the event Sydney- Melbourne-Sydney as it did in 1966 to 1968. The wide ranging investigation was carried out in a search for maximum exposure for sponsors, and the Sydney-Melbourne corridor including Canberra, Wagga Wagga and Albury was given serious consideration. In the end, it was decided to put more effort into promoting the event based at Port Macquarie, with the start continuing to be in Sydney, the competition finish at Port Macquarie, and the return of the event to Sydney (Hyde Park) to finish there on the Monday, with a parade through the streets of the capital during the public lunchbreak. Sandcastle Motor Inn Headquarters was moved to the newly-built high-rise Sandcastle Motor Inn, overlooking the water and remained there until the end of the event in 1980. Port Macquarie Impound in front of the Sandcastle Motor Inn Start Order The starting order was seeded (at last!!) within six categories, which were changed from previous years: • The first category was for drivers seeded as rally or long distance drivers as per the FIA; • The second category was for drivers placed up to 3rd in a FIA Championship during the period 1970-1974; • The third category was for drivers who finished up to third in an international rally since 1/1/72; 126 • The fourth category was for drivers who had placed up to 12th in an international rally OR 6th in an international rally prior to 1/1/71 OR 3rd in a National Championship since 1/1/72; • The fifth category was drivers who had completed the course of an international rally or up to 12th in a national championship rally; • The sixth category was for drivers not included in the above. -
Motorcade to Hyde Park)
Rauno Aaltonen and Jeff Beaumont took the Datsun 710 SSS to victory in 1977 1977 8 – 13 OCTOBER Start: Sydney (Amaroo Park) - Finish: Sydney (Motorcade to Hyde Park) 159 PREAMBLE The 1977 event was a round of the FIA World Drivers Cup, having achieved that status after the FIA observed the event the previous year. For the first time in the event: • controls were marked by standard FIA signs; • competitors did not have to supply their own maps - whatever details that were required were provided; • route instructions included exclamation marks for cautions; • crews had to report to EVERY time and passage controls – 100% of the course had to be covered within the specified time limits to be classified as a winner. The event was shortened by 600 kilometres to that of the past few years, with most ‘horror’ roads deleted from the itinerary as; the touring section times were eased by comparison to past years indicating that the results of the event were to be determined almost solely by special stage times. Citizen electronic timing apparatus was flown in from New Zealand and timed the stages to hundredths of minutes (hence reflected in the times listed below). Penalties were applied to the second and were based on times over the time allowed. 160 SUMMARY Rauno Aaltonen on the way to a win in the 1977 Southern Cross International Rally with navigator Jeff Beaumont, in the Datsun 710 SSS 161 DATSUN WINS AT LAST! The withdrawal of the Mitsubishi factory team was not only a serious blow for the event, but it meant the absence of six time winner, Andrew Cowan.