1955 Sun Rally

1955 International Sun Trial ran from April 17-24

This was the third and last of the Sun Rallies organised by DKT, Donald Thomson, which ultimately lead to the BP Rallies that started from 1958.

Sponsored by the “Sun News-Pictorial”, the event was reputed to be the longest true rally at the time at approximately 3000 miles. The term “rally” implied that there were multiple starting points, in this case Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide, converging on a rallying point, in this case Maryborough, for the start of the trial stage.

The full story of this event is provided in a lengthy article in Australian Motor Sport. The event was won by B.G. Hall and T. Fawcett in an MG TF.

Results and entry list

Results are shown in the article mentioned above.

Route

Much of the detail of the route is provided in teh AMS article mentioned above. The event covered most of Victoria as follows:

Stage 1: From the Maryborough rallying point the route travelled south past Ballarat to Lal Lal, thence westwards through Camperdown, Cressy, Hawkesdale, Portland, Casterton and Hamilton. Some difficult sections followed through the Grampians with a very rough “bonus” section between Zumsteins and Dadswells Bridge, then to Horsham.

Stage 2: Northwards from Horsham past Miga Lake and to a “bonus” section in the Little Desert thence to Mildura via Donald, Nhill, Dimboola, Minyip,  St Arnaud, Wedderburn, Birchip and Sealake.

Stage 3: Into NSW briefly to Euston then to Swan Hill, Kerang, Boort, Bendigo, Axedale, Toolleen, Whroo, Rushworth, Murchison to Shepparton. Then to Kybram, into NSW at Deniliquin, back to Echuca, and finally to Rochester for a rest break.

Stage 4: Back through Axedale, then through Redesdale, Tooborac, across to Murrindindi, around to Jamieson thence through Mansefield to Tolmie, Tatong and Wangaratta and to Bethanga, briefly in NSW. Then through Beechworth, Yackandandah, Kiewa, across to Corryong for a break.

Stage 5: To Omeo, up Mt Hotham, down through Dargo, then on to Maffra, Sale and to Bairnsdale for a break.

Stage 6: Stockdale, Wuk Wuk, Iguana Creek, Startford, Salem Wilung, the Grand Ridge Road, Leongatha, and finally up the highway to Dandenong, across to Carrum Downs and to the finish at Albert Park.

Other event documents

Other documents or their links