SYDNEY – Finish: PORT MACQUARIE

Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont, Datsun Stanza Winners of the last Southern Cross International Rally

1980 18 – 22 OCTOBER Start: SYDNEY – Finish: PORT MACQUARIE

202

PREAMBLE

The 1980 event was not conducted by the Australian Sporting Car Club as it had run into financial and staff difficulties. The inability to attract a major sponsor and the absence of experienced administrators, for the previous two years’ team of Peter Berriman and Tony Webb stood down after the 1979 event.

The event was managed by a team put together by CAMS and the rescue effort started only some eight weeks prior to the event being conducted, with Castrol Rally Director Geoff Sykes taking the lead to set the event, assisted by Peter Reynell, Manager of CAMS NSW.

Sensibly, with the late start to its organising the event continued with the well-used practice of starting in Sydney, again at Amaroo Park, travelling to Port Macquarie and being based here until the finish.

SUMMARY

Ross Dunkerton and Jeff Beaumont

Dunkerton’s and Beaumont’s victory gave the Nissan Rally Team its fourth win in a row in the prestigious event, bringing them close to the enviable record set by Mitsubishi when Andrew Cowan won five on end. Nissan’s effort was a wholly Australian one with all local drivers. The Team was again under the quiet control of manager Howard Marsden.

Ross Dunkerton in the very last 1980 Southern Cross International Rally – the last battle between the Datsun Stanza and the Ford Escort RS 1800

Second and third places went to Ford Australia crews running Escort RS1800s. Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas finished exactly three minutes behind Dunkerton, while Finnish star Ari Vatanen, with Dave Richards of England, a further 24 minutes down.

203

Ari Vatanen/David Richards at Amaroo Park

In fourth place, and first private crew home were Ian Hill and Anne Heaney in the Ford Escort RS2000, yet another fine result for them following their eighth place in 1978.

Victorian crew David Jones/Ian Pearson finished fifth in their Holden Commodore, an excellent result given this was Jones’ first Southern Cross International Rally, and the bigger car he drove; then came Westralians Frank Johnson/Steve van der Byl in their Mazda 323. An exponent in long distance rallies Johnson was only two minutes behind Jones and his position confirmed his fine fifth in 1979.

The 1980 Southern Cross International Rally was certainly not the longest or toughest in its 15 year history, but it was more dramatic than most. There were five different leaders at various times and the last night was packed with incident, including the blown engines of two of the leading Datsun team.

Dunkerton came from fourth on day one, to third on day two and was second going into the fourth and final division to take his first Southern Cross International Rally after many starts. It was a fairy tale victory for the multiple Australian Rally Champion as his consistently safe but at times spectacular driving suddenly handed him the rally lead towards the end of the event.

A highlight of the event was the appearance of Finnish and World Rally Championship superstar Ari Vatanen. Early on he took the lead and then Geoff Portman took over by the end of day two, only to relinquish it to Fury on day three. Fury set out to wrap up the event but he was stunned by an engine failure like that which occurred to Portman. Carr and Vatanen closed in for the kill but Dunkerton, driving furiously, held them off.

Final Placings 1 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 836:26 2 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 839.26 3 Ari Vatanen David Richards Ford Escort RS 1800 863:29 4 Ian Hill Ann Heaney Ford Escort RS 2000 898:52 5 David Jones Ian Pearson Holden Commodore 933:22 6 Frank Johnson Steve Van Der Byl Mazda 323 Rotary 935:33 7 John Berne David Petti Ford Escort RS 2000 950:07 8 Gordon Leven Rob Wilson Datsun 1600 SSS 964:34 9 Graham Clark Arthur Davis Datsun 180B 974:43 10 Gary Meehan Gregg Gifford Toyota Celica 977.36

Due to insufficient entries classes were not declared.

204

VEHICLE ELIGIBILITY

Vehicle eligibility based on FIA Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, and homologated in Appendix J of the 1979 International Sporting Code: 6. Series Production Cars: 5000 units produced within 12 consecutive months; 7. Series Touring Cars: 1000 units produced within 12 consecutive months; 8. Series Production Grand Touring Cars: 1000 units produced within 12 consecutive months; 9. Special Grand Touring Cars: 500 units produced within 12 consecutive months. 10. Special Production Cars; from 1976 the FIA introduced a new Group 5 "Special Production Car" category, allowing extensive modifications to production based vehicles which were homologated in FIA Groups 1 through 4.

• Fitting of a safety roll over bar or cage protection was compulsory for all cars; • Helmets were not compulsory, recommended that safety helmets be worn on special stages; • A fire extinguisher system with a minimum capacity 5kg to be fitted within the passenger compartment.

EVENT DETAILS/ ORGANISING TEAM

Event Details Division Distance Competitive Comp % Longest Late Number Number Time Starters Finishers One* 550 140 25 55 150 Two 660 300 47 115 150 Three 660 290 44 104 150 Four 750 365 49 140 150 Totals 2620 1100 42 44 17 *distances after cancellation of stages due to fire risk

Organising Team This year the event was not conducted by the ASCC, it was run by a consortium under the guidance of CAMS. Chairman: David Johnson Secretary: Tiki Friezer Road Director: Geoff Sykes Assistant Directors: Bob Halpin and Allan Denny Competitor Liaison: John Arter Committee: above plus Steve Halloran, Ian MacKenzie-Smith, Craig Tapper Rally Headquarters Port Macquarie – ‘Sandcastle‘ Motel Sponsors Port Macquarie Business Houses Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (‘Travelodge’)

ENTRIES

44 crews started the event, of which four came from overseas.

It was a matter of record that the field for the 1979 had hit an all time low in 1979 when only 40 cars faced the starter. The entry level was only slightly higher in 1980 – 45 entries for 44 starters – and again the main competition focus was on Nissan and Ford.

The Ford effort was reduced to two entries, with Team Manager Colin Bond standing down as a driver in favour of leading international Ford driver Ari Vatanen, supported by Greg Carr. As Vatanen wanted a left-hand drive car one of the team’s cars was converted. Vatanen was the only European international in the event.

Nissan entered three cars, a far cry from previous years when five was the norm. These were twin cam two litre Stanzas, for Ross Dunkerton/Jeff Beaumont, George Fury/Monty Suffern and newcomer Geoff Portman/Ross Runnalls. 205

A Holden Gemini was entered for Wayne Bell/Dave Boddy and this was the same car driven by Barry Ferguson in the 1980 Australian Rally Championship rounds.

Bob Watson drove the ex-Cowan Volkswagen Golf from 1978 (with Wayne Gregson as navigator).

There was a strong contingent of privately entered Ford Escorts RS 2000s headed by Ed Mulligan (Chris Heaney), Ian Hill (Ann Heaney), Dan White and John Berne (David Peiti).

A small Japanese contingent of three arrived to support the event.

Although the event had always been conducted along strict FIA guidelines with cars having to conform to FIA categories, there were a few ‘ring-ins’ that did not conform to FIA. Frank Johnson’s Mazda 323 had a rotary engine, and numerous Datsun 1600s contained oversize engines – but with the possibility of world championship status as far away as ever these anomalies hardly mattered.

Besides, CAMS was heading into the highly modified Group G era.

Ari Vatanen George Fury Greg Carr Ross Dunkerton

Geoff Portman Wayne Bell Ed Mulligan Fred Gocentas

206

ENTRY LIST (not all crews started the event) 1 Ari Vatanen Finland David Richards England Ford Escort RS1800 2 George Fury Vic Monty Suffern Vic Datsun Stanza 3 Greg Carr ACT Fred Gocentas ACT Ford Escort RS1800 4 Ross Dunkerton WA Jeff Beaumont Tas Datsun Stanza 5 Geoff Portman Vic Ross Runnalls Vic Datsun Stanza 6 Wayne Bell NSW Dave Boddy NSW Holden Gemini 7 Bob Watson Vic Wayne Gregson Vic Volkswagen Golf 8 Ed Mulligan NSW Phil Bonser NSW Ford Escort RS2000 9 Ian Hill NSW Ann Heaney ACT Ford Escort RS2000 10 Nobuhiro Tajima Japan Kioshi Kavamura Japan Datsun Stanza 11 Frank Johnson WA Steve Van Der Byl WA Mazda 323 12 David Jones Vic Ian Pearson Vic Holden Commodore 13 Gordon Leven NSW Robert Wilson NSW Mitsubishi Lancer 14 Dale Loader NSW Brian Cox NSW Ford Escort RS2000 15 Dan White NSW ? Griffiths NSW Ford Escort RS2000 16 Peter Nelson NSW Grahame Moule ACT Datsun 1600 SSS 17 Stephen Blair NSW Ray Stubbs NSW Datsun Stanza 18 Rod Jones NSW John Latham NSW Datsun 19 Paul Bramble NSW Arthur Davis NSW Mitsubishi Galant 20 Gary Meehan NSW Gregg Gifford NSW Toyota Celica 21 Max Roberts NSW Tony Carrroll NSW Datsun Stanza 22 Gary Mecak NSW Ron Marks NSW Mazda 323 23 Michio Nakamoto Japan Toshiaki Fukui Japan Datsun Sunny 24 Hank Kable Qld Gary Kable Qld Mazda 323 25 George Kahler Qld Greg Weale Qld Mazda RX7 26 Graham Clark NSW Arthur Davis NSW Datsun 180B SSS 27 John Berne NSW David Peiti NSW Ford Escort RS2000 28 Ron Cremen NSW Craig Norris NSW Datsun 180B SSS 29 Bob Holden NSW Ken Smith NSW Ford Escort RS2000 30 Takashi Yufune Japan Yukiaki Aida Japan Datsun Sunny 31 George Rugg NT Mitsubishi Galant 32 John Murray NSW Jeff D’Albora NSW Holden Commodore 33 Alan McLucas Vic Derek Hunter Vic Datsun 180B 34 Donald Booker NSW Vincent Mamone NSW Mitsubishi Lancer 35 Warren Ridge NSW Dave Thorncroft NSW Mitsubishi Lancer 36 Col Parry NSW Phillip Speer NSW Holden Commodore 37 Maurice Walsh NSW Datsun 1600 SSS 38 Wayne Pritchard NSW Garry Pritchard NSW Ford Escort 39 Terry Boardman NSW Volkswagen Golf 40 Meg O’Shanesy Qld Christine McKell ACT Fiat 131 41 Stephen Annabel NSW Fran Fifield NSW Mazda RX3 42 Andrew Blunden NSW Dallas Dogger NSW Mitsubishi Lancer 43 Murray Cleworth NSW Kim Ballestrin NSW Morris Clubman GT 44 Craig Hunt NSW Volvo 45 John Darby Qld Colin Stewart Qld Holden

THE EVENT

The 1980 Southern Cross International Rally conformed with the now well-established concept of a Sydney start at Amaroo Park and being based at Port Macquarie. The total distance was 2600 kilometres, with 35 special stages containing 1100 kilometre (32%). Almost the entire event was conducted in forestry areas and there were four stages over 100 kilometres, with the longest being 138, on the last night.

207

Division One

Due to a high fire risk – the event was conducted a little later than normal this year – a number of stages were cancelled in the Newcastle region and the competition started near Taree, and so Saturday’s run was reduced from 13 special stages to 7, including the two ‘mickey mouse’ ones at Amaroo Park. There was a 4.4 kilometre special stage at Amaroo Park, as usual involving the dirt and bitumen circuits, motocross track and hillclimb - run in one direction and then in reverse, which was very entertaining for the spectators.

Carr was a second fastest overall from Vatanen (who executed a half-spin on the first stage), followed by Portman then Dunkerton, Bell and Fury, who also botched up on the first stage on a slippery part of the circuit when he went off and struck the bank, stopping for a very short time. But, it was very early in the event!

Ari Vatanen/David Richards, in the Escort RS1800 finished 3rd Outright after a disastrous run of ‘’offs’’ and mechanical problems.

George Fury/Monty Suffern fly over one of the ‘yumps’ at Amaroo Park

For the first couple of stages things were relatively uneventful at the head of the field but all this changed on the longest stage of the night, the 57 kilometre near Heron’s Creek. Vatanen was fastest by 16 seconds to Portman, starting to come to grips with his new car, followed by Fury and Dunkerton. However, Carr had brake problems when a stone hit a caliper and, together with a puncture, this cost him 3 minutes. 208

Further back, some good dices were taking place amongst the privateers Ian Hill, John Berne, Ed Mulligan (all RS2000s), Gordon Leven, Steve Blair and Rod Jones (Datsuns), the LPG-powered Mazda RX7 of George Kahler, and the Lancer of Dale Loader.

Ian Hill/Ann Heaney (Ford Escort RS2000) were first privateers home (4th Outright)

Vatanen then struck his first problem on the second last stage (14 kilometres) when a mysterious sticking throttle resulted in the Escort ploughing into a tree, wiping out a headlamp and slightly damaging the suspension, but he was able to continue and dropped half a minute to Portman.

Another in trouble was Wayne Bell who took 23 minutes when delayed by a dead engine caused by a broken ignition wire and he was 26th at the end of the night, with Bob Watson, not enjoying driving the Volkswagen Golf, in 25th place.

So, the first five placings were quite close – 4 minutes separated them, with the first three just a minute apart.

Placings at end of First Division 1 Ari Vatanen David Richards Ford Escort RS 1800 96.38 2 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun Stanza 97.07 3 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 97.45 4 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 98.14 5 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 100.38 6 Ian Hill Ann Heaney Ford Escort RS 2000 106.48 7 John Berne David Petti Ford Escort RS 2000 107.17 8 Ed Mulligan Phil Bonser Ford Escort RS2000 107.43 9 George Kahler Greg Weale Mazda RX7 108.33 10 Graham Clark Arthur Davis Datsun 180B SSS 108.59

Division Two

This division took in the forests south and west of Port Macquarie and covered 660 kilometres with 9 special stages containing 300 kilometres (46%).

Carr was quickest on the first two forest stages, assisted by Fury being off the pace, and a seized front strut in the Vatanen Escort which was replaced allowing him to resume top speed, and then he slipped back.

At the Taree mealbreak Vatanen held a 9 second lead over Portman, with another 37 seconds to Fury and then a minute to Dunkerton, with almost 3 minutes to Carr.

Then drama struck. Carr lost 8 minutes with a broken fanbelt, Vatanen 11 minutes with alternator failure and Dunkerton with a broken rear shock absorber and two punctures. Retirements were Wayne Bell (head gasket), Bob Watson (broken gears) and Dale Loader (head gasket).

209

Portman was now flying, being much quicker than the other leaders and just before Port Macquarie Vatanen had a sway bar come loose, dropping 4 minutes.

Bad luck dogged Greg Car’s efforts to take his first Southern Cross International Rally despite constantly setting fastest times. He finished second outright, 3 minutes behind Ross Dunkerton

On the night Portman lost 222, Fury 223, Dunkerton 230, Fury 231. Of the first night leaders Vatanen fared worse with a loss of 236. Ian Hill (242) and John Berne (250) held their own, whilst Ed Mulligan, George Kahler and Graham Clark dropped from the top ten to allow Gordon Leven, Frank Johnson and David Jones in.

Placings at end of Second Division 1 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun Stanza 318.53 2 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 320.24 3 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 328.00 4 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 331.31 5 Ari Vatanen David Richards Ford Escort RS 1800 332.20 6 Ian Hill Ann Heaney Ford Escort RS 2000 348.41 7 John Berne David Petti Ford Escort RS 2000 357.46 8 Gordon Leven Robert Wilson Mitsubishi Lancer 361.09 9 Frank Johnson Steve Van Der Byl Mazda 323 Rotary 363.17 10 David Jones Ian Pearson Holden Commodore 364.22

Division Three

Rain clouds gathered as the crews started Division Three, a 660 kilometre run to Coffs Harbour and back again, covering 290 kilometres (44%) in 10 special stages.

Though fifth on the road Vatanen was setting a hot pace, pulling seconds off his rivals on every stage. Then it happened. With heavy rain tumbling down Portman flew over a crest and a protruding log plucked away the radius arm and he lost some 30 minutes affecting repairs and limping to the next service area, putting him back to sixth place, allowing Fury to take the lead and Dunkerton to move to second place.

Gordon Leven ran out of fuel halfway through a stage – the petrol cap had been replaced wrongly – and navigator Rob Wilson ran 2 kilometres to a spectator point for fuel! In all they dropped 30 minutes, and were out of the top ten.

Carr then lost three minutes when the Escort had an off which sent it backwards into a bank and the engine wouldn’t restart – until navigator Fred Gocentas cleared the dirt from the exhaust opening!

The Fords then had further problems – Vatanen had an off and damaged the front end (again) which cost 12 minutes and then Carr had the brake pedal hard against the floor and had to use the handbrake through a stage, costing him some two minutes.

210

Gordon Leven/Rob Wilson took their Datsun 1600 SSS to 8th place

Out in front the Datsun Stanzas of Fury and Dunkerton had smooth runs and went further ahead as the night unfolded.

Dunkerton (222) was one minute quicker than Fury on the night, followed by Carr (226), then Ian Hill (247) and Vatanen (253). Portman had a bad run losing 283, and was in 6th place. With Gordon Leven dropping out of the top ten this let in Steve Blair.

Placings at end of Third Division 1 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 543.36 2 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 550.48 3 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS 1800 557.17 4 Ari Vatanen David Richards Ford Escort RS 1800 585.50 5 Ian Hill Ann Heaney Ford Escort RS 2000 595.59 6 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun Stanza 601.00 7 David Jones Ian Pearson Holden Commodore 628.43 8 Frank Johnson Steve Van Der Byl Mazda 323 Rotary 630.08 9 Stephen Blair Ray Stubbs Datsun Stanza 632.21 10 John Berne David Petti Ford Escort RS 2000 637.01

Division Four

27 crews started the last division, which covered 750 kilometres (360 kilometres – 49% - in 9 special stages), travelling west to Mount Seaview and then south to Wingham and Taree before returning to Port Macquarie. It included two long stages – 115 and 140 kilometres.

The final night of the Southern Cross was regarded by many as unnecessary and clearly disliked by quite a few – including the crew who is leading at the end of the third night, those who are well placed but feel their cars are not likely to last another night, and those who cannot improve their position but only possibly lose it. To top this off the last night seems to be the longest of the event, and to contain the longest special stage. Despite all this the last night has never been called off and nor was it in 1980, although there were to be several crews who wish it had been.

The drama started in the first stage when Carr again lost all brakes and smashed into a bank, badly bending the front wheel alignment; he then drove down the highway on the damaged wheel which demolished the tyre, wheel and disc and 7 minutes were lost fitting a new strut assembly – he was now 23 minutes from the lead.

Ford’s hopes were buoyed when at the end of the second stage Fury suddenly retired with a blown engine, leaving Dunkerton with a 14 minute lead over Carr.

The chase was now on in earnest with Carr flying through the first of the long stages, taking 3 minutes off Dunkerton, with Vatanen being held up, to some extent, in Dunkerton’s dust.

211

Greg Carr/Fred Gocentas finished second outright, 3 minutes behind Dunkerton/Geoff Beaumont

Then came the 140 kilometre stage. Shortly after the start Portman’s engine stripped a cam timing gear, just as Dunkerton’s car did in the Australian Rally Championship recent round and this put a large question mark over his engine – would it last out the night? Dunkerton was having his own problems, with a sticking throttle and suspect electrics. Carr’s Escort was fitted with one 14” and one 13” wheels on the rear, a combination which created some rather unusual handling characteristics and, to make matters worse, his spares were both soft compound, good for about 30 kilometres of hard driving.

As a result the long stage was a procession of the wounded – Dunkerton, driving on the ignition key to overcome throttle problems, lost some 10 minutes to Carr who arrived at the end on completely bald tyres, as did Vatanen. Carr was now less than 3 minutes behind Dunkerton with only 60 kilometres of stages to go.

Then Carr had a flat on the next stage and lost 23 seconds to Dunkerton, making his task of overtaking him impossible if Dunkerton had a good run.

In the ex-Repco Trial Commodore David Jones/Ian Pearson took off 5th place overall 212

With two daylight stages left Dunkerton cruised through to win the last Southern Cross International Rally.

On this last night Vatanen was fastest with 278, followed by Carr on 282 and then Dunkerton with 286. Hill was the fastest of the others on 303, followed by Jones and Johnson each with 305, and John Berne 313. Fury, Portman and Blair dropped out to allow Leven back into the ten, with Graham Clark and Gary Meehan being 9th and 10th.

FINAL COMMENT

The sport of rallying in Australia reached a watershed at the beginning of the 1980s with the end of the Southern Cross International Rally after fifteen years, and the Castrol International Rally after eight years (in 1981), together with the withdrawal of manufacturers from the Australian Rally Championship as from 1981.

Thus ended the self-styled Golden Era of Rallying in Australia, at least in the eyes of those who were involved with the sport in that era.

213