1969 CAMS AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP

THE EVENTS The 1969 CAMS Australian Rally Championship: 1 Classic Rally Victoria GMH Motoring Club Kilfoyle/Rutherford 2 Snowy Rally Australian Sporting Car Club Green/Denny 3 Winter Trial South VW Car Club Callary/Chapman 4 Warana Rally Queensland Sporting Car Club Kilfoyle/Rutherford 5 Alpine Rally Victoria Light Car Club of Australia Kilfoyle/Rutherford

FINAL POINTS 1 Frank Kilfoyle Vic 27 1 Doug Rutherford Vic 27 2 John Keran NSW 14 2 Peter Meyer NSW 14 3 Tony Roberts Vic 12 3 Brian Hope NSW 11 4 Ian Vaughan Vic 11 4 Bob Forsyth Vic 11 5 NSW 10 5 Roy Denny NSW 10 6 Adrian Callary SA 9 6 Garry Chapman Vic 9

Manufacturers Award Ford Motor Co of Australia

1969 Australian Rally Champions – Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford in the Ford Cortina Lotus

SUMMARY

After the success of the inaugural Australian Rally Championship in 1968, which brought together at differing times the best of competitors from most of the states (Western Australia and Tasmania excluded), there was a yearning for a continuation of the championship.

New South Wales had a clouded rally situation, with CAMS representatives working in the background to find answers to Police requirements that permissions to use roads be obtained from each Shire Council along the route of every rally. This situation was brought about by complaints from country-dwellers about the speeds and so-called reckless driving of those involved in rallies and could lead to areas being banned to rallying.

There was also talk about General Motors disbanding its highly successful rally team, and this ended up with the development of the very successful Dealer Team under .

But there was good news as regards the availability of new cars for rallying, including the Southern Cross Rally.

Following the 1968 London to Marathon BMC had three slightly-used Austin 1800s completely equipped and ready for rallying, as well as a Cooper S or two; Ford had 1968 ARC winning Cortinas available, plus three as new Flacon GTs and General Motors had a few of its products in the hands of ‘private’ owners doing well in state events.

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Volvo was out of luck in the Marathon with minor problems but still had event potential winning cars and the Japanese cars, through Mitsubishi and Daihatsu pushing for outright placings in state events, and the Southern Cross Rally. Renault was being recognised as having the fastest cars on the rally roads, particularly the 1255cc Gordini versions and Renault enthusiasts were looking to Renault Australia making a decision to seriously participate in Australian rallying.

Enthusiasm was starting to build up for the 1970 Bi-centenary , with many state competitors seriously thinking of participating and starting to develop new cars.

So, at the start of 1968 there was a more optimistic than pessimistic outlook to the coming year or so for rallying.

Vehicle Eligibility Vehicle eligibility was based on CAMS Group C – Australian Touring Cars

Championship Point-scoring 1st = 9, 2nd = 6, 3rd = 4, 4th = 3, 5th = 2, 6th = 1

ROUND ONE: CLASSIC RALLY – Victoria 1

Centred on the town of Noojee, the Classic Rally was run in three loops (divisions), and was again directed by Bob Watson and Jim McAuliffe, using the Blue, Pink and Yellow divisions in turn with the first car in every three going to a different loop. Instead of dusty conditions this year the event was over muddy and slippery roads.

Run over almost 500 kilometres, the event attracted a field of 38 crews, of which only seven retired. It was won by Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford (Lotus Cortina), losing 35 minutes, to John Keran/Peter Meyer (Volvo 142S) on 46, after Keran lost more than 10 minutes getting out of a bog that Kilfoyle missed.

Ford entered three Lotus Cortinas (Kilfoyle, Ian Vaughan/Bob Forsyth and Bob Holden/George Shepheard. Countering the strong Ford attack were the three Renault 16TS cars of Bob Watson/Jim McAuliffe, Mal McPherson/Robin Sharpley and Peter Janson/Neville Price. The small Mitsubishi Colt Fastbacks of Doug Stewart/Barry Field and Colin Bond/Brian Hope split the Cortinas and Renaults in the final ten placings.

Only two stages of the event’s 18 were clean-sheeted by Kilfoyle and Keran and the competition experience of Watson/McAuliffe in setting stage times allowed showed as leading crews lost points in twos, threes and fours – ideal.

The rally saw the Australian domestic rally debut, and almost destruction, of the London to Sydney Marathon Porsche crewed by Tony Roberts/Mike Osborne. Rounding a corner a McPherson strut gave way and the Porsche hit a tree, causing extensive damage with Mike Osborne slightly injured when a seat-belt anchorage pulled free.

1 Frank Kilfoyle Doug Rutherford Ford Cortina GT 35 pts 2 John Keran Peter Meyer Volvo 142S 46 3 Ian Vaughan Bob Forsyth Ford Cortina GT 56 =4 Doug Stewart Barry Field Mitsubishi Colt 73 =4 Bob Holden George Shepheard Ford Cortina GT 73 6 Colin Bond Brian Hope Mitsubishi Colt 78 7 Peter Janson Neville Price Renault 16TS 80 8 Richard Harris John Bryson Mazda 1200 93 9 Mal McPherson Robin Sharpley Renault 16TS 96 10 John Roxburgh Peter Haas Datsun 1600 100

ROUND TWO: SNOWY RALLY - New South Wales

A splendid effort by Evan Green/Roy Denny in the ex-London to Sydney Marathon Austin 1800 resulted in victory at the end of the 1200 kilometre Snowy Rally, conducted over the June long weekend.

The rally used forest roads between Batemans Bay and Eden, on the New South Wales south coast, and used Bega as the central location, staying here over the Sunday for the break between the two nights of rallying. The finish too was at Bega and would have been one of the more spirited finishes with crews questioning control locations, passage control siting, official times, gates not marked ‘Rally Entry’ and roads which did not go through.

A change in concept from previous Snowy Rallies caused many navigators to wonder what struck them. Route charts were not a feature of the event this year, but eight digit grid references were – plus aligning two maps at once, and all the while the usual driver’s type of times allowed were there to be maintained – if possible! The navigation brought on a high degree of car sickness amongst many navigators, with both Doug Rutherford and Graham Hoinville amongst the sickest.

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Evan Green/Roy Denny took off the Snowy Rally driving an Austin 1800 from the London to Sydney Marathon

Opinion was that it would appear an event such as the Victorian Classic or Alpine Rally was the ideal test for a National Title event and, as the title is strongly by leading entries from most states, it was considered the way to go. The outcome of the event was wholly in the hands of the navigators after the first couple of stages.

Due to protests at the end of the event the results were not finalised, hence no report on what happened during the competition is available.

Ian Vaughan/Bob Forsyth finished fourth in their Ford Cortina GT

1 Evan Green Roy Denny Austin 1800 153 pts =2 John Keran Peter Meyer Volvo 142S 173 =2 Colin Bond Brian Hope Mitsubishi Colt 173 4 Ian Vaughan Bob Forsyth Ford Cortina GT 180 5 Bruce Collier Steve Halloran Renault Gordini 243 6 Richard Harris John Bryson Mazda 1200 285 7 Mal McPherson Robin Sharpley Renault 16TS 345 8 Peter Janson Neville Price Renault 16TS 356 9 Frank Kilfoyle Doug Rutherford Ford Cortina GT 1884 10 Bob Watson Jim McAuliffe Renault 16TS 2777

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ROUND THREE: WINTER TRIAL –

South Australia hosted the third round of the championship and, following on from the Snowy Trial, was a navigators’ nightmare, particularly to the 17 crews from the Eastern States. It was won by South Australians Adrian Callary/Garry Chapman (Renault 16TS) losing 49 points and the next two places also went to locals – Ron Waite/Peter McArthur (Toyota 1600) with 122 points lost and Col Jenkin/Adrian Mortimer (Datsun 1600) on 125. Fourth on 153 was Bob Watson/Jim McAuliffe (Renault 16TS, then John Keran/Peter Meyer (Volvo 144 S) 293, and Mal McPherson/Robin Sharpley (Renault 16TS) on 326.

Local South Australians Adrian Callary and Garry Chapman took their Renault 16TS to a win

Not only was the navigation using almost featureless maps difficult but the times allowed were such that indecision or a wrong turn forcing a retrace of the route taken, caused points losses.

In the early stages the field coped well with the conditions and at the first division break Callary was leading with 3 points, Jenkins 5 and then Tony Roberts/Mike Osborne (Porsche 911 T) 8. Fourth was Garrie Bain/Adrian van Loon (Morris Cooper), fifth was Keran on 11. Watson was 14th and Peter Janson (Renault Gordini) withdrew with Halda drive problems.

The next division, to Murray Bridge, saw Jenkins drop back with a missed route check whilst Bruce Hodgson/Graham Hoinville (Lotus Cortina), checking out the not apparent correct route also dropped the route check and lost a total of 32 points. Hodgson then caught his thumb in the steering wheel and Hoinville had to drive him to the Murray Bridge hospital.

Fierce rain squalls swamped the country, causing one stage to be cancelled and turning others into boggy horrors for drivers. Although running well back in the field (37th) Callary escaped much of the soggier sections and finished the division adding another 12 points to his first division total, setting a large lead over Roberts (50), then Waite (54). Watson was down 63.

The third division was over many roads used in the previous division and caused the heaviest loss of points due to the now heavy going. Several cars had off-road excursions, including Keran. John Roxburgh/Peter Haas (Datsun 1600) lost his brakes and the never ending threat of the Mitsubishi Colts ended when the motor on the Stewart McLeod/Jack Lock Colt seized and the Colin Bond/Brian Hope car broke its gearbox. Evan Green/Roy Denny (Austin 1800) retired with a front wheel bearing problem and Roberts, heading for a certain second place, had a driveshaft failure in the Porsche. The majority of the field was cutting and running and the points losses mounted somewhat.

The final run from Anguston to did not change the placings.

So, after three rounds Keran/Meyer were leading the championship with 13 points, followed by Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford and Green/Denny, both crews on 9.

1 Adrian Callary Garry Chapman Renault 16TS 49 pts 2 Ron Waite Peter McArthur Toyota 1600 122 3 Col Jenkin Adrian Mortimer Datsun 1600 125 4 Bob Watson Jim McAuliffe Renault 16TS 153 5 John Keran Peter Meyer Volvo 144S 293 6 Mal McPherson Robin Sharpley Renault 16TS 326 7 Ken Harper Bob Forsyth Ford Cortina GT 403 8 Garrie Bain Adrian van Loon Cooper S 452 9 Derek Wallbridge Niels Hansen Holden 186S 458 10 John Roxburgh Peter Haas Datsun 1600 522

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ROUND FOUR: WARANA RALLY - Queensland

39 of the 74 entries in the Warana Rally which started and finished in Brisbane nominated for the championship and included leading crews Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford (Ford Cortina), Tony Roberts/Mike Osborne (Ford Cortina), John Keran/Peter Meyer (Volvo 142S), Colin Bond/Brian Hope (Mitsubishi Colt), Bob Watson/Jim McAuliffe (Renault Gordini), Evan Green/Roy Denny (Austin 1800), Ian Vaughan/Bob Forsyth (Ford Cortina) and Peter Janson/Neville Price (Renault Gordini).

The event started and finished in Brisbane and was conducted north of Brisbane in the Kilcoy to Gympie area, taking in the variety of forests in the area, with some navigators having ill effects from the continual descending, ascending and winding of the mountainous forestry roads and tracks.

At the halfway break at Gympie the Fords of Vaughan (26), Kilfoyle (27) and Roberts (30) were the leaders, with Bond sharing second place with Kilfoyle.

After Gympie a long stage containing speedo readings and unmapped roads caused quite a few upsets and many crews lost valuable time. Keran, Roberts and Allan Lawson/Garry Connelly (Mazda Coupe) clean-sheeted but Bond lost 30 minutes and Ian Vaughan/Bob Forsyth (Ford Cortina) 23 putting them well back in the field.

More forests and mountains followed, and stages with gates. Towards the end Keran’s Volvo shed a wheel and he lost 18 minutes, and by now the placings had changed dramatically with Kilfoyle moving to the lead from Roberts, Lawson and local Mike Chapman/Peter Hines (Holden HR), then Watson and Green sharing fifth place,

Lawson, who moved from ninth at the halfway mark to third had some advantage – he had surveyed most of the area in preparing the course for the upcoming Southern Cross International Rally!!!

1 Frank Kilfoyle Doug Rutherford Ford Cortina GT 62 pts 2 Tony Roberts Mike Osborne Ford Cortina GT 71 3 Allan Lawson Garry Connelly Mazda R100 81 4 Mike Chapman Peter Hines Holden HR 82 =5 Bob Watson Jim McAuliffe Renault 16TS 90 =5 Evan Green Roy Denny Austin 1800 90 7 Brian Michelmore Bob Dancer Ford Cortina 99 8 Colin Bond Brian Hope Mitsubishi Colt 101 9 Ian Vaughan Bob Forsyth Ford Cortina GT 107 10 John Keran Peter Meyer Volvo 142S 111

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ROUND FIVE: ALPINE RALLY – Victoria 2

There were three crews vying for the championship at the start of the 1100 kilometre final round, the Alpine Rally, run through North East Victoria. They were Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford, John Keran/Peter Meyer and Evan Green/Roy Denny. The event was conducted over three divisions of some ten stages each in a large loop from Mansfield to Omeo and back again, with a few roads used twice.

Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford – Ford Cortina Lotus

52 crews entered the event, including the newly formed (HDT) under Harry Firth, which included Tony Roberts/Brian Hope in a Holden Monaro. They were to finish second on 40 points to the Lotus Cortina of Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford on 29, with the second Lotus Cortina of Ian Vaughan/Bob Forsyth coming third on 41, Bob Holden/John Dawson-Damer in yet another Lotus Cortina fourth on 48, Mitsubishi Colt 1100 crew of Doug Chivas/Lindsay Adcock fifth on 55 and Greg Garard/John Bryson sixth in an Austin 1800 on 57. Bob Riley (Colt 1100) and Barry Lake (Colt 1500) took out the next two placings in their first Australian Championship drives.

The first division ran from to Tallangatta and there were a number of misfortunes suffered by crews. Bruce Collier’s Gordini sub-axle broke, Peter Janson ran the bearings on his Gordini, and a number became lost! At the Tallangatta break Roberts was in front on 13, followed by Vaughan and Kilfoyle 14, Keran 15, Garard, Bob Holden and Bob Watson 17. Evan Green’s Austin 1800 broke a tie rod end and lost 40 minutes and his chance of taking off the national championship disappeared.

The second division ran through the mountains to Omeo, by which time it was early morning and daylight. On this run Bob Watson retired the Renault 16TS due to a lack of gear selection. Overall Kilfoyle was in front on 20, ahead of Roberts 26, Keran 27, Vaughan 32, Holden 35, Garard 39 and Chivas 41.

The third division returned to Tallangatta via Hotham Heights and Harrietville and then transported to the finish in Melbourne. After the latter Keran/Meyer went wrong and in trying to correct themselves came across Ken Harper in the Lotus Cortina, damaging the Volvo and costing Keran 90 minutes and any chance of the championship.

The win made Frank Kilfoyle/Doug Rutherford the 1969 Australian Rally Champions, winning three out of the five championship events. John Keran/Peter Meyer were second in the championship, having placed two seconds and a fifth in the series. The win gave Ford its second championship, after Harry Firth/Graham Hoinville took out the inaugural championship in 1968.

1 Frank Kilfoyle Doug Rutherford Ford Cortina GT 29 pts 2 Tony Roberts Brian Hope Holden Monaro 350 GTS 40 3 Ian Vaughan Bob Forysth Ford Cortina GT 41 4 Bob Holden John Dawson-Damer Ford Cortina GT 48 5 Doug Chivas Lindsay Adcock Mitsubishi Colt 55 6 Greg Garard John Bryson Austin 1800 57 7 Bob Riley Barry Field Mitsubishi Colt 77 8 Barry Lake Mike Mitchell Mitsubishi Colt 1500 86 9 Evan Green Roy Denny Austin 1800 91 10 David Forster Roger Bonhomme Ford Cortina GT 93

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