Victoria 1959

Re-live the action from 1959

Year in review

Highlights

As the decade drew to a close, Victoria had developed a vibrant rallying scene with many car clubs active in rallying and numerous trials and rallies being conducted, including many well established annual events such as the Experts, Otway, Two Day, North Eastern and Alpine.

The second BP Rally was conducted from March 11 to 15, effectively starting in Shepparton before tackling an arduous 1,429 mile trial finishing on Sunday in Melbourne. Top navigator, Graham Hoinville, joined the directing team of Donald Thomson and John Pryce. The event was won by Arthur Theil, Ron Seidel and Garry Chapman in a Standard Vanguard Spacemaster  by two points from Doug Hughes, Ron Burns and Harry Firth, also in a Spacemaster.

We are fortunate to have some audio records of the BP rallies from the late 50s and early 60s. Listen to interviews conducted at the event finish by Lox McGrath of radio 3AW by selecting the link on the right side of this page. Go to our Audio page for interviews from other years.

Arthur Theil, Ron Seidel and Garry Chapman, winners of the 1959 BP Rally.

We have limited information on events in 1959 – if you have any information please let us know!

Open Events

The first George Derrick Memorial Trial was conducted by the Car Club of RMIT on Friday July 17. The event started from Wheelers Hill at 8 pm and covered 215 miles to Warragul and back. It was won by Bevan Crutchfield and Robert Fennell in a Jaguar. The third crew member was Barry Derrick, the 16 year old son of George Derrick who had sadly died of Leukaemia in 1956.

The Western District Car Club conducted its annual Otway Trial on July 18 and 19.

The Light Car Club ran its annual Experts Trial, probably in late July. It was won for the third time by Harry Firth and Graham Hoinville, this time in an Austin Healy Sprite.

The North Eastern Car Club conducted their annual North Eastern Trial which was won by Ron Prime and John Wilkinson in a Holden.

The 1959 Alpine Trial was organised by the Victorian Sporting Car Club (not the LCCA) and was won by George Reynolds and Frank Kilfoyle in a Volkswagen.

Closed Events

The Melbourne University Car Club conducted its Commencement Rally on April 5. We do not yet have further details.

The Car Club of RMIT conducted several trials including the Autumn Midnight, which was won by Bruce and John Harris in a VW, and the Presidents Trial (follow link for more information), won by Roger Abrahams and Michael Kennedy in a Hillman.

The Rally Calendar for this year

We do not yet have a calendar of events from this year.