The 2nd BP Rally, organised by the Light Car Club of Australia, was held from March 11-15. The Director was Donald Thomson, assisted by Graham Hoinville and John Pryce.
Ross Runnalls summarises the event …
A Triumph for Standard Cars
The previous first year must have frightened a few off as the field was down to 45 starters with only three from interstate, two from SA including the winner and Ken Tubman from NSW.
The March long weekend date was retained, but there would be an eight hour rest after the 12 hour Rally Stage and a 12 hour rest after 24 hours of the Trial Stage before a 30 hour run to the finish.
Graham Hoinville, also a BP employee, joined the Thomson/Pryce organising team.
Competitors started from Mt Gambier, Sydney, and Melbourne Zoo at 9.30 pm on Wednesday 11 March and converged on Shepparton after separate 480 mile Rally Stages through the night. The 1,429 mile Trial Stage, commenced at 9pm Thursday night on what was going to be a dry and dusty event.
Rest and refuel breaks of 30-60 minutes were provided at Wangaratta, Hotham, Maffra and Seville before an overnight break at Ballarat. The field set off again at 8.30 am Saturday with breaks at Camperdown, Hamilton, Ararat and Bendigo, before assembling at Tullamarine at 12.30pm Sunday for the run into the finish at Royal Park.
Broadbent’s produced a special map “Treasure’s Station” of a portion of the Dargo High Plains based on the Thomson/Pryce survey.
The instructions from Mt Hotham were: “Go to Dargo via Mt St Bernard and Treasure’s Station. This is quite a usable and well defined track, except over Treasure’s Station on the Dargo High Plains, where it is a “walking pace and watch out” job. The final 12 miles or so into Dargo are very steep downhill grades, you must back up and make way – there is no way of passing after Spring Hill. The special (Treasure) map was produced because the next earlier lands Department map was dated 1878, when there were four or five mining townships between St. Bernard and Dargo. Some of these sites are now so haunted that even the ghosts are neurotic. Watch out for wandering cattle – they are Herefords and weigh about 2 tons each. If you do break down, make for Treasure’s homestead, St. Bernard or Dargo, whichever is nearest.”
Average speed sections and tight route charts through unmapped areas kept crews on their toes. At the end of a drop off route chart from Dunolly that included “sapling about 10 feet high in centre of track”, navigators were handed an instruction to “Enter Tarnagulla from the West”. Even though it was 3 am Sunday, this provided great amusement to the gathered locals.
The results were a triumph for the Standard Motor Company over the favoured Volkswagens, with Vanguard Spacemasters finishing first in the hands of Arthur Theil/Ron Seidel/Garry Chapman and second Doug Hughes/Ron Burns/Harry Firth and dominating Class D, while the smaller Standard Tens took out second and third in Class A as well as the All Women’s’ crew award by Mrs Lorna Gamble/Miss S. Upton and Mrs J. Hughes from Hamilton.
Ray Christie was excluded from the results for not using the sponsor’s products!
45 crews started and 34 finished.
A media report refers to an organisers claim that this was a “Blue Riband” event, the term being derived from the prize for the fastest Atlantic crossing by passenger ship. This became formalised into the BP Rally by line of “Australia’s Blue Ribbon Road Classic’.
We are light on records from this particular year.
Lox McGrath coverage for 3AW at the finish of the 1959 BP Rally.
