Andrew Cowan/John Bryson in the Mitsubishi Galant GS – from the cover of the 1973 regulations booklet 1972 4 - 8 OCTOBER SYDNEY – PORT MACQUARIE 86 PREAMBLE Again the rally returned to Port Macquarie and it was now evident the town would be ‘home’ for the event for the foreseeable future. Dan White took over from Alan Lawson as Road Director, having assisted him in 1971. Dan held this position until after the 1977 event, and his presentation of the course each year, and the road books, was quite outstanding. The overseas drivers came in force again and took out three of the top four placings, with the outright position undecided until the last few stages. Nissan and Mitsubishi attended in full force with a number of cars and flew their mechanics from Japan. Dan White spent considerable time studying the forests and the 1972 event proved to be the most competitive of all the ‘Crosses’ run to date, with a very high percentage of competitive distance in the total distance; he also introduced longer stages than those experienced in the past. The biggest pre-event shock was the announcement that the organisers were enforcing the FIA vehicle eligibility regulations. This left the Holden Dealer Team in a quandary, for it wasn’t that all cars had to be homologated with FIA papers to prove the legality of any modifications, the Team had strengthened some of the suspension and basic structure to provide a virtually maintenance-free car for a full year of rallying. As the Team was in the midst of preparing for the Bathurst 1000, Dulux Rally and final rounds of the Australian Rally Championship it didn’t have the time to prepare another car for the Southern Cross, or ‘de-modify’ the existing cars. So, the HDT didn’t start in the event (ironically, the cover of the regulations booklet showed the HDT winning car from 1971). For the first time a two-way radio link was established between the headquarters at Port Macquarie and the organisers’ vehicles, working satisfactorily. As well as better control of the rally in the field it also allowed the getting of times of the leading crews back to HQ and enhanced the publicity for the event. SUMMARY Andrew Cowan and John Bryson – second of 6 wins for Cowan and first of 3 wins for Bryson The lead was battled for throughout the four nights of the 3200 kilometre event by the London to Sydney Marathon winner Andrew Cowan (with John Bryson) in a Mitsubishi Galant 1600 sedan, and his arch-rival Rauno Aaltonen from Finland, a former Monte Carlo winner and European rally champion, in a Datsun 240Z. He was navigated by Steve Halloran. The latter pair led for the first 725 kilometres, only to surrender the lead to Cowan when a puncture in a very muddy section on the second night cost them 5 minutes. ‘Supporting players’ were Doug Chivas/Peter Meyer in another Galant 1600 sedan (3rd), and East African Safari winner Edgar Herrmann with Mike Mitchell in a Datsun 180B SSS (4th). Hermann gradually lost ground as the event unfolded, consistently losing considerably more points than both Cowan and Aaltonen and he wasn’t happy with the car’s handling, although it lacked nothing in servicing but it was too heavy for the power-plant. 87 Arthur Jackson, with Peter Godden, drove his Datsun 1600 to be 5th outright and the first privateer home. Unsponsored, he was equal 8th on the first night, 6th after the second and 5th on both the third and last nights. A wonderful drive. Charlie Lund put in a great effort also. With Nigel Collier in his Mazda RX3 he was 16th after the first night and then gradually worked his way up to finish 6th outright. Galant 1700 GTO coupes were seen in Australia for the first time in the hands of Barry Ferguson/Gary Connelly, and Doug Stewart/Dave Johnson, but these were not as fast as the lighter sedans and did not handle as well. Ferguson (twice winner of the event) was running a comfortable fourth until into the second night he rolled the car and retired. Stewart left the road on the first night and knocked over a few small trees and lost time recovering. Model of Doug Stewart/Dave Johnson in the two-door Mitsubishi Galant 1700 GTO A Renault R12 Gordini, crewed by Bob Watson and Jeff Beaumont retired on the third night with gearbox failure, and Norm Bolitho suffered a severe setback when his well-prepared Volvo was gutted completely by fire – the crew had no time to salvage anything from the car. The competition was followed by long post-event vehicle eligibility protests and counter-protest by Mitsubishi and Nissan and in the end only one minor protest was upheld (see Highlights below). Crews were required to report to at least 25% of main controls in each division to be eligible for general classification and awards. The late time limit was reduced from 180 minutes in 1971 to 100 minutes for 1972. For the first time a maximum number of points could be lost on a section – 300. Final Placings 1 Andrew Cowan John Bryson Mitsubishi Galant 90 points 2 Rauno Aaltonen Steve Halloran Datsun 240Z 114 3 Doug Chivas Peter Meyer Mitsubishi Galant 124 4 Edgar Hermann Mike Mitchell Datsun 180B 158 5 Arthur Jackson Peter Godden Datsun 1600 216 6 Charlie Lund Nigel Collier Mazda RX3 235 7 Peter Robertson Brian Allery Ford Escort TC 280 8 Ed Mulligan John Trumpmanis Mazda Capella 309 9 Robert Jackson Graham Roser Holden Torana XU1 389 10* Helmet Goetz Peter McFalzean Datsun 1600 SSS 567 *another record shows 10th as being taken by Col Parry/Eric Vigar in a Torana XU1 Class placings unfortunately not available. VEHICLE ELIGIBILITY Vehicle eligibility based on FIA Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, and homologated in Appendix J of 1972 International Sporting Code: • FIA Group 1 - Series Production Touring Cars with 5000 annual production units • FIA Group 2 - Special Touring Cars with 1000 annual production units • FIA Group 3 - Series Production Grand Touring Cars with 1000 units produced within 12 consecutive months • FIA Group 4 - Special Grand Touring Cars with 500 units produced within 12 consecutive months Fitting of a safety roll over bar or cage protection was compulsory for Groups 2, 3 and 4; and strongly recommended for Group 1. Safety helmets were not compulsory. 88 EVENT DETAILS/ ORGANISING TEAM Event Details The course was very similar to that of 1971, with the total distance being 3200 kilometres, with 1900 (58%) conducted in 34 special sections. Division No. Distance Competitive Comp Longest Late No, of No. of No. of Special kms kms % stage Time Entries Starters Finishers Stages One 11 920 400 44 104 100 Two 3 685 490 72 235 100 Three 9 750 330 56 104 100 Four 11 855 305 64 139 100 Total 34 3205 1350 58 235 66 59 ? Organising Team Committee: John Whitton John Colthorpe Les Boaden Brian Mcllvenna Headquarters El Paso Motel, Port Macquarie Sponsors John Keran Dan White John Arter Rothmans Chairman Road Director Event Secretary Sydney Daily Sun & ASCC President (Clerk of Course) Tom Snooks was Director of the Dulux Rally, also organised by the Australian Sporting Car Club and conducted one month after the Southern Cross International Rally, and therefore was not on the 1972 Organising Committee. ENTRIES There were 59 starters, of which four drivers and one navigator came from overseas. Manufacturers: Mitsubishi Galant 1600 GS: Andrew Cowan (Scotland)/John Bryson, Doug Chivas/Peter Meyer 1700 GTO: Doug Stewart/Dave Johnson, Barry Ferguson/Garry Connelly, Datsun 240Z: Rauno Aaltonen (Finland)/Steve Halloran 180B: Edgar Hermann (Kenya)/Mike Mitchell, Bruce Wilkinson/Roger Bonhomme 1600: Yoshio Iwashita (Japan)/T. Gotoh (in a Bruce Wilkinson car) Locals included: Datsun Peter Lang/Ed O’Cleary, Arthur Jackson/Peter Godden (1600) Ford TC Evan Green/Roy Denny, Bob Holden/John Dawson-Damer, Peter Robertson/Tony Wunderlich (Escort) Holden Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer, Peter Janson/Mike Osborne, Robert Jackson/Graham Roser (XU1) Mazda Charlie Lund/Nigel Collier, Ed Mulligan/John Trumpmanis (Rotary) Mitsubishi Bob Riley/Brian Gemmell (Galant 1600) Peugeot Brian Hilton/Barry Lake (404) Renault Bob Watson/Jeff Beaumont (R12 Gordini) 89 Datsun 240Z of Ranuo Aaltonen/Steve Halloran starting Division Two Max Stahl introducing crews as they retsart in Port Macquarie 90 ENTRY LIST (not start order) NO CREW VEHICLE 1 Aaltonen, Rauno Finland Halloran, Steve NSW Datsun 240Z 2 Hermann, Edgar East Africa Mitchell, Mike VIC Datsun 180B 3 Cowan, Andrew Scotland Bryson, John NSW Mitsubishi Colt Galant 4 Riley, Bob NSW Gemmell, Brian NSW Mitsubishi Colt Galant 5 Green, Evan NSW Denny, Roy NSW Ford Escort TC 6 Lang, Peter ACT O’Cleary, Ed ACT Datsun 1600 7 Barr-Smith, Tom SA Hunt, Rob SA Renault 12 Gordini 8 Wilkinson, Bruce VIC Bonhomme, Roger VIC Datsun 180B 9 Stewart, Doug NSW Johnson, Dave NSW Mitsubishi Colt Galant 10 Older, Paul NSW McElhinny, Brian NSW BMW 2002 11 Hilton, Brian NSW Lake, Barry NSW Peugeot 504Fi 12 Janson, Peter VIC Osborne, Mike VIC Holden Torana XU1 13 Holden, Bob NSW Dawson-Damer, John NSW Ford Escort TC 14 Hodgson, Bruce NSW Gocentas, Fred ACT Ford Escort TC 15 Collier, Bruce NSW Adcock, Lindsay NSW Renault 12 Gordini 16 Iwashita, Yoshio JAPAN Gotoh, T JAPAN Datsun 1600 17 Chivas, Doug NSW Meyer, Peter NSW Mitsubishi Colt Galant 18 Mulligan, Ed NSW Trumpmanis, John NSW Mazda Capella 19 Johnson, R Datsun 1600 20 Ferguson, Barry NSW Connelly, Garry NSW Mitsubishi Colt Galant 21 McPherson, Mal VIC Thomas, Geoff VIC Renault 12 Gordini 22 Jackson, Ossie NSW Gregson, Wayne ACT Volvo 122S 23 Taylor, John SA West, Graham SA Austin Kimberley X6 24 Harris, Richard NSW Lockie, Graham NSW Mazda 1300 25 Watson, Bob