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.