DULUX RALLIES 1971 & 1972 A History

Conducted by

AUSTRALIAN SPORTING CAR CLUB LIMITED

COMPILED BY TOM SNOOKS – April 2019

FOREWORD

START OF DULUX RALLY – 1971

I’m a little hazy about the start of the event but I recall in 1970, after I moved to Sydney from Perth (July), I lived with Allan Lawson for some time and he was talking to the Promotions/PR Manager, Roy Waters, of ‘’Balm Paints’’, about an event to promote the company’s upcoming name change to ‘Dulux’.

Research showed that the first group to promote to were car repair shops, refinishers, etc, as the company produced a large range of automotive paints and lacquers. It also showed that the most effective way to carry out a promotion was through motor sport, as the operators and workers of the repair shops and refinishers were interested in the sport, and hence the development and conduct of the first true ‘Road and Track’ event in Australia.

Allan Lawson was the Event Director for the 1971 event and was also the Event Director of the Southern Cross Rally (1969 to 1971). Both events were conducted under the auspices of the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) by the Australian Sporting Car Club (ASCC), of which John Keran was President. Allan invited me to be the Event Administration Manager, and Allan Horsley, Promoter of the Oran Park Raceway, the Race Director.

John Keran Allan Lawson Tom Snooks

Lawson moved to Queensland early in 1972 and I took over as Event Director of the Dulux Rally, and also was appointed Secretary of the ASCC.

THE EVENT CONCEPT

The Dulux Rally was the only event of its type in the world. The idea came from the Tour de France Automobile which had been running for decades (mainly on sealed roads, including the rally sections), but the combination of genuine dirt rallying between the speed events made the 'Dulux' unique.

It was a new innovation to Australian motor sport, and was conducted between Sydney to Brisbane to Melbourne (1971, covering some 6500 kilometres) and Brisbane to Sydney to Melbourne (1972 covering some 4000 kilometres). It combined a tour of hillclimbs and racing circuits, with road rallying between them.

The event could have been somewhat controversial - if the rally sections were too rough, and these were mainly sections run over a full night, the cars would have needed greater modifications which could be considered to be likely to be unsuitable for the speed events. If there was too little rallying, the rally regulars (who would form the bulk of the competitors) would not be interested.

The concept meant that the event received wide publicity, the most for a rally event since the Round Australia Trials in the fifties (except for the 1968 London to Sydney Marathon).

At the time of the Dulux Rallies there were no open road speed limits, permissions to conduct the event were minimal, the roads were not officially 'closed' as there was very little traffic on them, particularly at night; crews were conditioned to long rallies, as even state championship events ran over a weekend, not just a few hours in one day; there were plenty of dirt roads to select for a competitive course and rallying was heading into its 'Golden Era' (the mid to late Seventies).

Cars were pretty much production models, with modifications allowed to stand up to the rigours of rallying and long distances. Fuel bills those days were considered to be 'petty cash', paid out of change in the pocket so to speak!

The rallies were fully route-charted but there was plenty of activity for navigators to do with map work to keep them confident they were on the right track, for route-charted events were quite new at that time.

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SCORING SYSTEM

I can’t remember how the scoring system worked in 1971 but I recall it was cumbersome, so Race Director Alan Horsley and I devised a unique scoring system to suit the different activities of the event for 1972.

First of all, the activities were divided into three categories:

Category 1: Transport divisions on road sections - with time lost penalised at the rate of one point per minute.

Category 2: Hillclimbs, competitive rally divisions, shorter circuit races, sprints - with time lost in rally divisions, and time taken in speed events set out in ascending order of time lost/taken and penalties applied at the rate of one point per placing for speed events and two points per placing for rally divisions.

Category 3: Very competitive rally divisions, longer circuit races - with time lost in rally divisions, and time taken in speed events set out in ascending order of time lost/taken and penalties applied at the rate of two points per placing for speed events and four points per placing for rally divisions.

The penalties were applied after each speed event, and after each rally division (ie: after completing the division, not after each section, or stage, as they are called now).

Where ties occurred the penalties were based on the average of the tied placing points. For example, in a three way tie for third in category 3, the points lost for each of the three competitors was 4 (based on 3+4+5 = 12, divided by 3).

Time penalties were applied for the following: failure to participate in a race = 8 minutes added to the slowest completed time in a race; failure to finish a race = 6 minutes added to the slowest completed time in race; failure to start a time run in a hillclimb = ST + 10 seconds; failure to finish a time run in a hillclimb = ST + 5 seconds; failure to report to a control within the late time limit = 500 minutes; entry to a control from the wrong direction = 200 minutes.

Hillclimbs – the elapsed times (plus any penalties) were added together (after two or three runs) and then listed st in ascending order. One point was allocated to each placing (eg: 1 = 1 point, 2 = 2 points,nd 12 = 12 points,th 25th = 25 points) and these points added to the previous progressive total.

Rallies – the times above the allowed time (plus any penalties) were listed (as normal) in ascending order and points allocated.

There was no ‘elapsed time’ scoring as was the case in later years; in those days the Clerk of Course set a time in which the stage was to be completed without penalty and if crews were under that time they ‘clean-sheeted’; penalties were applied for time taken over the elapsed time.

Races – where the races were conducted in two groups (A and B) the times were amalgamated and listed in ascending order and points allocated as above. Either driver or co-diver/navigator could drive in a race. The driver had to be nominated five minutes prior to the practice session and then only that driver could drive in a race.

This meant that a Group B leader could be placed ahead of some Group A drivers if the Group B time was quicker than that of Group A. Points were allocated after each race, and then the points for the races added to give the race total, which was then added to the progressive total.

The scoring was somewhat involved, and these were days well prior to computers. James Horman, from Melbourne, was the Chief Timekeeper (and Results Manager) and he and his team did a splendid job in getting out the times and results quickly. The completed results document was quite complex.

CREW ELIGIBILITY

A crew of two or three persons of at least 18 years of age was permitted; the nominated driver (for races, hilllclimbs) was required to hold a CAMS General Competition Licence; whilst other crew members were required to have a CAMS Road Licence, Of course all drivers were to hold a civil driving licence, however provisional driver licence holders were not permitted to drive in any competition.

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VEHICLE ELIGIBILITY

The Dulux Rally was for touring and sports cars and vehicle eligibility was based on the following vehicle categories:

CAMS Group C (Improved Production Touring Cars); Group D (Production Sports Cars); and Group E (Series Production Touring Cars).

Certain modifications were permitted to allow them to be rallied competitively: exhaust system may be modified after point of entry into the first silencer; original make, type and number of carburetors must be retained, otherwise modifications permitted; sump guard may be fitted; rollover protection may be fitted; seats, interior and trim, may be removed, modified or added to; additional fuel tank/s may be fitted.

Classes in each of these categories were based on up to 2000cc, and 2001cc and over.

End of Dulux Rally – 1973

Early in 1973 the ASCC was in a quandary and had to make a decision on which way to turn with the Dulux and Southern Cross Rallies.

The issues with the Dulux Rally were: Dulux withdrawing its sponsorship to promote to the public through television advertisements; the complexity of organising the event; small fields in 1971 and 1972 making it probable that it would not develop further into a larger event as regards entry numbers; the sheer cost of conducting the event and the size of the sponsorship to be raised to replace Dulux.

Issues with the Southern Cross Rally were: no sponsorship at the time of the meeting (and how sponsorship was later obtained from Total Oil is another story!); not enough senior people to organise the event (so I was appointed ‘full time’ each year for the six months prior to the event as General Manager, which I then held until after the 1977 event).

With two major events to organise and seek sponsorship, the Committee, after much discussion, decided to drop the Dulux Rally in favour of the Southern Cross Rally – and the rest, as they say, is history. But, the Dulux Rally concept was very much in favour and the Southern Cross Rally did come very close to not being continued.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I must acknowledgment the major references I used to research the information and I have taken quite a few direct quotes, and photographs, from these sources:

1. Australian Motor Racing Yearbooks, published annually by Berghouse Publishing Group Pty Ltd (Sydney). I own books covering this period. 2. Racing Car News, published monthly over many years by Max Stahl which contained so many reports on all disciplines of the sport; I am indebted to Glen McAliece (Melbourne) for the loan of his collection of ‘RCNs’ over an extended period. 3. Some information was gathered from various websites using Google. 4. Memorabilia (press clippings, miscellaneous magazines) from the period which I have in my possession.

I take full responsibility for what is presented in this History of the 1971 and 1972 Dulux Rallies, and this responsibility includes any errors and omissions. I would be pleased to receive any constructive comment on the accuracy of the data.

Tom Snooks Melbourne | April 2019 [email protected]

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Start from Roselands Shopping Centre, Sydney

DULUX RALLY TROPHY FOR WINNING CREW more commonly known as the ‘Elephant Penis’

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THE ITINERARY

The nine-day, 4,300 mile (7,000 kilometre) inaugural Dulux Rally was conducted 7 to 16 August 1971, with Allan Lawson as the Director, and it covered three states - New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.

The course: • SaturdaySydney start • SaturdaySilverdale Hillclimb* (practice run then 3 timed runs); overnight Sydney • Sunday Oran Park circuit racing (6 lap races, 2 races each Groups A and B); overnight Tamworth • Monday Rally sections on approach to Grafton • Monday Grafton Hillclimb (run at night – practice run then 3 timed runs) • Monday Rally sections to overnight stop at Murwillumbah • Tuesday Surfers Paradise circuit racing (30 lap race for combined Groups A and B); overnight Brisbane • Wednesday Lakeside racing (1 x 15 lap and 1 x 30 lap for each Group A and B); overnight Goondiwindi • Thurs/Fri Rally sections via Lightning Ridge, Narromine, West Wyalong, Wagga Wagga, o/night at Albury • SaturdayHume Weir circuit racing (one race of 45 laps for combined Group A and B) • SaturdayPractice at Calder Raceway; overnight Tullamarine (Melbourne) • Sunday Calder Raceway circuit racing (6 lap races, 2 races each Groups A and B) • Sunday followed by 400 mile (650km) rally sections through forests east of Melbourne to the finish

* although Warwick Farm circuit is shown on the poster this was not used and Silverdale Hillclimb was substituted.

ENTRIES

The Renault Team had the largest number of the 43 entries in the event (of which 36 started), preparing a brand new R12 Gordini for leading crew Bob Watson (1970 Australian Rally Champion) and Andy Chapman, with R8 Gordinis for Roger Bonhomme/Chris Jessup and Mal McPherson/Jeff Beaumont.

The Renault Team’s R8, R12 and R8 in parc ferme during the Dulux Rally

The Holden Dealer Team entered a Holden Torana XU1 for Colin Bond/George Shepheard; whilst others to have XU1s included Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer, Mick Brown/Randy Warden and the all-female crew of Brenda Haigh/ Rosemary White.

ASCC President John Keran with Kevin Bartlett Keran drove the rally sections whilst Bartlett handled the circuit racing

Perhaps the most interesting car in the event was the Alfa Romeo GTV of Alfa Romeo Australia for David McKay/Robin Sharpley. It was fitted with a GTAm 2-litre racing engine from Brian Foley’s racing Alfa. 6

Ford Escorts were popular, examples being entered for Bob Holden/John Dawson-Damer, Bob Inglis/Malcolm Fearns and Garry Mecak/Chris Edwards.

Other makes/models included a BMW 2002 (Paul Older/Colin Alexander), Ford Capri V6 (Kevin Bartlett/John Keran), Volvo 164, Falcon GTHO, Mazda Capella, Morris Cooper S, Datsun 1600, Mitsubishi Colt Galant, Honda 1300, etc.

Unusual cars for this type of event included a gas-powered Holden Monaro GTS entered by Lionel Williams, an Austin 1800 Kimberley for 1973 Redex Trial winner Ken Tubman, a big Valiant Pacer (Jack ‘Milko’ Murray – no relation to Jack ‘Gelignite’ Murray), a 1962 Citroen ID 19 (Roger Wells) and a 1961 Peugeot 403B (Brian Amey).

ENTRY LIST

Brian Amey Brian Young Peugeot 403B Kevin Bartlett John Keran Ford Capri V6 Colin Bond George Shepheard Holden Torana XU1 Roger Bonhomme Chris Jessup Renault Gordini 8 Mick Brown Jennie Robinson Holden Torana XU1 Fran Caldwell Morris Cooper S Doug Chivas Norm Bolitho Mitsubishi Colt Galant

Norm Colthup Toyota Corolla Sprinter

Gary Cooke Doug Coulter Mazda 1300

Barry Coutts Morris Cooper S

Bob Drane Datsun 1600 SSS John Elvey Morris Cooper S

Keith Goodall Joe Kearney Ford Falcon GTHO Brenda Haigh Rosemary White Holden Torana XU1 Bob Holden John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort TC Bob Inglis Malcolm Fearns Ford Escort TC John Jensen Paul Jensen Ford Capri V6 Kevin Kennedy Keith Evans Ford Falcon 2 Door Jon Leighton Morris Cooper S Charlie Lund Murray Coote Mazda Capella

Mick Madden Holden EH

Gary McDonald Laurie Garrad Holden Torana GTR David McKay Robin Sharpley Alfa Romeo GTAm Stewart McLeod Adrian Mortimer Holden Torana XU1 Mal McPherson Jeff Beaumont Renault Gordini 8 Garry Mecak Chris Edwards Ford Escort TC Jack (‘Milko’) Murray John Bryson Valiant Pacer Peter Navin Austin 1800 Paul Older Colin Alexander BMW 2002

Ken Tubman Austin Kimberley

Graham Ward Peter Meyer Volvo 164 Bob Watson Andy Chapman Renault 12 Gordini Roger Wells W Gregory Citroen ID 19 Lionel Williams Holden Monaro (LPG) Ted Witherdin Morris Mini

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Some Renault Team Members - Roger Bonhomme, Bob Watson, and Jeff Beaumont with Service Crew Boss Errol Archibald

Doug Chivas Stewart McLeod Bob Holden Colin Bond

Bob Watson David McKay Kevin Bartlett Roger Bonhomme

Ken Tubman Bob Inglis John Keran Peter Meyer

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THE COMPETITION

Division One – Saturday 7 August – Sydney Region (Silverdale Hillclimb & Oran Park Raceway)

Silverdale Hillclimb

Bob Holden takes the Ford Escort TC up the Silverdale Hillclimb

From the Sydney start at the Roselands Shopping Centre the field headed straight for the 543 metres Silverdale Hillclimb, where the competition included a practice run plus three officially timed runs, the times being added together to produce the final results.

Colin Bond, a former record holder of the climb, in the Holden Torana XU1 quickly established a lead over the other competitors. Bob Holden was second in his Escort TC followed by David McKay in the Alfa Romeo GTAm (who had not driven the hillclimb for 18 years) on equal third with Stewart McLeod in his XU1.

Ken Tubman tackling the Silverdale Hillclimb in the Austin Kimberley

Progressive Results after Silverdale Colin Bond 0 pts, Bob Holden 3, David McKay and Stewart McLeod 5, Bob Watson 10, Mick Brown, Roger Bonhomme and Jack ‘Milko’ Murray 11, Kevin Bartlett and Paul Older 15.

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Already car problems became apparent.

Garry Mecak’s Escort TC caught fire when Bob Holden was attempting to help free a carburetor float level which had stuck; quick action by the fire crew at the start line doused the flames. Holden was injured but he managed to fix the problem!

Mal McPherson's Renault Gordini 8 differential seized on his practice run, and although this put him back into last position, he stayed with the event to finish a creditable 15th place; whilst Fran Caldwell’s Morris Cooper S broke its steering on the way to the hillclimb, but caught up with the event at Oran Park.

Oran Park Practice From Silverdale the field headed to Oran Park for practice, as racing here was part of a large Australian Touring Car Championship race meeting to be conducted the next day.

Few in the field, consisting primarily of rally drivers, had ever raced before but there was to be some fine efforts recorded with drivers fighting huge amounts of understeer!

Division Two – Sunday 8 August – Sydney to Tamworth

Oran Park Raceway

After overnighting near Roselands, the second day saw the competitors contest four races at Oran Park, with the field split into Group A (19 cars) and Group B (17 cars) for two races for each Group.

Start of a Group B Race at Oran Park Raceway

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All these cars were rally cars, not race cars! Paul Older’s BMW 2002 and Lionel Williams (LPG Holden Monaro) head the pack through the Oran Park esses before a reported record crowd who went to see a gigantic tussle between Bob Jane (7-litre Chev Camaro) and Allan Moffat (Trans-Am Mustang). Jane won the 45 lap race by 6/10th of a second!

In Group A, Bond won the first race (6 laps) by a considerable margin, with a battle being waged for second place between Bartlett, Inglis, Holden and McLeod. McKay had a bad start and worked his way through this battling group one by one to take Bartlett on the last lap. The final order was Bond 5:45:03, McKay 5:56:06, Bartlett 5:59:06, then Inglis, Holden, McLeod, Brown, Watson, Murry and Older.

Bob Holden’s Escort’s clutch failed as he left the start line in his first race (which he finished) and the pressure plate disintegrated as he crossed the finish line, smashing much of the gearbox and bell-housing and he determined that the points to be lost in replacing it was not worth the effort and he retired from the event.

Bond won the second 6 lap race 5:46:04, followed by McKay 5:58:05 Bartlett 5:56:05 was third, then Inglis, Brown, McLeod, Watson and Murray.

Kevin Bartlett takes the Ford Capri V6 to third place in both Group A races at Oran Park

In Group B, Garry Mecak won the first race (6 laps) from Brenda Haigh, then followed Keith Goodall: Mecak 6:19:03, Haigh 6:22:00, Goodall 6:22:06.

In the second race (also 6 laps) Goodall took the honors followed by Mecak and Haigh; Goodall 6:17:04, Mecak 6:17:09, Haigh 6:23:00

Progressive results after Oran Park: Colin Bond 0, David McKay 19, Stewart McLeod 35, Kevin Bartlett and Mick Brown 40, Ian Inglis 43.

Road sections took the cars north to Tamworth for the Sunday night stop, travelling via Newcastle, Maitland and Singleton.

11 Division Three - Monday 9 August – Tamworth to Muwillumbah via Grafton Heads

Rally Sections On Monday morning the field contested a couple of short rally sections, run over twisting dirt roads between Tamworth and Grafton and these sections demonstrated that the Alfa Romeo had insufficient ground clearance as it dragged along on its sump guard.

These sections were quite tame compared to what lay ahead in the event. On one section there was a creek crossing where the Capri of Keran/Bartlett managed to get water in the distributor which cost the crew four minutes. The Peugeot of Brian Amey/Brian Young lost 16 minutes when the starter motor failed in the middle of a creek, whilst Lionel Williams in the gas-powered Monaro found that gas lines were freezing at high speed and he lost points for late arrival.

Brian Amey 1961 Peugeot 403B

A short six-mile (10 kilometre) section near Grafton cost all competitors points, with Bond dropping 10 points, which meant his rivals lost a lot more!!

Progressive results on arrival at Grafton: Colin Bond 10, David McKay 29, Stewart McLeod 45, Ian Inglis 53, Bon Watson 58

Grafton Hillclimb Then to the Grafton Hillclimb, where the crews competed in a night meeting, despite the cold atmosphere and before a rather large crowd. Bond (the only driver to have previously competed at the hillclimb) once again led the way but Roger Bonhomme (Renault Gordini 8), Bob Inglis (Ford Escort TC) and Bob Watson were only a few split-seconds behind, followed by Kevin Bartlett and Stewart McLeod.

Doug Chivas (Mitsubishi Colt Galant) blew an oil seal on his last run up the hill and spread oil over the track. The next two runners, Paul Older (BMW 2002) and Lionel Williams (Holden Monaro GTS, running on LPG) spun wildly, much to the delight of the onlookers.

Jon Ivey rolled his Cooper S but there were no injuries and nothing seriously wrong with the car which was soon back in action.

Grafton to Murwillumbah – Rally Sections From Grafton the course continued north to rest overnight at Murwillumbah. Two rally sections were conducted along the way and Bob Watson’s R12 Gordini showed it would be a force to be reckoned with by being fastest on both sections, followed by Bond, Chivas, Older, Bonhomme, McKay and Keran.

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David McKay/Robin Sharpley on the night rally section Grafton to Murwillumbah

In the thick, swirling foggy conditions in the dark over the twisting roads through banana plantations, Keith and Kevin Goodall misjudged a corner in their big Ford Falcon GTHO and flipped over an edge, sliding down a 100 foot embankment on its roof. It took four hours with a lot of assistance to get back onto the road but while they could repair the car, they were well over their late time limit and forced out of the event.

Progressive results at Murwillumbah were: Bond 70 pts, McKay 103, Watson 112, Bartlett 134, Inglis 147, McLeod 150.

Division Four – Tuesday 10 August – Murwillumbah to Brisbane

Surfers Paradise International Raceway

The bearings of the Fran Caldwell/Jennie Robertson Cooper S packed it in on the way to Tamworth, followed by the thermostat then it suffered oil pressure failure. A complete motor rebuild took place overnight and non-stop driving saw them catch up at Surfers Paradise – but they were out of late time.

The field moved onto the Surfers Paradise Raceway for a 30 lap race in a day-long downpour and the field ran together instead of in two groups as was the case at Oran Park.

Here the rally took on a new outlook. Although continual rain made the track slippery, David McKay in the little Alfa reveled in the wet conditions and streaked away from Bond to win by 24 seconds, who was the only driver not to be lapped by McKay; then came Stewart McLeod in third place, after Kevin Bartlett (fourth) had spun off in the wet and let him through.

McKay 48:06:06, Bond 48:20:08, McLeod 48:17:03, Bartlett 48:40:07.

After Surfers Paradise McKay trailed Bond by 9 points - 94 to 103.

Progressive Results after Surfers Paradise Bond 94 pts, McKay 103, Bartlett 287, Inglis 296, Watson 308, McLeod 319.

13 Division Five – Wednesday 11 August – Brisbane to Goondiwindi

Lakeside Raceway The next day saw four races run at the Lakeside circuit (just north of Brisbane) in glorious weather. Following practice sessions, each Group had 15 lap and 30 lap races

Mike Madden (Holden EH) leads Ted Witherdin (Mini) and Ken Tubman (Austin Kimberley)

McKay took the lead in 1971 Dulux Rally at Lakeside.

In Group A the first race was won by McKay from Bond by 0.06 second, followed by Bartlett, Inglis and McLeod. In the second race over 30 laps McKay won from Bond by 17 seconds with Bartlett third on the track but he was penalised 60 seconds for cutting the corners and dropped back to fifth allowing McLeod to be third with Mick Brown fourth, and Inglis fell well back with mechanical problems with his Escort TC.

15 laps – McKay 17:22:07, Bond 17:23:03, Bartlett 17:45:04, Inglis 17:49:00, McLeod 17:50:05 30 laps – McKay 34:33:00, Bond 34:50:02, McLeod 35:07:00, Brown 35:10:01, Bartlett 36:26:01 (with 60 seconds penalty)

In Group B Garry Mecak won the 15 lap race and Jon Ivey the 30 lap race.

To date the racing had been of a good standard and the experienced racing drivers were complimenting the rally drivers on their ability to adapt to circuit racing.

Lakeside saw the withdrawal of the winner of the 1953, and first, Redex Trial, Ken Tubman (Austin Kimberley) with a broken drive shaft, and Lionel Williams who couldn’t get his ex-1968 London to Sydney Marathon gas- powered Holden Monaro to function properly.

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At Lakeside raceway – Frank Kilfoyle, David McKay and Colin Bond have a chat

Progressive Results after Lakeside McKay 103 pts, Bond 112, McLeod 411, Bartlett 423

From the Lakeside circuit the course travelled via Kilcoy, Toowoomba to Goondiwindi for the overnight stop.

Division Six – Thursday/Friday 12/13 August – Goondiwindi to Albury

Rally Sections From Goondiwindi to Lightning Ridge the rally section was a rough one, the route having been changed when heavy rains made the Gwydir Highway (between Moree and Lightning Ridge) impassable and the re-route was over back roads. Additionally, smoke from bushfires added to the normal rally hazards of twisting slippery roads and clouds of thick red dust.

On arrival at Lightning Ridge, what seemed to be the entire population of some 2000 persons turned out to welcome the competitors. A pleasant sideline to the rally was the inspection of an opal mine. Then the event continued south through Thursday and over Thursday night, passing through Narromine, West Wyalong, Wagga Wagga, and then to Albury.

Progressive Results at Lightning Ridge McKay 123 pts, Bond 132, McLeod 421, Bartlett 463, Brown 543, Watson 580

From Lightning Ridge, the 26 cars remaining in the event had a long run over 1000 miles (1600 kilometres) through Brewarrina, Narromine, Condobolin, West Wyalong and Wagga Wagga to Albury. A couple of rally sections were cancelled due to the wet conditions but one (9.5 miles – 15km) near West Wyalong was retained and all cars lost points on the special driving sections and several came to grief!

Mick Brown, running fifth, understeered his Holden Torana XU1 into a tree and this put him out of the event - very disappointing for him as he was placed in the top ten. Jon Leighton was out when a half-concealed stump tore the suspension out of the Mini Cooper S. Bob Drane also hit a stump with his Datsun SSS but he repaired the damage and caught up with the field at Albury within his late time limit.

Bob Watson/Andy Chapman in the Renault 12 Gordini on a special section near West Wyalong

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Colin Bond/George Shepheard in the Holden Torana XU1

Bob Crane (Datsun 1600 SSS) also hit a stump and this caused him to lose considerable time, although he rejoined in Albury to be in 25th place. By Albury Bond had regained the lead from McKay, but with a mere 21 point advantage.

Bond lost 30 points on this run to Albury, less than anyone else; McKay lost 60 to slip back into second place. Third was still McLeod followed by Bartlett and then Watson.

The all-female crew of Brenda Haigh/Rosemary White in their XU1 were 15th (1455 points) and the ‘veteran’ cars of Brian Amey (Peugeot 403B) and Roger Wells (Citroen ID 19) were 20th (2453 points) and 24th (10295 points) were still in the event.

Progressive Results on arrival at Albury Bond 152 pts, McKay 173, McLeod 443, Bartlett 623, Watson 710

Division Seven – Saturday 14 August – Albury to Tullamarine (Calder)

Hume Weir Circuit

Kevin Bartlett’s Ford Capri V6 leads the Holden Torana XU1 of Stewart McLeod, who impressed all with his first crack at circuit racing.

16 At Albury the cars lined up for early morning racing at the challenging Hume Weir circuit. As soon as the sun thawed the thin ice on the track the racing started. In the Group A race David McKay drove his best race of the event to streak away over the 45 laps, winning from Bond by 21 seconds and lapping all the other cars. Bartlett finished third, a bare 4 seconds ahead of McLeod then came Inglis and Murray.

Hume Weir - David McKay in the Alfa Romeo won the 45 lap and was level with Colin Bond on 173 points on the progressive scoreboard

McKay 39:45:01, Bond 40:06:00, Bartlett 41:35:00, McLeod 41:39:00, Inglis 42:06:00.

In the Group B race Charles Lund (Mazda Capella) won from Garry Mecak, with Grahame Ward (Volvo 164) third - these rally drivers were now running in the top ten positions.

David McKay lines up his Alfa Romeo to pass the Valiant Pacer of Jack Murray at ‘Scrub Corner’

So, an exciting finish loomed with Bond and McKay sharing the lead on 173 points.

Progressive Results after Hume Weir =1 Bond and McKay 173 pts, McLeod 557, Bartlett 733, Watson 932, Jack Murray (1002), Garry Mecak (1157), Paul Older (1177), Chas Lund (1194) and Bob Inglis (1195)

Calder Raceway A transport section took the field from Hume Weir at Wodonga to Calder Raceway where practice for the next day’s racing took place during the afternoon after the drive from Hume Weir, and the overnight stop was taken at the Tullamarine Travelodge at Melbourne airport.

17 Division Eight – Sunday 15 August – Tullamarine (Calder) to Melbourne

Calder Raceway Racing at the Calder circuit was during the conduct of a meeting featuring Jane, Moffat, ‘Pete’ Geoghegan and co in a round of the Australian Touring Car Championship and a mammoth crowd was in attendance.

Unfortunately, the Dulux Rally racing was lopsided and tame with Bond winning both Group A races (each 6 laps), McKay finished second in both, with Bartlett third in one race and Bob Inglis third in the other.

Bond leads McKay at Calder, and won both Group A races to set up an unassailable lead heading into the last night’s rally sections.

Progressive Results after Calder Raceway Bond 173 pts, McKay 188, McLeod 602, Bartlett 759, Watson 990, Murray 1074, Inglis 1218

Night Rally Sections So the stage was set for the final night, which included a 400 mile (650km) competitive rally over the finest rally country - the forestry areas east of Melbourne. Bond, the race and rally genius, started with a 15 point lead after Calder, and McKay, predominately a circuit racer but certainly no rally novice, was well ahead of McLeod, and it soon became evident that he knew he could not keep up with Bond and was content to finish and take second place.

The 24 cars left in the event headed north-east to Mansfield to the first section near Eildon, with Bond and Watson ‘cleaning’ the 18.3 mile (29km) run. This was followed by another couple of sections, one being 30 miles (48km), with Bond doing best, followed by McKay and Watson, then McLeod and Keran.

The weather was threatening, with the temperature down to around 32 degrees Fahrenheit (Centigrade had not been introduced at this time!), and there was a potential of snow falling on the tracks. Additionally, numerous cars ran out of fuel, or were in danger of doing so unless the drivers backed off.

From Woods Point to Walhalla the course covered a 72 mile (116km) section, and some cars did run out of fuel, including the Kevin Bartlett/John Keran Capri, Bob Watson and Roger Bonhomme, both in the Gordinis. Once again Bond was quickest, Bonhomme second, followed by Chivas, Watson, Older and MacPherson. McKay’s Alfa was having problems in the night, with lights and loss of power and the engine using plenty of oil.

The field struggled into Morwell, for a short break. Then followed a 41 mile (66km) section to Jambuk. Needless to state, Bond was quickest, although McLeod was equal with him, then came Watson, Chivas, Older and Lund. A couple of shorter sections saw the night out and the field travelled through Warburton to finish in Melbourne. It was a tough night’s rallying and certainly many points were lost by the crews. Bond was fastest on the night, followed by experienced Renault Rally Team drivers Watson, Bonhomme and McPherson, then came Chivas and Older.

18 Some incidents that happened during this last night were: Keran/Bartlett ran out of fuel and managed to get some from the unselfish Jensen brothers but it took quite some time to syphon the fuel from one car to the other (both Ford Capri V6) and thus the Jensen’s lost 55 minutes and Keran 45 minutes; McLeod’s XU1 had a puncture, broke an accelerator cable, and ran off the road while McLeod was using a hand throttle through the firewall – all without losing third place; Bob Watson and Roger Bonhomme ran out of fuel but were rescued by Chas Lund but the Gordinis didn’t run too well on standard fuel (unlike the Capella) and ‘pinged’ all the way to the next service point; David McKay’s Alfa was having problems with lighting, the engine fuming and down on power and using a lot of oil; as the crowded engine compartment did not permit an air cleaner to be fitted to the carburetors the and dust wore out the piston rings; Colthup put his Sprinter off the road and lost 10 minutes; quite a few crews had to skip sections and controls to keep within the late time limit; McLeod approached a bridge a bit fast and decided that going off the road was better than hitting the bridge rail and went over a bank and lost 11 minutes; Roger Bonhomme was third fastest on the night after Bond and Watson, but he started too far down the points scoreboard to take much advantage of his great drive to gain an outright top ten place (he finished 12th).

So ended one of Australia’s most ambitious motor sport events when the field arrived at Melbourne. The event was not without its problems but it survived and the organisers learnt much to carry forward to the next Dulux Rally in the following year.

FINAL RESULTS

1 Colin Bond George Shepheard Holden Torana XU1 683 2 David McKay Robin Sharpley Alfa Romeo GTVAm 1158 3 Stewart McLeod Adrian Mortimer Holden Torana XUI 1442 4 Bob Watson Andy Chapman Renault 12 Gordini 1530 5 Kevin Bartlett John Keran Ford Capri V6 1659 6 Paul Older Colin Alexander BMW 2002 1951 7 Doug Chivas Norm Bolitho Mitsubishi Colt Galant 2153 8 Charles Lund Murray Coote Mazda Capella RE 2226 9 Bob Inglis Malcolm Fearns Ford Escort TC 2306 10 Garry Mecak Chris Edwards Ford Escort TC 2726 11 Gary Cooke Doug Coulter Mazda 1300 3193 12 Roger Bonhomme Chris Jessup Renault Gordini 8 3241 13 Gary McDonald Laurie Garrod Holden Torana GTR 3327 14 Grahame Ward Peter Myer Volvo 164 4774 15 Mal McPherson Jeff Beaumont Renault Gordini 8 6749 16 John Jensen Paul Jensen Ford Capri V6 9437 17 Brenda Haigh Rosemary White Holden Torana XU1 10412 18 Jack Murray John Bryson Valiant Pacer 11444 19 Brian Amey Bryan Young Peugeot 403B 11624 20 Norm Colthup Barry Farrell Toyota Corolla Sprinter 16743 21 Ted Witherdin John Moore Morris Cooper S 18037

CLASS RESULTS Class A: Doug Chivas/Norm Bolitho - Mitsubishi Galant Class B: Garry Mecak/Barry Farrell - Toyota Corolla Sprinter Class C: Roger Wells/Wayne Gregory - Citroen ID19 Class D: Charles Lund/Murray Coote - Mazda Capella Class E: Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer - Holden Torana XU1 Class F: David McKay/Robin Sharpley - Alfa Romeo GTAm Class G: Colin Bond/George Shepheard - Holden Torana XU1

John Keran with Harry Firth

19 ACTION AT CALDER RACE CIRCUIT

Doug Chivas – Mitsubishi Colt Galant

Grahame Ward – Volvo 164

Kevin Bartlett – Ford Capri V6

Bob Inglis – Ford Escort TC

20

Paul Older – BMW 2002

Mal McPherson - Renault Gordini 8

Garry Mecak – Ford Escort TC

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NOVEMBER 9TH TO 18TH

DULUX RALLY TROPHY FOR WINNING CREW more commonly known as the ‘Elephant Penis’ 22

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Before anyone slings off at Tom, be informed that he was navigating; the driver (and photographer!) was Toby Bent, of Castrol Motor Sport fame at race circuits.

Toby Bent, a very wise gentleman, drove Tom on all of the 1972 Dulux Rally course surveys and was wonderful company.

Conducted in November, the Dulux Rally 72 was directed by Tom Snooks, who carried out the administration of the 1971 Dulux Rally, and who had become Secretary of the Australian Sporting Car Club. Oran Park’s Circuit Manager, Allan Horsley, was the event's Race Director. Geoff Sproat was the CAMS Course Checker, and he did a very thorough job in making sure the instructions were accurate.

The Dulux Rally, with its format of constant variation and continually fluctuating placings, had captured the imagination of a far broader section of the community than the pure enthusiast. Somehow, it even smacked of the old ‘pioneer’ image of the Redex Trials of the fifties, with the additional entertainment of leading motor sport personalities pitching their skills in a travelling motor sport circus so that more than just a privileged few of the population who attended race meetings and rally spectator locations could see them.

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The major competition organisers - Tom Snooks and Allan Horsley confer at the Hume Weir Circuit

At Hume Weir Circuit – Chief Officials Sandra Hand, Tom Snooks, Dianne Lewis

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THE ORGANISERS

Event Director: Tom Snooks Race Director: Allan Horsley Publicity Officer: Roy Waters (Dulux Australia Ltd) Chief Scrutineer: Robert Kerr Chief Timekeeper: James Horman Rally Secretary: Margaret Payne Committee: Lynn Stanley, Elizabeth Arundel, Dianne Lewis, John Whitton

THE COURSE

Stage 1 - Thursday 9 November - Brisbane to Grafton (440km) - Surfers Paradise Raceway - Grafton Mountain View Hillclimb

Stage 2 - Friday 10 November - Grafton to Sydney (720km) - Closed road special stage at Woolgoolga - Silverdale Hillclimb

Stage 3 - Saturday 11 November - Sydney to Wollongong (180km) - Oran Park Raceway

Stage 4 - Sunday 12 November - Wollongong to Albury (700km) - Dapto Hillclimb - Mt Ginn Circuit at Canberra

Stage 5 - Monday 13 November - Albury to Tumbarumba to Albury (520km) - Night Rally Division

Stage 6 - Tuesday 14 November - Albury to Hume Weir to Albury (50km) - Hume Weir Raceway

Stage 7 - Wednesday 15 November - Albury to Wangaratta to Albury (360km) - Night Rally Division

Stage 8 - Thursday 16 November - Albury to Warburton (440km) - Winton Raceway - Lakeland Hillclimb

Stage 9 - Friday 17 November - Warburton to Cowes (360km) - Night Rally Division

Stage 10 - Saturday 18 November - Cowes to Melbourne (145km) - Phillip Island Raceway

Distances are given in kilometres, although the imperial system of measurement (miles) applied in 1972.

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ENTRIES

At some circuit racing the field was split into two Groups – Group A for the faster cars and Group B for those that were substantially slower – in the main necessary due to the track density regulations established by CAMS.

Although there was much interest in the event only 27 crews made it to the start, a disappointing field. Of course, the costs of entering and participating were very high and being conducted at the end of the motor sport year funds were not readily available. All the entries had service crews, whose vehicles outnumbered the competitors!!

RAC NO CREW STA YR MAKE MODEL VE CL E GP 2 John Roxburgh / Mike Mitchell VIC 1972 Datsun 180B SSS D 3 A

3 Edgar Herrmann / Roger Bonhomme EA 1972 Datsun 240Z D 4 A

4 Bruce Hodgson / Fred Gocentas NSW 1971 Ford Escort TC C 1 A

6 Paul Older / Brian McElhinney NSW 1971 BMW 2002 D 3 A

7 Peter Janson / Peter Waring-Smith VIC 1971 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 A

9 David McKay / Garry Connelly NSW 1972 Ford Capri RS2600 D 4 A

10 Bob Holden / John Dawson-Damer NSW 1970 Ford Escort TC C 1 A

11 Peter Brock / Frank Kilfoyle VIC 1971 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 A

12 Bob Watson / Jeff Beaumont VIC 1971 Renault 12 Gordini E 6 B

13 Stewart McLeod / Adrian Mortimer SA 1972 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 A

14 Colin Bond / George Shepheard NSW 1972 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 A

17 Allan Hogan / Bryan Liersch NSW 1971 Ford Escort TC C 1 B

18 Jim Sullivan / Gary Clarke NSW 1971 Ford Cortina TC E 5 B

19 Erl Calver / Norm Syme NSW 1970 Ford Falcon GT C 2 B

20 Gary Cooke / Bruce Cheeseman NSW 1969 Mazda R100 D 6 B

21 Keith Goodall / Joe Kearney QLD 1969 Ford Falcon GTHO E 6 B

23 Ian Wallace / Warwick Smith VIC 1971 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B

24 Brenda Haigh / Gwen Dunlop NSW 1971 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B

25 Chas Lund / Murray Coote QLD 1972 Mazda RX3 C 2 B

26 Carolynn Wallace / Cheryl Schmiedte NSW 1970 Holden Torana GTR E 6 B

27 Jon Leighton / Brian Allery VIC 1970 Morris Cooper S C 1 B

29 Jack ‘Milko’ Murray / Brian MacIlvenna NSW 1972 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B

31 Stephen Taylor / Arthur Taylor NSW 1970 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 B

32 Ron Row / Bob Johns NSW 1964 Ford Cortina GT C 1 B

33 Allan Cameron / Peter Mill NSW 1970 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B

34 Arch Shearer / Brian Mepham NSW 1971 Mazda Capella C 2 B

37 Sue Ransom / Christine Cole NSW 1972 Ford Escort GT1600 C 1 B

Numerous crews consisted of a rally driver and a circuit driver; in the following text the driver listed first in the entry list is shown when the results/times are listed; Notable crews with a rally driver and a circuit driver were: 11 Peter Brock/Frank Kilfoyle 20 Gary Coke/Bruce Cheeseman 37 Sue Ransom/Christine Cole.

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Christine Cole Sue Ransom Bruce Hodgson Bob Holden

Peter Janson Peter Brock Frank Kilfoyle Colin Bond

Edgar Hermann Bob Watson Stewart McLeod John Roxburgh

VEHICLE ELIGIBILITY

Vehicle eligibility was based on CAMS 3rd Category – Production Cars: - Group C Improved Production Touring Cars - Group D Production Sports Cars (Open and Closed) - Group E Series Production Touring Cars

Classes 1, 3 and 5 were for cars up to and including 2000cc Class 2 and 6 were for cars from 2001cc to 6000cc

SUMMARY

Starting outside the Brisbane Town Hall in torrential rain on 9 November with Lord Mayor Clem Jones waving the cars away, the course passed through three states - Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria - to the finish in Melbourne, on Saturday 18 November, after covering some 4000 kilometres.

The 1972 Dulux Rally was won by the then all-conquering pair of rally aces, Colin Bond and George Shepheard, in a Holden Torana XU1, with 116 points. This followed their win in the 1971 Dulux Rally, as well as winning the 1971 and 1972 Australian Rally Championships and the 1971 Southern Cross International Rally. Completing a great 1-2 result for the Holden Dealer Team was the second place of Peter Brock and Frank Kilfoyle, also in an XU1 (188 ½ points). To cement Holden’s XU1 domination of the event was the City State Team (Adelaide) of Stewart McLeod and Adrian Mortimer, losing 229 points. Fourth was the only international driver, Edgar Herrmann (East Africa), with Roger Bonhomme, in a Datsun 240Z, on 268 points.

For Bond it was a fairly tense event. Though he and Shepheard led from start to finish they were challenged throughout by no fewer than five crews who, at one stage or another held second place.

Sydney journalist David Mckay, accompanied by CAMS NSW State Secretary Garry Connelly, was regarded as Bond’s biggest threat with his specially imported German Ford Capri RS2600/2900, which was unquestionably superior on the racing segments and, in the final race at Phillip Island, finished over a lap ahead of the Toranas, breaking the outright Touring Car record in the process. On the rally segments, however, the Capri suffered numerous 30 suspension problems, causing McKay to complain bitterly of the conditions. McKay/Connelly eventually finished fifth with a loss of 313 points, just ahead of sixth placed Paul Older/Brian McElhinney in a BMW 2002, on 320 points.

The Capri was a Ford factory entered vehicle, the team headed by Howard Marsden. It was an RS2600 bored out to 2900, with 275bhp. It was rallied in Europe and carried fibreglass panels, rose-jointed suspension, ZF 5 speed box, LSD, 9” mag wheels. It was clearly the ‘hottest’ car in the field.

Ford Capri RS2600 with 2900 engine

David McKay

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THE SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

Conducted: 9 -18 November 1972 Starters: 27 Length: approximately 4000 kilometres

Thursday Start Brisbane Thursday Surfers Paradise circuit racing - 1 x 6 lap (Cat 2) and 1 x 20 lap (Cat 3) Thursday Grafton Mountain View Hillclimb - 2 runs (Cat 2) Friday Closed road special stage northwest of Coffs Harbour (Cat 3) Saturday Silverdale Hillclimb - 3 runs (Cat 2) Saturday Oran Park circuit racing - 1 x 4 lap (Cat 2), 1 x 6 lap (Cat 3), 1 x 8 lap (Cat 3) at race meeting Sunday Dapto Hillclimb - 3 runs (Cat 2) Sunday Dirt circuit racing at Canberra (Mt Ginn) - 3 runs (Cat 3), then to Albury via Snowy Mountains Monday (night) Rally division from Albury to Tumbarumba and return (Cat 3) Tuesday Hume Weir circuit racing -1 x 10 lap (Cat 3), 1 x 20 lap (Cat 3) Wednesday (night) Rally division Albury to Wangaratta and return (Cat 3) Thursday Winton Raceway circuit racing - 1 x 6 lap, (Cat 2), 1 x 15 lap (Cat 3) Thursday Rally division Benalla to Warburton (Cat 3) Friday Lakeland Hillclimb - 3 runs (Cat 2) Friday (night) Rally division Warragul to Phillip Island via Western Gippsland (Cat 3) Saturday Phillip Island circuit racing - 1 x 20 lap (Cat 3) Saturday Finish Melbourne

Category of activities Cat 1: Transport sections Cat 2: Hillclimbs, rally divisions, shorter circuit races, sprints Cat 3: Very competitive rally divisions, longer circuit races.

THE ACTION

Stage One (Thursday – Brisbane to Grafton

Surfers Paradise Raceway From the start the competitors went to Surfers Paradise where they participated in 1 x 6 lap and 1 x 20 lap races over the two kilometre track, with all the cars together as the track density permitted this.

The Surfers Paradise track has long disappeared.

During practice McKay’s Capri suffered a persistent misfire due to the humidity and Brock took pole position with a 1:26:00 with McKay second on 1:26:02, then came Bond, Janson, McLeod, Older and Leighton.

In the two races Colin Bond was first and then second, whilst Peter Brock was second and then first. David McKay in the exciting Ford Capri RS 2600 was third in both races, followed by Stewart McLeod and Paul Older in both races.

In the second race, run in looming darkness and slight rain, McKay’s Capri was firing on all six cylinders but he could not make an impression on the Toranas of Bond and Brock.

From the start Brock tucked himself in behind Bond then on the third lap lost his wiper blade so he shot past his teammate on a straight to get out of the water thrown up by the slipstream and went on to win.

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Race times were:

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6 laps 14 Colin Bond 11 Peter Brock 9 David McKay 13 Stewart McLeod 9:04.6 9:04.9 9:28.8 9:29.3 20 laps 11 Peter Brock 14 Colin Bond 9 David McKay 13 Stewart McLeod 29:44.6 29:45.0 30:21.0 31:00.4

6 laps 20 laps 1 14 Colin Bond 6 9:04.6 1 11 Peter Brock 20 29:44.6 2 11 Peter Brock 6 9:04.9 2 14 Colin Bond 20 29:45.0 3 9 David McKay 6 9:28.8 3 9 David McKay 20 30:21.0 4 13 Stewart McLeod 6 9:29.3 4 13 Stewart McLeod 20 31:00.4 5 6 Paul Older 6 9:46.5 5 6 Paul Older 20 30:01.9 6 27 Jon Leighton 6 9:48.8 6 10 Bob Holden 20 30:13.5 7 3 Edgar Herrmann 6 9:50.9 7 2 John Roxburgh 20 30:17.6 8 10 Bob Holden 6 9:51.3 8 3 Edgar Herrmann 20 30:18.8 9 2 John Roxburgh 6 9:54.0 9 27 Jon Leighton 19 30:19.7 10 21 Keith Goodall 6 10:11.2 10 4 Bruce Hodgson 19 31:13.0 11 4 Bruce Hodgson 6 10:12.6 11 12 Bob Watson 19 31:17.7 12 12 Bob Watson 6 10:19.0 12 21 Keith Goodall 18 30:32.1 13 7 Peter Janson 6 10:22.6 13 7 Peter Janson 18 30:33.2 14 25 Chas Lund 6 10:29.6 14 25 Chas Lund 18 30:34.4 15 23 Ian Wallace 6 10:34.3 15 23 Ian Wallace 18 30:44.7 16 37 Sue Ransom 6 10:34.7 16 17 Allan Hogan 18 30:45.8 17 18 Jim Sullivan 6 10:37.0 17 37 Sue Ransom 18 30:46.7 18 20 Gary Cooke 6 10:45.8 18 33 Allan Cameron 18 30:47.1 =19 33 Allan Cameron 6 10:50.1 19 18 Jim Sullivan 18 31:02.5 =19 29 Jack Murray 6 10:50.1 20 34 Arch Shearer 18 31:03.6 21 17 Allan Hogan 5 9:04.9 21 20 Gary Cooke 18 31:26.4 22 19 Erl Calver 5 9:06.0 22 19 Erl Calver 17 30:37.8 23 34 Arch Shearer 5 9:08.0 23 32 Ron Row 15 30:15.5 24 32 Ron Row 5 9:20.3 24 24 Brenda Haigh 15 31:19.8 25 24 Brenda Haigh 5 9:48.8 25 26 Carolynn Wallace 14 30:37.3 26 Carolynn Wallace DNF 26 29 Jack Murray 14 35:37.3 31 Stephen Taylor DNF 31 Stephen Taylor Retired

Stephen and Arthur Taylor, driving a Torana XU1, dropped out of the event due to engine problems and Paul Older’s BMW blew a tyre on the last lap of the first race but he managed to bring it over the finish line in fifth place. Jack Murray’s XU1 blew its clutch just before the finish of the 20 lapper but the Taylor brothers donated theirs and Murray was away again an hour or so later.

Results at the end of Day One were: Bond 5, Brock 5, McKay 9, McLeod 12, Older 15, Holden 20, Roxburgh 23, Herrmann 23, Leighton 24, Hodgson 31, Goodall 24, Watson 39

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Stage Two (Friday - Grafton to Sydney

Grafton Hillclimb Then it was onto Grafton to overnight and early the next morning to the 535 metre tricky climb/descent switchback course known as the Mountain View Hillclimb for two runs, the times being added together to give the total times from which the outright results were calculated.

Bond (a former outright record-holder in a Lynx Peugeot) took 71.02 seconds, Herrmann 71.81, Brock and Leighton 73.35, Older 74.36, Roxburgh 74.66, Watson 74.77, Hodgson 74.90, Janson 75.28 and McKay 75.69.

Car Place Driver Run 1 Run 2 Total No 1 14 Colin Bond 35.62 35.40 71.02 2 3 Edgar Herrmann 36.32 35.40 71.81 =3 11 Peter Brock 36.93 36.42 73.35 =3 27 Jon Leighton 37.16 36.10 73.35 5 6 Paul Older 37.32 37.05 74.37 6 2 John Roxburgh 37.23 37.43 74.66 7 12 Bob Watson 37.20 37.57 74.77 8 4 Bruce Hodgson 38.19 36.71 74.90 9 7 Peter Janson 39.16 36.12 75.28 10 9 David McKay 37.87 37.82 75.69 11 10 Bob Holden 38.33 37.76 76.00 12 13 Stewart McLeod 37.95 38.33 76.28 13 37 Sue Ransom 39.04 37.80 76.84 14 33 Allan Cameron 39.16 38.41 77.57 15 17 Allan Hogan 39.30 38.31 77.61 16 23 Ian Wallace 39.91 38.19 78.10 17 25 Chas Lund 40.78 39.01 79.60 18 18 Jim Sullivan 41.00 38.87 79.87 19 32 Ron Row 40.15 39.83 79.98 20 20 Gary Cooke 40.94 39.22 80.16 21 19 Erl Calver 41.81 40.38 81.10 22 29 Jack Murray 42.65 39.58 82.23 23 21 Keith Goodall 46.84 36.13 84.07 24 24 Brenda Haigh 46.19 44.70 90.89 25 26 Carolynn Wallace 48.50 46.71 94.21 26 34 Arch Shearer 41.86 retired

Arch Shearer/Brian Mepham, with a blown O-ring in the Mazda Capella, following its apparent over-revving at the Surfers Paradise, retired from the event.

Progress results after the Grafton hillclimb were: Bond 6 pts, Brock 8 ½, McKay 19, Older 20, McLeod 24, Herrmann 25, Leighton 27 1/2 , Roxburgh 29, Holden 31, Hodgson 39, Watson 46, Janson 51, Lund 59, Wallace 61, Ransom 64, Goodall 67, Cameron 69, Hogan 71, Sullivan 73, Cooke 80, Calver 87, Shearer 89, Haigh 97, Wallace (Carolyn) 110, Murray 136.

Closed Road Section near Woolgoolga A long drive along the coast took the field to Sydney, taking in an officially closed 13.5 kilometres public road 'special stage' with timing (which in rallies/trials was normally to the minute) to the (then) incredible quarter minute, at Woolgoolga (north of Coffs Harbour). This was a rare occurrence that public roads were officially closed in New South Wales for such an activity. This proved that second timing was needed for 'special stage' rallying but this was not to come for some years until the Don Capasco Rally based at Canberra in 1974, organised by Peter Lang, the first event to officially use timing to the second.

The road contained many tight corners, tricky crests and the surface was generally loose and three crews came equal first - Edgar Herrmann, Bruce Hodgson and Stewart McLeod with 8 min 45 sec, and they were followed by Peter Janson, David McKay, Bob Watson, Bob Holden, Colin Bond and Ian Wallace, all equal second on 9 min. Then on 9 min 15 sec came Chas Lund and Sue Ransom and on 9 min 30 sec were Peter Brock, Paul Older, Jon Leighton and Alan Cameron,

The section almost saw the demise of John Roxburgh/Mike Mitchell when their Datsun miscued on an unsighted left- hander and slipped off the road damaging its front end. The incident cost them 10 minutes but they pressed on and had the car repaired later in the day. The same corner almost trapped Bond but he saved the XU1 in time. The section moved McLeod to be equal first with Bond with Hermann a close third.

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Car Time Place Driver No Min/Sec =1 3 Edgar Herrmann 8:45 =1 4 Bruce Hodgson 8:45 =1 13 Stewart McLeod 8:45 =4 7 Peter Janson 9:00 =4 9 David McKay 9:00 =4 10 Bob Holden 9:00 =4 12 Bob Watson 9:00 =4 14 Colin Bond 9:00 =4 23 Ian Wallace 9:00 =10 25 Chas Lund 9.15 =10 37 Sue Ransom 9:15 =12 6 Paul Older 9:30 =12 11 Peter Brock 9:30 =12 27 Jon Leighton 9:30 =12 33 Allan Cameron 9:30 16 29 Jack Murray 9:45 =17 20 Gary Cooke 10.00 =17 32 Ron Row 10:00 19 19 Erl Calver 10:15 =20 18 Jim Sullivan 10:30 =20 21 Keith Goodall 10:30 =22 17 Allan Hogan 11:45 =22 24 Brenda Haigh 11:45 24 26 Carolynn Wallace 11:45 25 2 John Roxburgh 19:30

Progressive results after the closed road section at Woolgoolga were: Bond and McLeod 32 pts, Herrmann 33, McKay 45, Hodgson 47, Holden 57, Brock 62 ½ , Watson 72, Older 74, Janson 77 and Leighton 81 ½ .

Area for Closed Road Section (near Woolgoolga)

The remainder of Friday saw the field continue to Sydney, stopping at Coffs Harbour, Kempsey, Port Macquarie, Taree and Newcastle. At the latter city huge crowds turned out to greet the crews, a result of the solid radio and press promotion by Dulux Australia. Shortly after midnight the field reached Bondi Beach, where (on a balmy night) many people turned out to check the cars and crews. 35

Stage Three (Saturday - Sydney to Wollongong)

Silverdale Hilllclimb After overnighting at Bondi the field headed to the Silverdale Hillclimb at Wallacia (West Sydney), followed by practice at the Oran Park Raceway in preparation for participating in a night race meeting.

Silverdale Hillclimb – Bob Watson in the Renault R12 After three runs up the 652 metre Silverdale Hilllclimb David McKay came out the overall winner, followed by Colin Bond, Peter Brock, Peter Janson, Bob Holden and Jon Leighton. The three run times combined were McKay 115.45 seconds, Bond 117.50, Brock 117.84, Janson 122.08, Holden 123.50, Leighton 123.61, Herrmann 124.96, Roxburgh 125.05, Hodgson 125.21 and Older 125.26.

Car Place Driver Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Total No 1 9 David McKay 38.69 38.24 38.52 115.45 2 14 Colin Bond 39.29 39.41 38.80 117.50 3 11 Peter Brock 39.07 39.36 39.41 117.84 4 7 Peter Janson 41.06 40.54 40.48 122.08 5 10 Bob Holden 41.48 41.21 40.00 123.50 6 27 Jon Leighton 41.38 40.92 41.31 123.61 7 3 Edgar Herrmann 40.71 40.44 43.81 124.96 8 2 John Roxburgh 41.56 41.75 41.73 125.05 9 4 Bruce Hodgson 41.19 41.47 41.55 125.21 10 6 Paul Older 41.82 41.64 41.80 125.26 11 13 Stewart McLeod 41.85 41.35 43.23 126.43 12 33 Allan Cameron 45.42 43.72 42.75 131.00 13 25 Chas Lund 44.55 43.84 43.56 131.95 14 23 Ian Wallace 44.57 44.13 44.47 133.17 15 37 Sue Ransom 45.23 44.43 43.07 133.53 16 12 Bob Watson 45.15 44.38 44.31 133.84 17 21 Keith Goodall 45.08 44.93 44.46 134.47 18 18 Jim Sullivan 46.77 45.40 45.83 138.00 19 20 Gary Cooke 46.52 45.81 45.93 138.36 20 29 Jack Murray 46.36 47.02 48.52 141.00 21 32 Ron Row 48.87 47.97 47.22 144.06 22 24 Brenda Haigh 49.22 48.48 48.33 146.03 23 19 Erl Calver 50.74 49.78 48.30 148.82 24 17 Allan Hogan 50.17 50.45 49.24 149.86 25 26 Carolynn Wallace 55.01 53.40 51.68 160.18

Oran Park Night Races Following confidence gained from the Surfers Paradise racing, and from the 1971 Dulux Rally, Race Director Alan Horsley (Promoter of Oran Park Raceway), organised for the event to take part in six of the 14-race night meeting. The field was divided into Groups A (faster cars) and B (slower cars) and each Group participated in three races each.

Edgar Herrmann/Roger Bonhomme – Datsun 240Z – at Oran Park Raceway

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Oran Park Raceway Circuit in 1972

Anyone attending the meeting will remember the great racing provided by David McKay, Colin Bond and Peter Brock. McKay won all three Group A races (6 laps, 8 laps and 4 laps) conducted over what in future years became known as the 'short circuit', as this was before the circuit was extended. The dicing between the three was enthralling. Bond was second twice and third once, with Brock being second once and third twice. McLeod was fourth, Paul Older was fifth and Bob Holden was sixth, in all three races.

At the wet Oran Park Raceway, at night, Bob Watson holds the Renault R12 tight through BP Bend with Ian Wallace (Holden Torana XU1), Sue Ransom (Ford Escort GT 1600) and Alan Cameron (XU1) following.

GROUP A

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6 laps David McKay Colin Bond Peter Brock Stewart McLeod 5:28.4 5:29.1 5:32.6 5:33.4 8 laps David McKay Peter Brock Colin Bond Steward McLeod 7:04.2 7:06.6 7:07.2 7:22.2 4 laps David McKay Colin Bond Peter Brock Stewart McLeod 3:37.9 3:38.9 3:39.3 3:45.7

GROUP B

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6 laps Ian Wallace Allan Cameron Bob Watson Sue Ransom 6:01.5 6:02.5 6:06.2 6:09.0 8 laps Ian Wallace Bob Watson Allan Cameron Sue Ransom 7:58.9 8:00.8 8:02.7 8:04.1 4 laps Bob Watson Sue Ransom Ian Wallace Keith Goodall 4:04.9 4:06.1 4:06.4 4:13.0

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RACE 1 Car Place Driver Group A Time Group B Time 6 LAPS No 1 9 David McKay 5:28.4 2 14 Colin Bond 5:29.1 3 11 Peter Brock 5:32.6 4 13 Stewart McLeod 5:33.4 5 6 Paul Older 5:42.9

6 10 Bob Holden 5:49.6 7 3 Edgar Herrmann 5:51.2

8 27 Jon Leighton 5:51.9 9 23 Ian Wallace 6:01.5 10 33 Allan Cameron 6:02.5 11 4 Bruce Hodgson 6:06.1 12 12 Bob Holden 6:06.2 13 2 John Roxburgh 6:06.7 14 37 Sue Ransom 6:09.0 15 25 Chas Lund 6:12.4 16 20 Gary Cooke 6:16.3 17 18 Jim Sullivan 6:17.1 18 29 Jack Murray 6:34.0 19 21 Keith Goodall 6:34.6 20 32 Ron Row 6:55.4 21 26 Carolynn Wallace 7:05.5 22 17 Allan Hogan 7:06.1

23 24 Brenda Haigh 6:18.9 (5 laps)

24 19 Erl Calver DNS

RACE 2 Car Place Driver Group A Time Group B Time 8 LAPS No 1 9 David McKay 7:04.2 2 11 Peter Brock 7:06.6 3 14 Colin Bond 7:07.2 4 13 Stewart McLeod 7:22.2 5 6 Paul Older 7:24.6 6 10 Bob Holden 7:35.5

7 27 Jon Leighton 7:36.3

8 3 Edgar Herrmann 7:45.4 9 2 John Roxburgh 7:47.4 10 4 Bruce Hodgson 7:56.5 11 23 Ian Wallace 7:58.9 12 12 Bob Watson 8:00.8 13 33 Allan Cameron 8:02.7 14 37 Sue Ransom 8:04.1 15 25 Chas Lund 8:05.0 16 21 Keith Goodall 8:23.5 17 20 Gary Cooke 8:24.5 18 18 Jim Sullivan 8:25.6 19 29 Jack Murray 8:39.2 20 19 Erl Calver 8:48.3 21 32 Ron Row 9:03.0 22 17 Allan Hogan 8:16.2 (7 laps)

23 26 Carolynn Wallace 8:23.8 (7 laps)

24 24 Brenda Haigh 8:43.2 (7 laps)

RACE 3 Car Place Driver Group A Time Group B Time 4 LAPS No 1 9 David McKay 3:37.9 2 14 Colin Bond 3:38.9 3 11 Peter Brock 3:39.3 4 13 Stewart McLeod 3:45.7 5 6 Paul Older 3:46.2 6 10 Bob Holden 3:53.6 7 3 Edgar Herrmann 3:55.1 8 27 Jon Leighton 3:55.8 9 2 John Roxburgh 4:01.4 10 4 Bruce Hodgson 4:01.9 11 12 Bob Watson 4:04.9 12 37 Sue Ransom 4:06.1 13 23 Ian Wallace 4:06.4 14 21 Keith Goodall 4:13.0 15 20 Gary Cooke 4:22.0 16 15 Chas Lund 4:22.7 17 33 Allan Cameron 4:23.2 18 18 Jim Sullivan 4:24.5 19 29 Jack Murray 4:25.7 20 19 Erl Calver 4:33.1 21 32 Ron Row 4:37.4 22 24 Brenda Haigh 4:52.4 23 26 Carolynn Wallace 4:52.9 24 17 Allan Hogan 4:53.0 38

Chas Lund and Murray Coote retired their Mazda RX3 with a blown O-ring, whilst Peter Janson's Torana XU1 suffered from severe engine problems and did not compete but he rejoined at Hume Weir on the Tuesday, taking a penalty of 500 points for each control that he missed.

After racing at Oran Park the placings were: Bond 46, McKay 51, McLeod 63, Herrmann 77, Brock 78 1/2 , Holden 92, Hodgson 108, Older 109, Leighton 125 1/2 , Watson 147, Wallace 154, Ransom/Cole 189, Roxburgh 190, Cameron 198, Cooke and Goodall 250, Sullivan 261, Row 287, Calver 294, Hogan 297, Murray 313, Haigh 335, Cheryl Wallace 355 1/2 and Janson 706.

Stage Four (Sunday - Wollongong to Albury via Canberra and the Alpine Way Dapto Hillclimb After staying over Saturday night at Wollongong it was out to the 660 metre Dapto Hillclimb for three runs. The hillclimb was located on private property and required plenty of brute power to accelerate from the sloping startline. A largish crowd was on hand to see the unique display of fully laden rally and race cars charging up the challenging ascent. David McKay was the fastest overall, followed by Colin Bond, Peter Brock, Edgar Herrmann, Stewart McLeod and Bruce Hodgson. The combined three run times were McKay 84.01 seconds, Bond 85.50, Brock 86.90, Herrmann 87.79, McLeod 90.91, Hodgson 92.32, Roxburgh 92.99, Goodall 94.85, Older 94.87 (after fumbling his third run).

Car Place Driver Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Total No 1 9 David McKay 28.53 27.67 27.81 84.01 2 14 Colin Bond 28.77 28.38 28.35 85.50 3 11 Peter Brock 29.19 28.71 29.00 86.90 4 3 Edgar Herrmann 29.66 29.07 29.06 87.79 5 13 Stewart McLeod 30.72 30.21 29.98 90.91 6 4 Bruce Hodgson 30.96 30.83 30.48 92.32 7 2 John Roxburgh 30.96 31.06 30.07 92.99 8 21 Keith Goodall 31.34 31.00 31.61 94.85 9 6 Paul Older 30.46 30.25 34.16 94.87 10 27 Jon Leighton 31.70 31.54 31.81 95.05 11 29 Jack Murray 32.26 32.75 32.21 97.22 12 10 Bob Holden 32.30 32.35 33.43 98.17 13 23 Ian Wallace 33.01 33.40 33.22 100.53 14 33 Allan Cameron 34.26 35.32 33.10 102.60 15 37 Sue Ransom 34.25 34.04 34.57 103.76 16 19 Erl Calver 34.77 34.85 34.59 104.21 17 24 Brenda Haigh 35.67 34.48 35.00 105.15 18 12 Bob Watson 36.59 35.16 34.77 106.52 19 17 Allan Hogan 35.10 36.46 35.94 108.40 20 18 Jim Sullivan 36.04 36.93 36.77 110.54 21 20 Gary Cooke 37.57 37.17 38.99 113.73 22 32 Ron Row 38.60 38.53 43.30 120.52 23 26 Carolynn Wallace 38.93 40.42 47.34 126.69 24 7 Peter Janson DNS DNS DNS

The progressive results after the Dapto Hillclimb were: Bond 49, McKay 52, McLeod 68, Herrmann 81, Brock 81 ½ , Holden 104, Hodgson 114, Older 118, Leighton 135 1/2 , Watson 165, Wallace 167, Roxburgh 194 and Ransom/Cole 204.

Run from Wollongong to Canberra

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Following what was then a steep highway climb over the Macquarie Pass (it was almost a long hillclimb in its own right in those days – a narrow road with no speed limits, which came into force in 1973!) and across to Canberra via Robertson, Moss Vale and Goulburn to the Mt Ginn dirt circuit, where a degree of controversy arose. To keep the dust down for spectators, the circuit officials put a light layer of oil around the course. The tar, of course, was thrown up and stuck to the cars, causing some concern to some of the competitors. A car wash was hastily arranged by the organisers in Albury for the next day.

Mt Ginn Dirt Raceway Mt Ginn was classified as a speed event with a good crowd of spectators enjoying the spectacle - for the Canberra forests were becoming to be used extensively for rallies and the sport was becoming very popular in the nation’s capital city.

David McKay’s Ford Capri RS2600 at Mt Ginn

Colin Bond (14) and Edgar Herrmann (3) fight it out at Mt Ginn

Jon Leighton, 3rd on the day, was to figure in an off-track drama at the Winton Raceway later in the week.

Bob Watson, followed by Bob Holden and Paul Older

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Following the controversy of the oiled track it was decided to conduct the competition as a 4-car Autocross, with cars starting one second apart, the fastest from the practice sessions went first. Three races were contested, with some reshuffles being made as some drivers became faster.

Not unexpectedly Colin Bond was quickest over the three runs, followed by Stewart McLeod, Jon Leighton (not so expected as he was mainly a bitumen circuit driver), Peter Brock, Edgar Herrmann and Bruce Hodgson. David McKay, who made a big, big fuss about the tar refused to continue after his first run and was scored heavily for not doing so, but everyone else had a ball.

1st 2nd 3rd 4th Run 1 Stewart McLeod Jon Leighton Colin Bond Bob Watson 2:19.1 2:19.2 2:19.6 2:22.5 Run 2 Colin Bond Jon Leighton Peter Brock Stewart McLeod 2:17.6 2:18.5 2:19.0 2:19.1 Run 3 Peter Brock Stewart McLeod Colin Bond Jon Leighton 2:17.6 2:17.8 2:18.6 2:19.5

Car Driver Run Run Run Place Total No 1 2 3 1 14 Colin Bond 2:19.6 2:17.6 2:18.68 6:55.0 2 13 Stewart McLeod 2:19.1 2:19.1 2:17.8 6:56.0 3 27 Jon Leighton 2:19.2 2:18.5 2:19.5 6:57.2 4 11 Peter Brock 2:22.8 2:19.0 2:17.6 6:59.4 5 3 Edgar Herrmann 2:25.2 2:21.2 2:21.7 7:08.1 6 4 Bruce Hodgson 2:24.5 2:21.1 2:22.6 7:08.2 7 37 Sue Ransom 2:25.5 2:23.0 2:25.0 7:13.5 8 12 Bob Watson 2:22.5 2:27.6 2:26.4 7:16.5 9 10 Bob Holden 2:23.4 2:29.7 2:28.1 7:21.2 10 6 Paul Older 2:26.0 2:29.5 2:26.0 7:21.5 11 33 Allan Cameron 2:27.2 2:28.2 2:26.8 7:22.8 12 2 John Roxburgh 2:31.4 2:28.1 2:25.8 7:25.3 13 21 Keith Goodall 2:31.2 2:30.2 2:27.1 7:28.5 14 17 Allan Hogan 2:30.4 2:31.5 2:26.9 7:28.7 15 23 Ian Wallace 2:27.6 2:31.2 2:32.5 7:31;3 16 18 Jim Sullivan 2:31.0 2:34.6 2:29.1 7:34.7 17 29 Jack Murray 2:36.5 2:33.2 2:33.6 7:43.3 18 20 Gary Cooke 2:35.6 2:34.3 2:34.5 7:44.4 19 19 Erl Calver 2:33.2 2:40.6 2:37.4 7:51.2 20 32 Ron Row 2:37.6 2:34.4 2:40.4 7:52.6 21 24 Brenda Haigh 2:34.3 2:40.6 2:40.9 7:55.8 22 26 Carolynn Wallace 2:44.6 2:36.0 2:37.5 7:59.0 23 9 David McKay 2:35.7 DNS DNS 24 7 Peter Janson DNS DNS DNS

Progressive results after Mt Ginn were: Bond 49 pts, McLeod 70, McKay 75, Brock 85 ½ , Herrmann 86, Holden 113, Hodgson 120, Leighton 138 1/2 , Watson 173, Wallace 182, Roxburgh 209, Ransom 211, Cameron 223, Goodall 271, Cooke 289, Sullivan 297, Calver 329, Rowe 330, Hogan 336, Murray 341, Haigh 374, Cheryl Wallace 405 1/2 , Janson 5177.

Competitors then made the long run from Canberra to finish in Albury late into Sunday night, travelling through Cooma and Jindabyne to Khancoban and then using the Alpine Way (in those days a great dirt road from just west of Jindabyne to just before Khancoban - the road wasn't closed but there was no traffic and no speed limits!). Then the course following the Murray Valley Highway, which wound on the south side of the Murray River, to Albury. In all this was some 620 kilometres of great open road driving in the dark, albeit not part of the competition.

Canberra to Albury – 620 kilometres in the dark 41

Late at night the crews booked into the Albury Travelodge to spend three days and four nights of pleasant relaxation coupled with three competitive segments (two night rally divisions – Monday and Wednesday, and racing at Hume Weir on Tuesday).

Stage Five (Monday - Albury to Tumbarumba to Albury)

After resting throughout Monday (and cleaning the cars!), the first of the night rally divisions was conducted.

Monday Night Rally – northeast of Albury This was a loop from and back to Albury via Wymah, Talmalmo (later made famous as the home of Datsun/Nissan rally driver George Fury, the local school bus driver!), Jingellic (with two special sections between Talmalmo and Jingellic over magnificent dirt roads) to the Carabost Forest (north west of Tumbarumba) where extensive use was made of the forest roads, resulting in five special sections. Heavy atmospheric conditions resulted in thick dust.

Area for the Monday night rally

From Carabost the course continued to Rosewood (where, unfortunately, the hanging dust drifted from the Carabost Forest and turned a householder’s white sheets hanging on a clothes line into red sheets - this really required some community PR work the next day to pacify the poor housewife!). Then onto Ournie, Jingellic (again), across the river into Victoria and then picking up special sections as the competitors passed through Burrowye, Shelley to Bullioh. A great section was conducted between Bullioh and Granya; then back in New South Wales onto Bethanga (famous for the 'Bethanga Stampede' of the 1968 Southern Cross Rally, where Director Bob Selby-Wood set some four stages around the village, all starting in different directions from its main street - but that's another story!). Then back into Victoria (running around the Hume Weir) to Tallangatta (more special sections) and so returning to Albury.

George Shepheard, navigating for Colin Bond, lodged a protest, on behalf of the Holden Dealer Team, about the location of a passage control in a Carabost Forest stage and Event Director Tom Snooks took the opportunity on the Tuesday morning to dash to the forest to examine the situation. Unfortunately for Snooks his car was carrying Dulux Rally decals and was spotted by the irate housewife in Rosewood and he copped a real earful about dust that covered her washing on the clothes line. This probably was the start of a sort of phobia that Tom Snooks developed about running around in 'event marked' cars - one that he maintained throughout his organising career! George lost the protest, by the way.

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The irrepressible Peter Janson shrugged off his 5000-plus points loss and pressed on in his usual exuberant style; he might have finished last but his will to compete saw him finish despite the major engine problems at Sydney.

The results of the night rally of 515 kilometres (of which some 35% were competitive) were Stewart McLeod (with navigator Adrian Mortimer) with 10 points lost was fastest, followed by Edgar Herrmann (Roger Bonhomme) on 11 points; equal third on 12 points were Bruce Hodgson (Fred Gocentas), Bob Holden (John Dawson-Damer) and Colin Bond (George Shepheard); equal sixth was Peter Brock (with 1969 Australian Rally Champion driver Frank Kilfoyle) and 1970 Champion Bob Watson (Jeff Beaumont), both on 13 points. John Roxburgh (Mike Mitchell) followed in eighth place on 16 points, and then David McKay (Garry Connelly) in ninth on 17. Rounding the top ten was Paul Older (Brian McElhinney) on 21 points.

John Roxburgh (CAMS President 1977 – 1982) / Mike Mitchell in the Datsun 180B SSS

A tricky right-hander trapped Allan Hogan’s Escort TC and he spun every which way. However, it wasn’t the incident that cost him time – it was the time spent in repairing the farmer’s fence!!! The Escort of Ransom/Cole had its alternator fall completely off its bracket and landed on wiring and burnt it all out. They were in plenty of trouble and finally had to be towed back to Albury, losing many points.

Place Car No Driver Time Lost 1 13 Stewart McLeod 10 2 3 Edgar Herrmann 11 =3 4 Bruce Hodgson 12 =3 10 Bob Holden 12 =3 14 Colin Bond 12 =6 11 Peter Brock 13 =6 12 Bob Watson 13 8 2 John Roxburgh 16 9 9 David McKay 17 10 6 Paul Older 21 11 33 Allan Cameron 23 12 32 Ron Row 28 13 18 Jim Sullivan 29 14 21 Keith Goodall 30 =15 19 Erl Calver 32 =15 29 Jack Murray 32 17 27 Jon Leighton 44 18 23 Ian Wallace 46 19 24 Brenda Haigh 65 20 17 Allan Hogan 73 21 26 Carolynn Wallace 3945 22 37 Sue Ransom 6531 23 7 Peter Janson DNS

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Overall Classification at Albury after Monday night rally: Colin Bond was leading the event with 65 points lost, followed by Stewart McLeod (74), Edgar Herrmann (94), David McKay (111), Peter Brock (111 1/2), Bruce Hodgson (136), Paul Older (168), Bob Watson (199), Jon Leighton (206 1/2) and John Roxburgh (241).

Stewart McLeod / Adrian Mortimer – Holden Torana XU1

Stage Six (Tuesday - Albury to Hume Weir to Albury)

Hume Weir Raceway After resting through Tuesday until early afternoon the competitors then headed to the 1.3 kilometre Hume Weir circuit, laid out beneath the towering Hume Weir.

After practice the scene was set for twilight racing before a good crowd in which the Group A and B drivers participated together in two races - a 10 lapper and a 20 lapper. And what racing it was too!

David McKay really turned it on with some glorious driving in both races. He had Peter Brock, Colin Bond and Stewart McLeod in their XU1s snapping at his heals all the way.

By Albury the Holden Team (under control of the 'Silver Fox', Harry Firth) had decided that Colin Bond was to have the opportunity to win the event for the second time, meaning that Peter Brock was to play 'second fiddle'. After the 10 lapper it was essential to Bond's chances that he finish as best he could in the 20 lapper. BUT, Brock gave chase to David McKay and on the last lap was ahead of Bond.

Firth was fixing the heal of the shoe of one of Snooks' secretaries (Sandra Hand) towards the end of the race, and stopped (hammer and tacks poised to fix the shoe) and mumbled "Brocky, don't do it, Brocky, don't do it, BROCKY DON'T DO IT", when Brock came to the finish line and slowed right down to let Bond through to be second and then he followed to be third. Shades of Bathurst in 1977 between Bond and Moffat!!!

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Keith Goodall in the big Ford Falcon GTHO won both Group B races at the Hume Weir circuit

GROUP A 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 10 laps David McKay Peter Brock Stewart McLeod Colin Bond 9:11.8 9:14.1 9:18.0 9:22.8 20 laps David McKay Colin Bond Peter Brock Stewart McLeod 18:17.1 18:19.0 18:19.5 18:37.6

GROUP B 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 10 laps Keith Goodall Alan Cameron Ian Wallace Sue Ransom 9:53.0 9:55.0 10:02.9 10:07.8 20 laps Keith Goodall Bob Watson Allan Hogan Sue Ransom 18:59.9 19:05.5 19:10.7 19:15.1

10 laps 20 laps 1 9 David McKay 10 9:11.8 1 9 David McKay 20 18:17.1 2 11 Peter Brock 10 9:14.1 2 14 Colin Bond 20 18:19.0 3 13 Stewart McLeod 10 9:18.0 3 11 Peter Brock 20 18:19.5 4 14 Colin Bond 10 9:22.8 4 13 Stewart McLeod 20 18:37.6 5 6 Paul Older 10 9:26.3 5 6 Paul Older 20 18:53.1 6 27 Jon Leighton 10 9:37.8 6 10 Bob Holden 19 18:25.4 7 10 Bob Holden 10 9:45.3 7 7 Peter Janson 19 18:34.4 8 7 Peter Janson 10 9:46.6 8 21 Keith Goodall 19 18:55.9 9 21 Keith Goodall 10 9:53.0 9 2 John Roxburgh 19 19:00.1 10 33 Allan Cameron 10 9:55.0 10 12 Bob Watson 19 19:05.5 11 2 John Roxburgh 10 10:00.4 11 3 Edgar Herrmann 19 19:09.5 12 23 Ian Wallace 10 10:02.9 12 17 Allan Hogan 19 19:10.7 13 37 Sue Ransom 10 10:07.8 13 37 Sue Ransom 19 19:15.1 14 12 Bob Watson 10 10:08.3 14 33 Allan Cameron 19 19:17.5 15 3 Edgar Herrmann 9 9:29.2 15 29 Jack Murray 19 19:29.1 16 29 Jack Murray 9 9:20.8 16 18 Jim Sullivan 19 19:50.3 17 17 Allan Hogan 9 9:28,8 17 19 Erl Calver 18 19:10.2 18 18 Jim Sullivan 9 9:30.7 18 32 Ron Row 18 19:58.5 19 24 Brenda Haigh 9 9:44.4 19 24 Brenda Haigh 17 19:22.2 20 32 Ron Row 9 9:52.5 20 26 Carolynn Wallace 16 19:02.6 21 19 Erl Calver 9 9:58.2 21 27 Jon Leighton 14 18:59.0 22 26 Carolynn Wallace 8 9:25.8 22 23 Ian Wallace 14 20:59.4 23 4 Bruce Hodgson DNS 23 4 Bruce Hodgson DNS

With his superb performance David McKay moved to third place, behind Colin Bond and Stewart McLeod, then came Peter Brock, Edgar Herrmann and Bob Holden.

Bruce Hodgson’s Escort’s engine seized its bearings and he took no further part in the event.

On the 10 lap race Colin Bond’s XU1 had axle problems and although the limited slip differential allowed him to continue he dropped well back from Brock, finishing fourth 11 seconds behind the winning XU1; Jon Leighton’s Cooper S, on the 20 lapper, suddenly dropped back halfway through the race with an oil pressure relief valve stuck and he pitted and then rejoined but was soon back into the pits – he only completed 14 laps.

Keith Goodall cleaned up the two Group B races in his Falcon GTHO; Ian Wallace was well placed in the 20 lap race until his car blew a tyre and he was out of the race.

Progressive results after Hume Weir: Bond 77 pts, McLeod 88, McKay 115, Brock 121 ½, Herrmann 146, Holden 155, Older 188, Watson 247, Roxburgh 281, Leighton 283 ½, Cameron 315, Wallace 322, Goodall 360, Ransom/Cole 375, Sullivan 417, Rowe 454, Murray 465, Calver 467, Liersch 474, Haigh 526, Wallace 581 1/2 , Janson 5299.

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Stage Seven (Wednesday - Albury to Wangaratta to Albury)

A welcome break from the intensity of the competition over Tuesday night was followed by a late start to the Wednesday night rally division - a full blown rally which enthusiasts can only dream of these days.

Wednesday Night Rally west of Albury The course took the crews through the fine but firm sand tracks in the forests around Wooragee, Woolshed, and Eldorado before a break at Wangarrata. Then west of the city to Thoona and back through Wangaratta via four special sections over the sandy tracks of the Killawarra Forest. Heading back to Albury the course passed through Eldorado again, and then into Beechworth and onto several sections in the Stanley Forest near Beechworth, followed by a great section downhill from this forest to Yackandandah.

Area for the Wednesday night rally

Bob Holden drove his Escort consistently to finish well up in all the different activities and finished sixth overall

Driving brilliantly on the night, Edgar Herrmann was the quickest losing 8 points, followed by Stewart McLeod and Colin Bond (12 points), Peter Brock (14 points), Bob Watson and John Roxburgh (16 points) and Paul Older (22 pts).

David McKay's chances of taking out a high placing collapsed when the Capri straddled a large rock on the left side of the track on an early Eldorado section and the front end of the low slung racing Capri took the full force of the impact and lifted the cross-member some three inches and deranged the steering. Warning of the rock was listed in the route instructions but, as the car was left hand drive, McKay didn't sight the rock until too late. Rumour spread that the service crew forgot to raise the suspension following the Hume Weir racing. He finished a disappointing 20th on the night, which put him back to fifth overall.

Jim Sullivan/Gary Clarke (Ford Cortina TC) broke a rear shock and had to travel gingerly and then a front shock seized knocking the centre out of the wishbone. Fortunately, an Albury wrecking yard could provide a replacement. Bob Holden struck trouble when his Ford Escort TC faulty alternator flattened the battery on a narrow uphill section. Minutes flew by until Doc Allan Hogan came to his rescue and offered his battery to get Holden out of trouble, but both lost considerable time.

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Peter Jason lost 46 minutes on the night but was penalised 400 points for coming into a control the wrong way.

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Place Car Driver Time No Lost 1 3 Edgar Herrmann 8 =2 13 Stewart McLeod 12 =2 14 Colin Bond 12 4 11 Peter Brock 14 =5 2 John Roxburgh 16 =5 12 Bob Watson 16 7 6 Paul Older 22 8 23 Ian Wallace 27 9 21 Keith Goodall 29 10 37 Sue Ransom 30 11 33 Allan Cameron 35 12 32 Ron Row 36 13 19 Erl Calver 38 14 29 Jack Murray 54 15 18 Jim Sullivan 70 16 10 Bob Holden 77 17 17 Allan Hogan 79 18 24 Brenda Haigh 84 19 27 Jon Leighton 86 20 9 David McKay 95 21 7 Peter Janson 446 22 26 Carolynn Wallace 486

Progressive results after the Wednesday night rally: Bond 87, McLeod 98, Brock 137 ½ , Herrmann 150, McKay 195, Older 216, Holden 219, Watson 269, Roxburgh 303, Wallace 354, Cameron 359, Leighton 359 ½, Goodall 396, Ransom 415, Sullivan 477, Rowe 502, Calver 519, Murray 521, Hogan 542, Haigh 598, Wallace 669, Janson 5383.

Stage Seven (Thursday - Albury to Warburton)

Winton Raceway After the four nights based at Albury the entourage moved on to the then 2.1 kilometre Winton Raceway for two races for each of Group A and Group B – a 6-lapper and a 15-lapper.

Practice at Winton was not without some drama! Edgar Herrmann couldn't get the 240Z moving well due to 'fuel feed' problems and on numerous occasions cut off Jon Leighton, forcing him to take evasive action. When they returned to the pits Leighton expressed his feelings about the experience by biffing Herrmann in the face ...... and thereby earning both of them an appearance before the Stewards. The hearing was conducted in the circuit's headquarters (a caravan), with Leighton sitting on one side next to Tom Snooks and Herrmann on the other, after having stitches to his badly gashed lip. In the meantime, Roger Bonhomme took over the driving and had no fuel feed problems and finished fifth on the grid!! It was a credit to Herrmann’s sportsmanship that he agreed to shake hands with Leighton and forget the incident.

Following Hermann’s withdrawal after the ‘punch up’ Roger Bonhomme took the Datsun 240Z to show the way home from Jon Leighton, Paul Older and Stewart McLeod 48

Leighton was permitted to race but was to be placed last no matter where he finished. In the first race of 6 laps, he finished fifth and in the second race over 15 laps, 11th. Bonhomme took over the wheel of the 240Z to finish fourth in race one, and 12th in race two. Jon Leighton and Brian Allery retired the Cooper S after the completion of the Winton races.

David McKay finished third and first in the two Group A races, to be equal best overall with Peter Brock (first and second), with Colin Bond behind them (second and third), with Herrmann and McLeod each fourth. Bob Watson was first in both Group B races, with Ian Wallace and Sue Ransom taking second each.

GROUP A 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6 laps Peter Brock Colin Bond David McKay Edgar Herrmann* 7:32.7 7:37.6 7:44.5 7:49.3 15 laps David McKay Peter Brock Colin Bond Stewart McLeod 18:36.3 18:38.4 19:06.2 19:29.3 * Roger Bonhomme driving

GROUP B 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 6 laps Bob Watson Ian Wallace Sue Ransom Alan Cameron 8:10.7 8:16.1 8:17.0 8:19.6 15 laps Bob Watson Sue Ransom Keith Goodall Alan Cameron 20:24.5 20:31.3 20:59.2 21:02.6

6 LAPS Place Car Driver Group A Group B No Time Time 1 11 Peter Brock 7:32.7 2 14 Colin Bond 7:37.6 3 9 David McKay 7:44.5 4 3 Edgar Herrmann 7:49.3 5 27 Jon Leighton 7:49.8 6 6 Paul Older 7:50.7 7 13 Stewart McLeod 7:51.9 8 2 John Roxburgh 8:03.2 9 12 Bob Watson 8:10.7 10 10 Bob Holden 8:17.7 11 23 Ian Wallace 8:16.1 12 37 Sue Ransom 8:17.0 13 33 Allan Cameron 8:19.6 14 18 Jim Sullivan 8:26.2 15 17 Allan Hogan 8:40.9 16 29 Jack Murray 8:44.6 17 21 Keith Goodall 8:46.1 18 32 Ron Row 9:00,6 19 24 Brenda Haigh 9:08.3 20 26 Carolynn Wallace 9:09.6 21 19 Erl Calver 9:45.5 22 7 Peter Janson DNS

15 LAPS Place Car Driver Group A Laps Group B No Time Time 1 9 David McKay 18:36.3 15 2 11 Peter Brock 18:38.4 15 3 14 Colin Bond 19:06.2 15 4 13 Stewart McLeod 19:29.3 15 5 6 Paul Older 19:29.6 15 6 27 Jon Leighton 19:32.0 15 7 3 Edgar Herrmann 19:32.3 15 8 7 Peter Janson 18:41.2 14 9 2 John Roxburgh 18:42.0 14 10 10 Bob Holden 19:09.0 14 11 12 Bob Watson 15 20:24.5 12 37 Sue Ransom 15 20:31.3 13 21 Keith Goodall 15 20:59.2 14 33 Allan Cameron 15 21:02.6 15 18 Jim Sullivan 15 21:05.1 16 17 Allan Hogan 15 21:35.9 17 23 Ian Wallace 15 21:36.2 18 29 Jack Murray 15 21:40.2 19 32 Ron Row 14 20:52.7 20 24 Brenda Haigh 14 21:11.0 21 19 Erl Calver 14 21:19.0 22 26 Carolynn Wallace 14 21:25:5 49

Progressive results after Winton Bond 95, McLeod 112, Brock 142 1/2, Herrmann 166, McKay 200, Older 231, Holden 248, Watson 295, Roxburgh 326, Wallace 396, Cameron 397, Goodall 436, Ransom 448, Sullivan 518, Rowe 555, Murray 570, Calver 579, Hogan 586, Haigh 654, Wallace 730, Janson 5418.

Thursday Night Rally The course headed through Benalla to the Reef Hills Forest , then south through forests to Lima and Barjarg. On to a short break at Mansfield and on to Jamieson. Then the rally's special sections ran through Gaffneys Creek, A1 Settlement, Woods Point (loops here), Icy Creek, Noojee (loops here), Nerrim and McMahon's Creek to the overnight stop at Warburton. Magnificent driving sections!

With Peter Brock in the navigator’s seat Frank Kilfoyle wheels the HDT Holden Torana XU1 through the night towards Warburton, advancing to third place.

Area for Thursday night’s rally

After the long night Colin Bond emerged quickest losing 4 points, followed by Edgar Herrmann (8 points), Peter Janson (12 points); equal fourth went to Paul Older and Sue Ransom (18 points), then John Roxburgh (24 points), Bob Holden (28 points), Ian Wallace (32 points), Peter Brock (36 points) and Jim Sullivan (40 points). 50

Held by a tree which stopped it plunging further Erl Calver’s Ford Falcon GT rests below the road after Mansfield. They got the car out within their late time limit and finished 18th outright.

By Warburton Colin Bond had established a commanding lead and he would need to have something drastic go wrong for him not to take out his second Dulux Rally. Edgar Herrmann was second, Peter Brock third, Stewart McLeod fourth (after missing the last half of the run from Benalla due to mechanical problems), Paul Older equal sixth with Bob Holden, Bob Watson ninth and Ian Wallace tenth.

A big disappointment for Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer was the rear axle slipping out of the Holden Torana XU1, while the bearing stayed put. McLeod was forced to wait four hours for his service crew and it took them five minutes to get the car going again. However, McLeod missed all the remaining controls to stay within the late time limit and hedropped 3504 points to be last on the night and dropped to fourth outright. Bob Watson’s Renault 12 had alternator trouble and was stopped for 25 minutes until Ian Wallace towed the Renault until it started.

David McKay’s turn for more trouble came when the piston in a rear shock broke, collapsing the rear end and jamming the coil spring between the wheel and guard. Although only 20 kilometres from the finish control for the night it was five hours before his service crew could reach them, so strung out was the field. Alan Cameron lost control of his Holden Torana XU1 just a kilometre from the finish and biffed the front end rather badly. He was down only 20 points for the night but he ended up losing 500 when he couldn’t make the finish in time.

Ron Row lost a rear axle and missed three controls after it was fixed by his service crew.

Place Car No Driver Time Lost 1 14 Colin Bond 7 2 3 Edgar Herrmann 10 3 7 Peter Janson 13 =4 6 Paul Older 16 =4 37 Sue Ransom 16 6 2 John Roxburgh 17 7 10 Bob Holden 23 8 23 Ian Wallace 28 9 11 Peter Brock 32 10 18 Jim Sullivan 33 11 29 Jack Murray 35 12 12 Bob Watson 37 13 21 Keith Goodall 47 14 17 Allan Hogan 59 15 24 Brenda Haigh 84 16 26 Carolynn Wallace 86 17 33 Allan Cameron 531 18 19 Erl Calver 662 19 9 David McKay 1014 20 32 Ron Row 1530 21 13 Stewart McLeod 3504

Progressive results at Warburton Bond 99, Herrmann 174, Brock 178 ½, McLeod 196, Older 249, McKay 276, Holden 276, Watson 343, Roxburgh 350, Wallace 428, Cameron 465, Ransom 466, Goodall 488, Sullivan 558, Murray 614, Row 635, Hogan 642, Calver 651, Haigh 714, Wallace 794, Janson 5430.

Mention must be made here of the ladies, Sue Ransom/Sue Ransom - running 11th; Brenda Haigh/Gwen Dunlop 19th; and Carolyn Wallace/Cheryl Schmiedte 20th.

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Stage Eight (Friday - Warburton to Cowes)

There was plenty of action to come on the Friday and Saturday!

Lakeland Hilllclimb Friday afternoon was spent at the 960 metre Lakeland Hillclimb, near Lilydale in Melbourne’s east, with three runs in the offering before a goodly crowd of spectators.

Sadly, Carolynn Wallace and Ian Wallace both had car problems and they had to take penalties for not being able to compete up the hill.

Peter Brock put in blinding times compared to the others (the hillclimb was in his 'backyard') with 50.2, 50.0, 50.1. Next fastest was Colin Bond with 50.7, 51.7 and 50.5. Then followed by David McKay, Edgar Herrmann and Paul Older.

Results (times from the three runs added together): Brock 150.3 seconds, Bond 152.9, McKay 155.4, Herrmann 158.5, Older 162.6, Roxburgh 162.7, McLeod 164.0, Cole 168.9, Cameron 169.7, Janson 170.3.

Place Car Driver Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Total No 1 11 Peter Brock 50.2 50.0 50.1 150.3 2 14 Colin Bond 50.7 51.7 50.5 152.9 3 9 David McKay 52.3 51.9 51.2 155.4 4 3 Edgar Herrmann 52.4 53.4 52.7 158.5 5 6 Paul Older 53.8 53.4 53.4 162.6 6 2 John Roxburgh 54.0 53.5 55.2 162.7 7 13 Stewart McLeod 54.6 54.8 54.6 164.0 8 37 Sue Ransom 56.5 56.2 56.2 168.9 9 33 Allan Cameron 56.3 57.1 56.3 169.7 10 7 Peter Janson 54.2 53.7 62.4 170.3 =11 12 Bob Watson 57.8 57.5 57.6 172.9 =11 29 Jack Murray 58.0 57.4 57.5 172.9 13 10 Bob Holden 53.8 56.2 69.0 174.0 14 17 Allan Hogan 58.7 58.5 58.9 175.2 15 18 Jim Sullivan 59.7 59.6 59.7 179.0 16 19 Erl Calver 62.4 61.7 61.3 185,4 17 24 Brenda Haigh 62.2 62.1 61.5 185.8 18 21 Keith Goodall 61.3 66.9 59.5 187.7 19 32 Ron Row 62.6 62.5 63.4 188.5 20 23 Ian Wallace DNF DNF DNF 21 26 Carolynn Wallace DNS DNS DNS

Progressive results after Lakeland: Bond 101, Herrmann 178, Brock 179 ½, McLeod 203, Older 255, McKay 279, Holden 289, Watson 354 1/2, Roxburgh 396

Friday Night Rally From Lakeland it was on to Warrigal where a large crowd gathered to see the cars and meet the drivers and then further east to Yarragon where the field waited for darkness to descend before taking off on the fourth and last of the night rally division. Daylight saving had been introduced to the Eastern States in 1971, so it was almost 9pm before the first car started.

The course went south over absolutely magnificent roads for rallying, passing through Allambee, Cloverlea, Tetoora Road, Strzelecki and Mt Eccles before emerging at Korumburra before the highway run to Cowes on Phillip Island.

Peter Brock/Frank Kilfoyle were quickest losing 4 points. Equal second with 5 points was Bob Watson and Colin Bond, followed by Stewart McLeod and Peter Janson, equal fourth on 7 points, Bob Holden with 6 points, Paul Older 7 points and David McKay 13 points.

Hermann/Bonhomme had a differential pack up in their Datsun 240Z and the car ran off the road as a result. They dropped 1561 points to be second last on the night and falling from third to fourth, allowing Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer to take their place.

The Ransom/Cole Ford Escort ‘Birdcage’ lost a wheel, complete with axle, and they were stranded from some hours but managed to get to the end control within their late time limit but they lost 1644 points. Alan Cameron lost time stopping to assist them, a fine sporting gesture

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Friday night rally area

Place Car Driver Time No Lost 1 11 Peter Brock 4 =2 12 Bob Watson 5 =2 14 Colin Bond 5 =4 7 Peter Janson 7 =4 13 Stewart McLeod 7 6 10 Bob Holden 8 7 6 Paul Older 9 8 9 David McKay 13 9 2 John Roxburgh 16 10 32 Ron Row 17 11 29 Jack Murray 18 =12 18 Jim Sullivan 22 =12 23 Ian Wallace 22 14 21 Keith Goodall 23 15 19 Erl Calver 24 16 33 Allan Cameron 26 17 17 Allan Hogan 34 18 24 Brenda Haigh 41 19 26 Carolynn Wallace 54 20 3 Edgar Herrmann 1561 21 37 Sue Ransom 1644

Progressive results at end of the Friday night competition: Bond 111, Brock 183 ½, McLeod 221, Herrmann 258, McKay 311, Holden 313, Watson 364, Roxburgh 392, Wallace 498, Cameron 538, Ransom 558, Goodall 562, Sullivan 623, Murray 669, Row 694, Hogan 724, Calver 727, Haigh 703, Wallace 891, Janson 5458.

Phillip Island Raceway And so, the scene was set for the final competition of the event on the Saturday - a 20 lap race around the grueling and unforgiving 5.3 kilometre Phillip Island circuit.

Phillip Island Circuit 52

David McKay was in his element and showed just what the Capri could do given its head. In practice he was fastest with 2 min 04.2 sec, followed by Peter Brock on 2:08.5 and Colin Bond on 2:09.7. Then a gap to Paul Older on 2:14.3, Stewart McLeod 2:15.3 and Peter Janson 2:17.4.

The Capri won convincingly with a race time of 42:32.9, lapping every competitor. It was a sight to behold and the magnificence of that drive lives in the memory of those who saw it. Colin Bond and Peter Brock followed (both on 42:53.0), Stewart McLeod 43:51.7, Edgar Herrmann 43:58.5, Paul Older 44:43.1 - all on 19 laps.

1st =2nd =2nd 4th 20 laps David McKay Colin Bond Peter Brock Stewart McLeod 20 laps 19 laps 19 laps 19 laps 42:32.9 42:53.0 42:53.0 43:51.7

Keith Goodall failed to complete practice when the bearings went on his long-suffering Ford Falcon GTHO and he seemed a non-finisher at the last moment. However, he cut his leather belt into bearing size strips, fitted them into the big ends, clamped up and away the big car went and he arrived at the finish just as the proceedings completed, and he finished 13th overall. Paul Older left the track briefly when a tyre went flat and he scored a stone through the windscreen. He pitted to wait out the race and then limped over the finish line to take the flag and be a finisher. Erl Calver flattened a tyre and couldn’t make it back to the pits. Peter Janson pitted after 14 laps and managed to return for the last lap to be a finisher.

20 LAPS Place Car Driver No Group A Group B No Laps Time Time 1 9 David McKay 20 42:32.9 =2 14 Colin Bond 19 42:53.0 =2 11 Peter Brock 19 42:53.0 4 13 Stewart McLeod 19 43:51.7 5 3 Edgar Herrmann 19 43:58.5 6 2 John Roxburgh 19 44:43.1 7 10 Bob Holden 18 42:55.0 8 12 Bob Watson 18 42:58.8 9 37 Sue Ransom 18 43:01.0 10 33 Allan Cameron 17 43:45.6 11 17 Allan Hogan 17 42:49.9 12 23 Ian Wallace 17 43:10.6 13 29 Jack Murray 17 43:20.7 14 18 Jim Sullivan 16 43:06.0 15 24 Brenda Haigh 16 43:25.6 16 32 Ron Row 16 44:11.7 17 26 Carolynn Wallace 16 44:15.9 18 7 Peter Janson 14 44:00.6 19 6 Paul Older 4 44:37.6 20 19 Erl Calver 13 DNF 21 21 Keith Goodall 0 DNS

The Finish to the Dulux Rally - Melbourne The final drive was to the finish at Dallas Brooks Hall in Melbourne, followed by the Gala Presentation and Cabaret Night at the same location.

Stewart McLeod/Adrian 'Grubby' Mortimer at the finish

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The 1972 Dulux Rally has long been remembered and discussed warmly by those who contested it, officiated in it and reported on it. It proved, yet again, that Australians had the resourcefulness to conceive an idea, develop it and make it work. It is a pity that the event did not continue for, as Edgar Herrmann said at the presentation, the ‘Dulux’ had all the makings of a fine international event and pointed out that there was nothing in the world quite like the event and this uniqueness alone could prove a strong attraction to international entrants and drivers.

But it was not to be and its demise allowed the Southern Cross International Rally to continue and become one of the sport’s major international events.

FINAL RESULTS

Outright

1 Colin Bond/George Shepheard Holden Torana XU1 115 pts 2 Peter Brock/Frank Kilfoyle Holden Torana XU1 188 ½ 3 Steward McLeod/Adrian Mortimer Holden Torana XU1 229 4 Edgar Herrmann/Roger Bonhomme Datsun 240Z 268 5 Paul Older/Brian McElhinney BMW 2002 313 6 Bob Holden/John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort TC 320 7 David McKay/Garry Connelly Ford Capri RS2000 327 8 Bob Watson/Jeff Beaumont Renault 12 Gordini 380 ½ 9 John Roxburgh/Mike Mitchell Datsun 180B SSS 404 10 Ian Wallace/Warwick Smith Holden Torana XU1 522 11 Allan Cameron/Peter Mill Holden Torana XU1 558 12 Sue Ransom/Christine Cole Ford Escort TC 576 13 Keith Goodall/Joe Kearney Ford Falcon GTHO 604 14 Jim Sullivan/Gary Clarke Ford Cortina GT 651 15 Jack (‘Milko’) Murray/Brian McIlvenna Holden Torana XU1 695 ½ 16 Ron Row/Bob Johns Ford Cortina TC 726 17 Allan Hogan/Bryan Liersch Ford Escort TC 746 18 Earl Calver/Norm Syme Ford Escort TC 767 19 Brenda Haigh/Gwen Dunlop Holden Torana XU1 833 20 Carolynn Wallace/Cheryl Schmiedte Holden Torana XU1 925 ½ 21 Peter Janson/Peter Waring-Smith Holden Torana XU1 5494

Classes Class 1 - Car 10 Bob Holden/John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort TC Class 2 - Car 14 Colin Bond/George Shepheard Holden Torana XU1 Class 3 - Car 6 Paul Older/Brian McElhinney BMW 2002 Class 4 - Car 3 Edgar Herrmann/Roger Bonhomme Datsun 240Z Class 5 - Car 18 Jim Sullivan/Garry Clarke Ford Cortina GT Class 6 - Car 13 Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer Holden Torana XU1

Director's Trophies Most Improved Clubman Driver Allan Cameron - worked his car from 18th to 11th outright to be the first of the 'non-recognised' drivers

Best Sporting Act Stephen and Arthur Taylor - despite the bitter disappointment of being out of the event in the first competitive activity, this crew gave Jack Murray their car's clutch, stripping it from their car and placing it in Murray's car - all in continuous rain and approaching darkness.

Did Not Finish

No Crew Vehicle Day Reason 4 Bruce Hodgson/Fred Gocentas Ford Escort TC 5 engine 20 Garry Cooke/Bruce Cheeseman Mazda R100 4 engine 25 Chas Lund/Murray Coote Mazda RX3 3 engine 27 Jon Leighton/Brian Ellery Morris Cooper S 8 retired 31 Stephen Taylor/Arthur Taylor Holden Torana XU1 1 engine 34 Arch Shearer/Brian Mepham Mazda Capella RE 2 engine

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