NOVEMBER 9TH TO 18TH DULUX RALLY TROPHY FOR WINNING CREW more commonly known as the ‘Elephant Penis’ 22 23 24 25 Before anyone slings off at Tom, be informed that he was navigating; the driver (and photographer!) was Toby Bent, of Castrol Motor Sport fame at race circuits. Toby Bent, a very wise gentleman, drove Tom on all of the 1972 Dulux Rally course surveys and was wonderful company. Conducted in November, the Dulux Rally 72 was directed by Tom Snooks, who carried out the administration of the 1971 Dulux Rally, and who had become Secretary of the Australian Sporting Car Club. Oran Park’s Circuit Manager, Allan Horsley, was the event's Race Director. Geoff Sproat was the CAMS Course Checker, and he did a very thorough job in making sure the instructions were accurate. The Dulux Rally, with its format of constant variation and continually fluctuating placings, had captured the imagination of a far broader section of the community than the pure enthusiast. Somehow, it even smacked of the old ‘pioneer’ image of the Redex Trials of the fifties, with the additional entertainment of leading motor sport personalities pitching their skills in a travelling motor sport circus so that more than just a privileged few of the population who attended race meetings and rally spectator locations could see them. 26 The major competition organisers - Tom Snooks and Allan Horsley confer at the Hume Weir Circuit At Hume Weir Circuit – Chief Officials Sandra Hand, Tom Snooks, Dianne Lewis 27 THE ORGANISERS Event Director: Tom Snooks Race Director: Allan Horsley Publicity Officer: Roy Waters (Dulux Australia Ltd) Chief Scrutineer: Robert Kerr Chief Timekeeper: James Horman Rally Secretary: Margaret Payne Committee: Lynn Stanley, Elizabeth Arundel, Dianne Lewis, John Whitton THE COURSE Stage 1 - Thursday 9 November - Brisbane to Grafton (440km) - Surfers Paradise Raceway - Grafton Mountain View Hillclimb Stage 2 - Friday 10 November - Grafton to Sydney (720km) - Closed road special stage at Woolgoolga - Silverdale Hillclimb Stage 3 - Saturday 11 November - Sydney to Wollongong (180km) - Oran Park Raceway Stage 4 - Sunday 12 November - Wollongong to Albury (700km) - Dapto Hillclimb - Mt Ginn Circuit at Canberra Stage 5 - Monday 13 November - Albury to Tumbarumba to Albury (520km) - Night Rally Division Stage 6 - Tuesday 14 November - Albury to Hume Weir to Albury (50km) - Hume Weir Raceway Stage 7 - Wednesday 15 November - Albury to Wangaratta to Albury (360km) - Night Rally Division Stage 8 - Thursday 16 November - Albury to Warburton (440km) - Winton Raceway - Lakeland Hillclimb Stage 9 - Friday 17 November - Warburton to Cowes (360km) - Night Rally Division Stage 10 - Saturday 18 November - Cowes to Melbourne (145km) - Phillip Island Raceway Distances are given in kilometres, although the imperial system of measurement (miles) applied in 1972. 28 ENTRIES At some circuit racing the field was split into two Groups – Group A for the faster cars and Group B for those that were substantially slower – in the main necessary due to the track density regulations established by CAMS. Although there was much interest in the event only 27 crews made it to the start, a disappointing field. Of course, the costs of entering and participating were very high and being conducted at the end of the motor sport year funds were not readily available. All the entries had service crews, whose vehicles outnumbered the competitors!! RAC NO CREW STA YR MAKE MODEL VE CL E GP 2 John Roxburgh / Mike Mitchell VIC 1972 Datsun 180B SSS D 3 A 3 Edgar Herrmann / Roger Bonhomme EA 1972 Datsun 240Z D 4 A 4 Bruce Hodgson / Fred Gocentas NSW 1971 Ford Escort TC C 1 A 6 Paul Older / Brian McElhinney NSW 1971 BMW 2002 D 3 A 7 Peter Janson / Peter Waring-Smith VIC 1971 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 A 9 David McKay / Garry Connelly NSW 1972 Ford Capri RS2600 D 4 A 10 Bob Holden / John Dawson-Damer NSW 1970 Ford Escort TC C 1 A 11 Peter Brock / Frank Kilfoyle VIC 1971 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 A 12 Bob Watson / Jeff Beaumont VIC 1971 Renault 12 Gordini E 6 B 13 Stewart McLeod / Adrian Mortimer SA 1972 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 A 14 Colin Bond / George Shepheard NSW 1972 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 A 17 Allan Hogan / Bryan Liersch NSW 1971 Ford Escort TC C 1 B 18 Jim Sullivan / Gary Clarke NSW 1971 Ford Cortina TC E 5 B 19 Erl Calver / Norm Syme NSW 1970 Ford Falcon GT C 2 B 20 Gary Cooke / Bruce Cheeseman NSW 1969 Mazda R100 D 6 B 21 Keith Goodall / Joe Kearney QLD 1969 Ford Falcon GTHO E 6 B 23 Ian Wallace / Warwick Smith VIC 1971 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B 24 Brenda Haigh / Gwen Dunlop NSW 1971 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B 25 Chas Lund / Murray Coote QLD 1972 Mazda RX3 C 2 B 26 Carolynn Wallace / Cheryl Schmiedte NSW 1970 Holden Torana GTR E 6 B 27 Jon Leighton / Brian Allery VIC 1970 Morris Cooper S C 1 B 29 Jack ‘Milko’ Murray / Brian MacIlvenna NSW 1972 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B 31 Stephen Taylor / Arthur Taylor NSW 1970 Holden Torana XU1 C 2 B 32 Ron Row / Bob Johns NSW 1964 Ford Cortina GT C 1 B 33 Allan Cameron / Peter Mill NSW 1970 Holden Torana XU1 E 6 B 34 Arch Shearer / Brian Mepham NSW 1971 Mazda Capella C 2 B 37 Sue Ransom / Christine Cole NSW 1972 Ford Escort GT1600 C 1 B Numerous crews consisted of a rally driver and a circuit driver; in the following text the driver listed first in the entry list is shown when the results/times are listed; Notable crews with a rally driver and a circuit driver were: 11 Peter Brock/Frank Kilfoyle 20 Gary Coke/Bruce Cheeseman 37 Sue Ransom/Christine Cole. 29 Christine Cole Sue Ransom Bruce Hodgson Bob Holden Peter Janson Peter Brock Frank Kilfoyle Colin Bond Edgar Hermann Bob Watson Stewart McLeod John Roxburgh VEHICLE ELIGIBILITY Vehicle eligibility was based on CAMS 3rd Category – Production Cars: - Group C Improved Production Touring Cars - Group D Production Sports Cars (Open and Closed) - Group E Series Production Touring Cars Classes 1, 3 and 5 were for cars up to and including 2000cc Class 2 and 6 were for cars from 2001cc to 6000cc SUMMARY Starting outside the Brisbane Town Hall in torrential rain on 9 November with Lord Mayor Clem Jones waving the cars away, the course passed through three states - Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria - to the finish in Melbourne, on Saturday 18 November, after covering some 4000 kilometres. The 1972 Dulux Rally was won by the then all-conquering pair of rally aces, Colin Bond and George Shepheard, in a Holden Torana XU1, with 116 points. This followed their win in the 1971 Dulux Rally, as well as winning the 1971 and 1972 Australian Rally Championships and the 1971 Southern Cross International Rally. Completing a great 1-2 result for the Holden Dealer Team was the second place of Peter Brock and Frank Kilfoyle, also in an XU1 (188 ½ points). To cement Holden’s XU1 domination of the event was the City State Team (Adelaide) of Stewart McLeod and Adrian Mortimer, losing 229 points. Fourth was the only international driver, Edgar Herrmann (East Africa), with Roger Bonhomme, in a Datsun 240Z, on 268 points. For Bond it was a fairly tense event. Though he and Shepheard led from start to finish they were challenged throughout by no fewer than five crews who, at one stage or another held second place. Sydney journalist David Mckay, accompanied by CAMS NSW State Secretary Garry Connelly, was regarded as Bond’s biggest threat with his specially imported German Ford Capri RS2600/2900, which was unquestionably superior on the racing segments and, in the final race at Phillip Island, finished over a lap ahead of the Toranas, breaking the outright Touring Car record in the process. On the rally segments, however, the Capri suffered numerous 30 suspension problems, causing McKay to complain bitterly of the conditions. McKay/Connelly eventually finished fifth with a loss of 313 points, just ahead of sixth placed Paul Older/Brian McElhinney in a BMW 2002, on 320 points. The Capri was a Ford factory entered vehicle, the team headed by Howard Marsden. It was an RS2600 bored out to 2900, with 275bhp. It was rallied in Europe and carried fibreglass panels, rose-jointed suspension, ZF 5 speed box, LSD, 9” mag wheels. It was clearly the ‘hottest’ car in the field. Ford Capri RS2600 with 2900 engine David McKay 31 THE SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES Conducted: 9 -18 November 1972 Starters: 27 Length: approximately 4000 kilometres Thursday Start Brisbane Thursday Surfers Paradise circuit racing - 1 x 6 lap (Cat 2) and 1 x 20 lap (Cat 3) Thursday Grafton Mountain View Hillclimb - 2 runs (Cat 2) Friday Closed road special stage northwest of Coffs Harbour (Cat 3) Saturday Silverdale Hillclimb - 3 runs (Cat 2) Saturday Oran Park circuit racing - 1 x 4 lap (Cat 2), 1 x 6 lap (Cat 3), 1 x 8 lap (Cat 3) at race meeting Sunday Dapto Hillclimb - 3 runs (Cat 2) Sunday Dirt circuit racing at Canberra (Mt Ginn) - 3 runs (Cat 3), then to Albury via Snowy Mountains Monday (night) Rally division from Albury to Tumbarumba and return (Cat 3) Tuesday Hume Weir circuit racing -1 x 10 lap (Cat 3), 1 x 20 lap (Cat 3) Wednesday (night) Rally division Albury to Wangaratta and return (Cat 3) Thursday Winton Raceway circuit racing - 1 x 6 lap, (Cat 2), 1 x 15 lap (Cat 3) Thursday Rally division Benalla to Warburton (Cat 3) Friday Lakeland Hillclimb - 3 runs (Cat 2) Friday (night) Rally division Warragul to Phillip Island via Western Gippsland (Cat 3) Saturday Phillip Island circuit racing - 1 x 20 lap (Cat 3) Saturday Finish Melbourne Category of activities Cat 1: Transport sections Cat 2: Hillclimbs, rally divisions, shorter circuit races, sprints Cat 3: Very competitive rally divisions, longer circuit races.