1985 CAMS AUSTRALIAN RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP THE EVENTS The 1985 CAMS Australian Rally Championship: 1 Fairford Stages Rally Tasmania Bell/Ellis 2 Western Mail Rally West Australia West Australia Car Club Dunkerton/McKimmie 3 Bega Valley Rally New South Wales Bell/Ellis 4 Keema Classic Rally Queensland Brisbane Sporting Car Club Coote/Stewart 5 Tile Supplies Rally South Australia Lowe/Pedder 6 Akademos Rally Victoria Melbourne University Car Club Bell/Ellis FINAL POINTS 1 Barry Lowe SA PRC 87 1 Kevin Pedder SA 87 2 Hugh Bell Vic G 84 2 Steve Ellis Vic 84 3 Peter Clark NSW PRC 61 3 Wayne Kenny NSW 61 =4 Brian Smith Vic G 48 =4 Ray Temple NSW 48 =4 Ron Cremen NSW PRC 48 =4 David McKenzie Vic 48 6 Graham Alexander Vic PRC 38 6 Jon Thompson NSW 32 7 Jim Middleton NSW PRC 32 7 Pip Welch Tas 31 8 Andrew Murfett Tas G 31 =8 Dave Boddy NSW 29 =9 Wayne Bell NSW PRC 29 =8 Dale Payne Qld 29 =9 Gregg Hansford Qld G 29 10 Phil Bonser NSW 28 Manufacturers Award Not awarded. 1985 Australian Rally Champions – Barry Lowe, Kevin Pedder and Subaru RX Turbo 142 SUMMARY 1985 was the first year that the new Group A (PRC) category gained real support and credibility and the first time that a Group A car and crew took off the national championship – thanks mostly to the efforts of a lone manufacturer, Subaru, for getting the ball rolling. Subaru imported a batch of four-wheel-drive RX Turbo sedans and provided them at a subsidised price to some top privateers. Barry Lowe/Kevin Pedder, from South Australia, took the plunge in taking on a Subaru (Pedders sponsored) and went on the win the series in the last of six rounds, leading from Hugh Bell/Steve Ellis in the also Pedders sponsorship Group G Mazda RX7 by three championship points. Mazda started an association with the sport by providing a Mazda RX7 for Queensland’s Gregg Hansford/Dale Payne. Their best result for the year was a second in their home round, mixed with a series of did-not-finishes, but Mazda was happy enough with the exposure to think about doing what Subaru did, by using the 323 4WD in 1986. The company’s enthusiasm was also ignited by a sparkling win in the Queensland round by Murray Coote/Iain Stewart in a 323 4WD, ahead of Hansford. 1985 also saw the lack of big name drivers from previous years. Greg Carr had only two starts in borrowed cars for two failures, George Fury made one appearance in South Australia, and there was no sign at all of Geoff Portman nor defending champion David Officer. Hugh Bell was favoured to win but, although his driving matured enormously to enable him to stay on the road and finish most events, he had offs in the RX7 in Queensland and in South Australia which cost him time, and as he elected not to go to Perth, he was overtaken by Barry Lowe’s consistent outright and Group A results. Although Bell won three events to Lowe’s one he didn’t quite do enough to take victory. Ron Cremen and Wayne Bell provided some variety with their Toyota Corolla GT’s. Cremen, with Ray Temple, placed three times in the top ten and Bell, with Dave Boddy, showed that the Subarus could be beaten by producing some quick times but he was always struck by problems just when he seemed on course for a Group A victory. The only driver to really arrive at the top level in 1985 was Tasmanian Andrew Murfett, with Pip Welch, who did well in an elderly Mazda RX2 and made his presence felt as a top contender, crashing in Perth when he was in the lead. Although the year provided some close and varied competition it was as difficult and disappointing as any in recent years. Two events were cancelled, there were trouble with others, and although Subaru was present there were not enough Group A cars to provide a viable championship once the Group G cars became ineligible for national championship points, as was being suggested by CAMS. There eventually were six events in the series, with South Australia returning to Adelaide after a five-year absence and this meant there would be a round in each state for the first time. Tasmania provided the opener and was the most popular event of the year, Bathurst withdrew and was replaced by the returning Bega Valley Rally, and the Alpine Rally also withdrew, replaced by the Akademos, which was badly affected by wet weather and was shortened beyond any reasonable competitive length, but it still counted for championship points. Both the Queensland and South Australian rounds fell short of the standard required for a national event, the former badly affected by rain and the latter by accusation of jumped starts, shortcutting and pacenotes. One issue arose during the year – whether to allow pacenoting. The events in South Australia and Victoria raised the question in supposedly ‘secret’ course events and whether events are to be open to such activity. ROUND ONE: FAIRFORD STAGES - Tasmania It was the first time a Tasmanian event had been included in the Australian rally championship series, a move which, despite only 39 entries, was a resounding success, with the organisation as good as established events on the mainland and the roads said by competitors to among the very best they had ever tackled. The event was never expected to provide a classic battle for victory, and it was strange to see most of the leading contenders of recent years absent – there was no Officer, no Portman, no Fury, no Wayne Bell, and no Dunkerton. But Greg Carr turned up with a replacement navigator, Mike Harker, in a borrowed Group A Datsun Stanza and stated he was only chasing points while he finalised constructing a new Group A challenger – widely rumoured as being an Alfa Romeo GTV6. The rally was based at Burnie and the two-day format included 400 kilometres of special stages run in three divisions. Hugh Bell/Steve Ellis (Mazda RX7), after years of trying and several near misses, won the event, leading from start to finish and were never headed. They scored by more than four minutes to Ian Hill/Phil Bonser (Ford Escort RS 1800) and Tasmanians Andrew Murfett/Pip Welch (Mazda RX2) two minutes further behind. The new Subaru RX Turbo scored its first Group A victory in the hands of Barry Lowe/Kevin Pedder, who finished fifth overall. Group A cars took half the top ten placings. 143 There were several other quick mainland drivers in the field, including Peter Glennie (ex-Murray Coote Datsun 1200), Jon Waterhouse (300 horsepower Mazda RX2) and Gregg Hansford (Mazda RX7). The side interest in the field, although it was to take on much greater importance as the event unfolded, was the rather strong Group A field, including Barry Lowe and Peter Clark (both giving their Subaru RX turbos their championship debut, Rex Muldoon (Toyota T18, Ron Cremen (Toyota Levin), Jim Middleton (Holden Commodore V8) and Rob Worboys (Ford Laser). At the end of the first division at the end of daylight on the first day Bell was leading Carr by 59 seconds, with a further 36 seconds to Murfett. Hansford wrote off the RX7 in a high-speed collision with a tree, well above ground level, Hill was struggling with a puncture and the clutch of Jim Middleton’s Commodore failed – luckily it was the last stage of the division and he and navigator Jon Thompson were able to push the car to the end of the stage and effected emergency repairs. Ron Cremen/Ray Temple – Toyota Corolla Sprinter At the start of the action on Sunday it was a foregone conclusion that Bell would take his first championship event. Hill moved ahead of Murfett and began to apply pressure on Carr when the tailshaft failed on the Stanza and the crew could only stand and watch as Hill roared by into second place. A local crew, Andrew Lawson/Paul Kettle (Datsun 1600) moved into fourth place, after being 13th at the end of the first division. Barry Lowe hung onto the Group A leadership ahead of Ron Cremen and Rex Muldoon/Noel Kelly (Toyota Corolla) and Peter Clarke/Wayne Kenny in the Subaru RX Turbo. A total of eight Group A cars completed the event, many embarrassing the more powerful Group G machines. So, Bell and Lowe (although fourth outright) led with 20 points each in the series, being awarded equal points for Groups G and A wins. 1 Hugh Bell Steve Ellis Mazda RX7 G 236:57 2 Ian Hill Phil Bonser Ford Escort RS 1800 G 243:19 3 Andrew Murfett Phillip Welch Mazda RX2 G 245:24 4 Barry Lowe Kevin Pedder Subaru RX Turbo A 255:34 5 Andrew Lawson Paul Kettle Datsun 1600 G 258:59 6 Ron Cremen Ray Temple Toyota Sprinter A 259:28 7 Rex Muldoon Noel Kelly Toyota Corolla A 259:32 8 Peter Clark Wayne Kenny Subaru RX Turbo A 260:02 9 Jim Middleton Jon Thomson Holden Commodore A 261:24 10 Guy Dunstan Terry Bracken Datsun 180B G 262:16 144 ROUND TWO: WESTERN MAIL RALLY – Western Australia Making his now cameo appearance in the series, fives time national champion driver Ross Dunkerton provided Subaru with its first outright win in an Australian Rally Championship event when he won the Western Mail Rally in a Subaru RX Turbo, with Steve McKimmie as navigator.