1978 CAMS AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

THE EVENTS The 1978 CAMS Australian Rally Championship: 1 Rally of the West West Australia West Australia Car Club Dunkerton/Beaumont 2 Lutwyche Shopping Village Rally Queensland Sporting Car Club Carr/Gocentas 3 Donlee Rally Barrier Sporting Car Club Fury/Suffern 4 Bega Valley Rally New South Wales Australian Sporting Car Club Carr/Gocentas 5 Endrust Forest Rally South Australia Walkerville All Car Club Bond/Dawson-Damer 6 Marchal Rally Bendigo Light Car Club Carr/Gocentas

FINAL POINTS 1* Greg Carr ACT 27 1 John Dawson-Damer NSW 29 2 WA 27 =2 Fred Gocentas ACT 27 3 NSW 25 =2 Jeff Beaumont Tas 27 4 George Fury Vic 18 4 Monty Suffern Vic 18 5 Clive Slater WA 11 5 Steve Halloran NSW 11 6 Geoff Portman Vic 9 6 Ross Runnalls Vic 9 7 Garry Harrowfield Vic 6 7 Roger Bonhomme Vic 6 =8 David Jones Vic 4 8 Ian Pearson Vic 4 =8 Dave Morrow NSW 4 9 Jerry Browne SA 3 10 Dean Rainsford SA 3 10 * Carr won the championship on a countback – Carr won three rounds to Dunkerton’s one

Manufacturers Award Not awarded due to vehicle eligibility allowing extensive modifications

1978 Australian Rally Champions – Greg Carr, Fred Gocentas and Ford Escort RS 1800

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SUMMARY

After a year of intense competition Greg Carr, driving a Ford Escort RS 1800 and with Fred Gocentas again as navigator, emerged as the Australian Rally Champion driver for 1978. Carr and Dunkerton tied on 27 points but as Carr won three events to Dunkerton’s one he won on a countback.

For the first time since the championship started in 1968 the Australian Rally Championship navigator was not in the same crew as the winning driver. On this occasion, John Dawson-Damer, navigator for third placed Colin Bond, emerged the champion by virtue of gaining points in the first round when he navigated for Dave Morrow when Bond wasn’t available.

The battle throughout the year was essentially a Datsun versus Ford struggle with a number of other teams picking up championship points although unable to break through for an outright win.

Both Ford and Datsun fielded two cars in each event.

Ford had Carr/Gocentas in the RS 1800 and Colin Bond/John Dawson-Damer in a Ford Escort RS 2000. They won four of the six events. Carr was clearly the quickest driver throughout the year and always had his opponents in the position of having to chase him rather than the other way around. He was well positioned in one of the two events he didn’t finish when he suffered a badly damaged hand in an off-the-road excursion, the other being a mechanical problem with the car. Bond in the RS 2000 finished all five rounds he entered, winning one and third on three occasions. He could very well have won the Donlee Rally at Broken Hill but for getting bogged on a wrong road. While not as quick as Carr he clearly showed that he could still take many fastest stage times.

Datsun fielded cars for Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont and George Fury/Monty Suffern. They started in the 710 and Fury took over the Stanza in the Bega Valley Rally and Dunkerton in the fifth round. In his first year as a full works driver for (now) Dunkerton won the opening round, with Fury second, and then finished second to Carr on three subsequent occasions. Fury finished fourth in the championship after winning one round and taking a second and a fourth on two other occasions. It was not Fury’s best year but one compensation was winning the Southern Cross International Rally. He looked a good bet at the start of the season to take consecutive championships but teething problems with the new Datsun Stanza later in the year saw him miss the series win.

There were a number of drivers who contested more than one round of the series. Perth’s Clive Slater, teaming up with Steve Halloran from Sydney, ran his Toyota Corolla Sprinter on a shoestring and contested the first five rounds, and included an excellent second outright in the Donlee Rally. They both finished the series in fifth place. Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls campaigned the Datsun 1600 in four rounds and finished sixth after a second and a fourth. A broken distributor in the final round kept them from gaining further points.

Wayne Bell/George Shepheard contested five rounds in the Gemini but they had five DNF’s.

Garry Harrowfield, a former Victorian champion, ran in only two rounds to take seventh in the series overall in a Datsun 1600, with Roger Bonhomme. Fellow Victorians David Jones/Ian Pearson, again competed in a number of rounds in their Mitsubishi Lancer, while Adelaide driver, Dean Rainsford after a terrible year in 1977 with the Saab 99, reverted to the Porsche Carrera for 1978.

All rounds contained some daylight stages and all were timed to the second, providing tough competition and most were very well run.

ROUND ONE: RALLY OF THE WEST – Western Australia

49 crews entered the Rally of the West which started and finished in Perth but was largely based on the southwest town of Manjimup, and was conducted over two nights.

Ford and Datsun entered two cars each – Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas in the Escort BDA, Dave Morrow (standing in for Colin Bond)/John Dawson-Damer in the RS 2000; George Fury/Monty Suffern and Ross Dunkerton, his first full works drive, and Jeff Beaumont, both in Datsun 710s. Wayne Bell/George Shepheard contested the event in the Holden Dealer Team Gemini; Dean Rainsford/Jeremy Browne reverted from the Saab 99 he used in 1977 to his Porsche Carrera, and Doug Stewart entered a Mitsubishi Lancer. Top locals included Danny Bignell (Datsun 120Y) and Clive Slater (Toyota Corolla Sprinter).

Carr speared the Escort off the road on a tight left-hander and injured his thumb with the steering wheel and dropped 17 points in the process. Later he had the forearm put in plaster.

At the end of the first night it was Dunkerton/Beaumont 19 who held a narrow lead over Fury/Suffern 25, with Stewart 26 closely behind in third spot, followed by Dave Morrow 27 and Clive Slater 33. Local driver John Macara 35 was in sixth place in his Datsun 1600, and Carr on 38, however, he didn’t start Day Two.

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Clive Slater/Steve Halloran in the Toyota Corolla

After several well attended daylight stages by spectators the rally moved south to the hardwood forests. Fury soon snatched the lead, and Bignall retired after leaving the road and was joined by Gil Davis who rolled his Mazda. Carr too went off the road in heavy dust and lost some 20 minutes winching back on to the road and whilst doing this he further damaged a bone in his right hand which forced his retirement at the end of the division. Close to the end of the night the Bell/Shepheard Gemini also retired with a blown motor.

The second night’s rallying consisted of some long and rough stages up to 100 kilometres in length. Fury soon took over the lead from Dunkerton who then whittled away at the lead until they were tied halfway through the night. Slater had clawed his way to third while Stewart kept Morrow at bay. Then Dunkerton reverted to the lead and Fury lost the event by running off the road and having to winch back. Stewart dropped back with car problems after ‘’hitting something’’ and Morrow, despite some navigation problems, overtook Slater when the Corolla driver went off on the final stage for a few minutes.

George Fury/Monty Suffern in the Datsun 710 SSS

Making it four local crews in the top six were Frank Johnson/Bill Clark (Mazda RX4) and Brian Smallwood/Ross Thorp (Datsun 1600) took off fifth and sixth.

1 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun 710 74 pts 2 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun 710 81 3 Dave Morrow George Shepheard Holden Gemini 107 4 Clive Slater Steve Halloran Toyota Corolla Sprinter 113 5 Frank Johnson Bill Clarke Mazda RX4 135 6 Brian Smallgood Glen Thorp Datsun 1600 144 7 Ron Daniels John Poyner Renault R12S 151 8 Doug Stewart Andy Van Kann Mitsubishi Lancer 181

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ROUND TWO: LUTWYCHE SHOPPING VILLAGE RALLY - Queensland

The Lutwyche Shopping Village Rally was run over three divisions in the coastal forests north of Brisbane. Two innovations included the use of timing to the second on all special stages (not just daylight spectator stages) and a prologue to determine the start order within driver groups. Quickest was Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls (Datsun 1600), followed by Greg Carr /Fred Gocentas (Ford Escort RS 1800) and Queensland rally champion Ray Vandersee in his Holden Torana XU-1.

The rallying began in earnest early Saturday afternoon and Carr and Colin Bond/John Dawson-Damer (RS 2000) soon shared quickest times over the daylight stages. Portman went into early retirement after leaving the road and was joined by Vandersee who had an oil filter element unscrew and spew out the engine oil.

By the end of the first division Carr was a narrow leader from Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont (Datsun 710), Bond, George Fury/Monty Suffern (Datsun 710), Wayne Bell/George Shepheard (Holden Gemini) and Dean Rainsford/Jeremy Browne (Porsche Carrera), with Danny Bignell not far behind in his Datsun 240Z.

The opening stage of the second division was to set the seal on the remainder of the event. Carr, despite losing time in a creek crossing, blasted through a 134 kilometre stage nearly three minutes quicker than Dunkerton and well ahead of the rest of the field. Fury had brake problems and his car broke a rear shock absorber and proceeded slowly through much of the stage, holding up Bond and Bell amongst others, due to dust. Rainsford joined the retirement list with steering problems.

Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas/Ford Escort RS 1800 – front cover of Racing Car News June 1978

At the end of division two Carr led Dunkerton, then followed Bond, Fury, Bell, Rod Browning/Lloyd Mellor (Datsun 1600), Clive Slater (Toyota Corolla), David Jones/Ian Pearson (Mitsubishi Lancer) and Ed Mulligan/Graeme Moule (Datsun 1600).

The final division was the longest, being 440 kilometres with 190 (43%) of those competitive. The roads were rough in places and rougher in others.

At the start of the final division Carr held a commanding lead from Dunkerton who in turn had four minutes up on Bond and Fury close behind. From this point Carr drove conservatively whilst Dunkerton and Bond threw in everything they could to try and improve their positions and Fury plodded along in fourth place. Although Bond was fastest over the third division he couldn’t catch Dunkerton. As the division drew to a close Bell retired with a blown head gasket on the Gemini and this allowed Clive Slater/Steve Halloran to sneak their Corolla into fifth place. Best of the locals was Rod Browning/Lloyd Mellor who took their Datsun 1600 to sixth place for a championship point after a consistent performance.

1 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 15m 20s 2 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun 710 18:40 3 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS 2000 22:11 4 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun 710 27:14 5 Clive Slater Steve Halloran Toyota Corolla Sprinter 38:24 6 Rod Browning Lloyd Mellor Datsun 1600 40:21 7 David Jones Ian Pearson Mitsubishi Lancer 41:17 8 Frank Neale Phil Dodd Mitsubishi Lancer 54.52 9 Barry Lloyd John Dick Mitsubishi Colt 81.11 10 Ed Mulligan Graeme Moule Datsun 1600 82:51 89

Bob Riley/Brian Hope in the Chrysler Sigma

ROUND THREE: DONLEE 500 RALLY – New South Wales 1

The Donlee Rally was based at Broken Hill and conducted through the rugged semi-desert country around that city and turned out to be an extremely arduous event which ripped time off the competitors. The roads were generally made for high speeds but were rough. The event was broken into two long divisions, both starting in Broken Hill, with the second division finishing at Silverton where much merriment was carried out at the Silverton Pub, particularly with ‘races’ with camels – Ford v Nissan. There is no record which won!!!

Despite its remote location, the event attracted a strong field with most of the championship contenders present and a large number of South Australian and local crews also competing. Datsun entered 710s for George Fury/Monty Suffern and Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont; Ford entered the Escorts for Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas (BDA) and Colin Bond/John Dawson-Damer (RS 2000). Dean Rainsford/Jeremy Browne were in their Porsche Carrera, Clive Slater/Steve Halloran presented with the Toyota Corolla Sprinter, and Wayne Bell/George Shepheard fronted with the Holden Dealer Team Gemini. Bob Riley/Brian Hope entered a Chrysler Sigma, whilst Bruce Hodgson/Chris Heaney drove a Ford Escort RS.

Colin Bond has the Ford Escort sideways at the Broken Hill Speedway

The first division looped north and west of Broken Hill and was to see the early demise of Carr when a front suspension unit came adrift. This left the scene pretty much to the Datsun 710s with Dunkerton setting a quick pace and Fury matching him well. At the division’s end these two shared the lead, well clear of Riley, Bond, Rainsford and Bell. Hodgson’s Escort was in trouble with a broken rear shock absorber and the Gemini team took the opportunity of the break to change the differential.

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Ross Dunkerton has the Datsun 710 even more sideways!

The second division, running south of Broken Hill was full of drama. Dunkerton retired with a blown motor after briefly being in the lead. This left Fury in command as the many crews behind him struggled over the stretches of sandy parts of the stages. Hodgson’s Escort bogged and the clutch was ruined trying to get out; Bond lost any chance of winning after taking a wrong road and then getting bogged turning around, the loss of points being greater than his finishing margin to Fury (10). Bell was another with problems and retired the Gemini with tail-shaft centre bearing failure.

As the rally ground on through the night Fury increased his lead over second placed Slater despite having an entire rear- suspension unit changed at one service break and losing points for doing so. Then, on the final stage Fury took a wrong turn and lost 16 minutes more than he should have, and his huge lead was cut back to only two minutes. However, he comfortably beat Slater by four minutes on the last stage to ensure victory. Bond too had problems with his front suspension collapsing as he crossed the finish of the last special stage. A handy service crew soon had him on his way to the finish without points being lost, to finish third.

Dieter Thumm/Barry Walmsley in the Ford Escort RS 2000

Rainsford, having a trouble-free run for a change and was never far behind Bond, was fourth, with Ian Swan/Phil Rainer (Datsun 120Y, from Victoria, fifth and South Australians Deiter Thumm/Barry Walmsley (Ford Escort) sixth.

1 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun 710 101 pts 2 Clive Slater Steve Halloran Toyota Corolla Sprinter 107 3 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS 2000 111 4 Dean Rainsford Jerry Browne Porsche Carrera RS 115 5 Ian Swan Phil Rainer Datsun 127 6 Dieter Thumm Barry Walmsley Ford Escort RS 2000 157

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ROUND FOUR: BEGA VALLEY RALLY – New South Wales 2

Postponed from its normal June long weekend date due to inclement weather resulting in severe flooding throughout the Bega Valley the Bega Valley Rally was conducted in near perfect weather conditions in August. As a result of the change of the date the organisers were forced to reroute the rally to include one night of competition instead of the usual two nights, which made it even more competitive.

As always the event started and finished at Bega, on the New South Wales south coast, and consisted three divisions, the first and last being all daylight running. The first division did little to sort out the crews and there was the usual crop of early retirements, including Westralian Danny Bignell with a broken strut on his Datsun 120Y and Garry Meehan with a holed sump in his Toyota Celica. Colin Bond/John Dawson-Damer (Ford Escort RS 1800 – having changed from the RS 2000) lost valuable early points by taking a wrong road on the first stage. At the end of the division Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas (Ford Escort 1800), George Fury/Monty Suffern (Datsun Stanza – its first run in the championship) and Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont (Datsun 710) shared the lead with eight points, just ahead of Bob Watson/Wayne Gregson (Ford Escort) and Rex Muldoon/Mike Rebeechi (Datsun 1600).

Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas in the Ford Escort RS 1800 Colin Bond debuted his RS 1800 in this event

Ed Mulligan/Graham Moule in the Datsun 1600

The second division was conducted at night and headed north to Narooma. Carr took the lead early but then had a puncture to allow Dunkerton into the lead. The lead went back to Carr three stages later when Dunkerton suffered a puncture. Carr punctured on the next stage but held onto the lead as the cars arrived in Narooma for a break. Behind this pair another battle was taking place between a group including Bond, Fury, Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls (Datsun 1600) Murray Coote/Brian Marsden (Datsun 120Y) and Watson. Carr threw everything into it on the run back to Bega and took two minutes off Dunkerton to lead him by three at division’s end. Bond was third, ahead of Portman, Coote, Ed Mulligan/Doug Moule (Datsun 1600). Fury had retired with a broken differential and Muldoon was out with a failed alternator.

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George Fury/Monty Suffern debuted the Datsun Stanza, replacing the 710

The final stages in division three made little difference to the outcome of the rally, with Carr comfortably holding his lead and Bond driving superbly to take quickest time around the Tantawangalo speedway track.

1 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 30 pts 2 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun 710 43 3 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS 1800 55 4 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun 1600 60 5 Murray Coote Brian Marsden Datsun 120Y 61 6 Ed Mulligan Graham Moule Datsun 1600 74 7 Clive Slater Steve Halloran Toyota Corolla 76 8 Doug Stewart John Bryson Mitsubishi Colt 81 9 Garry Bevan John MacDonald Datsun 1600 82 =10 Bob Watson Wayne Gregson Ford Escort RS 2000 83 =10 Chris Berry Ian McKenzie Datsun 1600 83

ROUND FIVE: ENDRUST FOREST RALLY – South Australia

The Endrust Rally was conducted in forests close to Adelaide and by winning the event Colin Bond/John Dawson-Damer (Ford Escort RS 1800) joined the lead in the championship. They had a convincing five minute lead over Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls (Datsun 1600).

The rally took a heavy toll on leading contenders. The Total Oil Datsun Team entered three Stanzas for George Fury/Monty Suffern (Stanza), Ross Dunkerton/Geoff Beaumont and Rauno Aaltonen (in Australia for the upcoming ). All three ran into trouble. Aaltonen retired on the very first transport section with a broken timing chain; Dunkerton’s car was given water instead of petrol at a service point and withdrew shortly after; Fury was one of many drivers to get bogged and finished well out of the championship points allocation.

Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls in the Datsun 1600 finished in second place

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Carr led the event for a time but dropped out with a broken rear axle and Wayne Bell/George Shepheard (Holden Gemini) again failed to finish – fifth consecutive time – after an off-road excursion and then overheating problems.

Victorian privateers took three of the four placings after Portman – Garry Harrowfield/Roger Bonhomme (Datsun 1600) were third, fourth went to David Jones/Ian Pearson (Mitsubishi Lancer) and sixth to Rex Muldoon/Rebbechi (Datsun 1600). Fifth went to South Australians Pittaway/Harden (Datsun 1600).

Bond and Dunkerton shared the lead in the championship, with Carr and Fury tied for third place. The Endrust Rally was extensively televised and was also followed by huge spectator crowds.

David Jones/Ian Pearson finished fourth outright in the Mitsubishi Lancer

1 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS 1800 27m47s 2 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun 1600 33:18 3 Garry Harrowfield Roger Bonhomme Datsun 1600 35:32 4 David Jones Ian Pearson Mitsubishi Lancer 36:45 5 Phil Pittaway Harden Datsun 1600 36:51 6 Rex Muldoon M. Rebbechi Datsun 1600 38:07

ROUND SIX: MARCHAL RALLY - Victoria

The final round was conducted on 17 December after numerous postponements due to organisational problems.

After five rounds of the championship the outcome of the series rested entirely on the result of the Marchal Rally, based at Ballarat. Before the event Bond and Dunkerton were both on 21 points, while Fury and Carr were each on 18, and any one of these four drivers could have won the championship by winning this event.

After yet another event-long battle between Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont (Datsun Stanza) and Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas (Ford Escort RS 1800), Carr took out the event and the championship. Both finished with 27 points but Carr, with three championship event wins to Dunkerton’s one, was declared the champion. Third place in the event went to Colin Bond/John Dawson-Damer (Ford Escort RS 1800), placing him third in the championship. If he hadn’t missed the first round in WA he might well have won the Championship. Dawson-Damer won the navigators championship as he competed with Dave Morrow to win the first round in the series.

The rally was run through the old gold mine area surrounding Ballarat in central Victoria, over a maze of flat and featureless tracks lined with dead trees and stumps waiting to catch any unwary drivers. It was a three-way battle between the Datsun crews of Dunkerton and Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls (Datsun 1600) and Carr. Fury was forced out of the event with camshaft drive failure with his Stanza.

It was soon apparent that Car had the edge in performance on his rivals and he gradually opened a small but significant gap with Portman never far away until he lost time on one stage with distributor problems.

Dunkerton threw everything into the final 35 kilometre stage to record a very quick time. Carr, sensing that Dunkerton would be flat out at this time, also put in a sensational effort and beat the Datsun by more than a minute to run out the convincing winner of the event, and of the championship.

Bond managed to hold onto third place and the remaining championship points were allocated to Chris Power/Bruce Lakerink (Datsun 1600) and Garry Harrowfield/Roger Bonhomme (Datsun 1600) – equal fourth, and championship series evergreens David Jones/Ian Pearson (Mitsubishi Lancer) sixth.

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Ross Dunkerton and Jeff Beaumont gave the Datsun 710 EVERYTHING in an attempt to catch Greg Carr

The Season’s Victors – Ford Escort’s Colin Bond, Fred Gocentas, Greg Carr, John Dawson-Damer

1 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 23 pts 2 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 26 3 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS 1800 33 =4 Chris Power Fred Lakerink Datsun 1600 39 =4 Garry Harrowfield Roger Bonhomme Datsun 1600 39 6 David Jones Ian Pearson Mitsubishi Lancer 42 7 Ed Mulligan Chris Heaney Datsun 1600 44 8 John White John Williams Mitsubishi Lancer 45 9 Murray Coote Rod Browning Datsun 120Y 46 10 David Jones Graeme Toner 47

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