The 3rd BP Rally, organised by the Light Car Club of Australia, was held from May 4 to 8. The Director was Donald Thomson, assisted by Graham Hoinville and John Pryce.
Ross Runnalls summarises the event …
Kilfoyle Emerges in a Very Wet One
Kevin Lott and Frank Kilfoyle in a Volkswagen emerged as a new force in trials winning outright and in so doing knocked off more fancied crews.
The event moved from the March long weekend date to what has become the traditional date on the first weekend in May, and so making the sport even more unpopular with many partners due to the clash with Mother’s Day. Most mothers didn’t seem to think that going to the finish of the BP was a suitable Mother’s Day treat.
Six inches of rain across Victoria in the week before, made for a testing event for organisers and competitors. The Director got bogged at one stage, and some sections were altered to be passable. Eighteen crews should have been excluded according to the regulations for not making Division end in time, but were allowed to continue with an additional penalty. Only 17 crews were officially classified as finishers.
63 started, with five from SA and eight from NSW, although only 35 started from Melbourne as some Victorian crews elected to start from Mt Gambier, Murray Bridge or Goulburn.
The 440 mile Rally Stage ended up at Shepparton, where the planned 1475 mile Trial Stage, over seven divisions commenced at 7 pm on Thursday 5 May.
Rest and refuel breaks of 30-60 minutes were provided at Benalla (2.30 am), Seville (10 am) and Seymour (3.30 pm) before an overnight break at Ballarat. The field set off again at 8 am Saturday with breaks at Warrnambool, Horsham and Bendigo, before assembling at Tullamarine at 1 pm Sunday for the run into the finish on The St Kilda Esplanade.
Many crews got bogged on the first section into Burrumboot East, and drowned in the second section through Redcastle, not a good start.
There was no Division over the Alps this year; fortunately as they were covered in 15 feet of snow at the time, but a long 67 mile section from Jamieson past Cumberland Junction to McMahons Ck via through the foothills would have had the field nervous. There were impassable fords between Ballarat and Warrnambool, but an easier run to Horsham.
Given that finding Tarnagulla at 3 am proved such a hit last year, the organisers followed up at the same time of night with a similar drop off route chart, and note handed at that point to “Enter Alma from the SW”, which proved just as popular as Tarnagulla in 1959.
15 crews completed the course, including a tiny Goggomobile Dart, with 33 classified as finishers. Filling out the major placings were G.L.A Russell/W. Walsh/G Spanos in a Peugeot in second and K. Young/K. O’Neill in a Volkswagen in third. No SA crews finished and Doug Stewart and Vince Brown in their Skoda Octavias finished from NSW. Volkswagens filled five of the first seven places, but three Standard Vanguards won the Teams prize.
Donald Thomson’s post event report included the normal analysis of where most points losses were accrued, acknowledgement of the many car clubs involved in manning controls, plus a couple of pithy literary quotations.
The first Director’s bronze medals were awarded to the NSW crew of Doug Stewart and Barry Lloyd. Not sure what his criteria were.
Lox McGrath coverage for 3AW at the finish of the 1960 BP Rally.
Lox McGrath interviews at the finish of the 1960 BP Rally.
