Day One
From the start at Bankstown Square crews transported beyond Mittagong. With rain the days prior, any dust advantage for Max Stahl in the diminutive Fiat as Car 1 were annulled. He was overtaken by the fast McLeod on the third section. Despite the damp conditions, road position had little bearing with Makinen well down the starting order. The first two special stages were along the notorious Wombeyan Caves Road. Quarter minute timing was used with a point per 15 seconds late. The international immediately showed their form with Makinen on time on the first, joined by Bob Holden. Hopkirk and Fall were next best, 45 seconds late or 3 points, but were joined by McLeod in the hot VW. Keran and Bond were a further 15 seconds and 1 point back. The second stage saw Makinen down 90 seconds or 6 points, well clear of Fall (who punctured) and Green on 9, with Hopkirk. The Minis were looking to be in control.
Minute timing resumed on the run up to Mount Werrong where thick fog engulfed the field. A private Cortina left the road and Allan Lawson had a spin, but it was Green in the Mini that was on time, followed by Makinen and Ferguson down 1 and a bunch on 2. The run down Jerrong Road claimed some scalps with Barnett’s VW and Roser’s Fiat both off the road, while Hurley’s Peugeot hit a tree. McLeod nudged a bank with minimal damage, as did Janson in the Hillman, Only Makinen and Fall made it on time, with Tubman, Kilfoyle Chivas, Bond and John Garard dropping 1.
A brief respite through Taralga lead to the tricky Swallowtail Pass section with its rough rocky crossing of the Tarlo River. This was a struggle for the Minis with limited ground clearance, but Makinen still made it on time, perhaps helped by enthusiastic BMC supporters who opened the gates (but only for the Minis!). Fall dropped one with Stewart and Hopkirk on 2.
An easy run lead to the mealbreak at Collector where Makinen was well in control down 7 points, with his team mates Fall down 15 and Hopkirk 20. The leading locals were Bond and Green on 20. But the Minis needed plenty of service, including fresh tyres which were only lasting 200 miles. Bob Holden’s Mini had a flat battery but it was just a loose alternator belt.
Easy sections lead crews across through Gunderoo to Uriarra where the real competition began again. On the run up to Sawyers Gully, Stahl left the road after a greasy water splash and clobbered a tree. They retired to Canberra for repairs and rejoined the next day. Makinen apparently almost lost it in the same place, only just missing the same tree. The loop around Cavan used quarter minute timing and had a nasty corner over a crest where McLeod rolled the VW. Makinen almost ended his event at the same corner but left the road, launched the Mini across a gully, somehow missed all the trees and rocks and rejoined a couple of hundred yards beyond. Then along came Ditton who put the Falcon on its roof, followed by Mullins who rolled the Daihatsu. Nevertheless, a dozen cars cleaned the section, but did not include Firth, Ferguson, Kilfoyle, Kerana and Stewart who all dropped 1 point and reckoned it was still worth taking it a bit easy.
After Wee Jasper the next special section was to Couragago and was cleaned by Keran, Hopkirk, Holden, Hodgson, Fall, Bond, Firth, and of course, Makinen. The Argalong section was minute timed (it’s possible two sections were combined) and was cleaned by Keran, Ferguson, Phillips and Makinen. Adrian Adams holed the sump on his Mini.
From here it was across Brindabella Road to the Goodradigbee River then a quarter minute timed section through Piccadilly Circus to end the first night’s competition. The sump plug dropped out of Janson’s Hunter and he was stranded. Vaughan, Firth and Makinen cleaned the first section with a bunch down 1 minute. The special section was cleaned by Keran, Hopkirk, Theiler, Fall and Makinen with Holden, Kilfoyle and Firth down 1 point (15 seconds).
It was well daylight by the time the field straggled into Canberra. The Minis looked dominant with Makinen losing no points since Collector, so still on 7, well clear of Fall on 19 and Hopkirk on 22. The first local was Bond in the Colt on 27, then Keran in the Volvo on 29, Holden in another Mini on 30, with Lunn, Kilfoyle and Ferguson equal on 32. John Garard was on 33 with the previous year’s winner, Firth on 34. But all was not well in the BMC camp with a lot of service being needed in the limited time available. Makinen needed a replacement rear radius arm, but Fall’s needed a complete rear sub-frame replacement which could not be done in time and they lost 38 points, effectively dropping from contention.
Day Two
Fall’s 38 minute loss on the way out of Canberra was the start of a bad night for the BMC stars. All seemed well on the inspiring run back across Brindabella Road to the Goodradigbee River, with 13 cars clean, including Makinen, Hopkirk, Fall and Green. The Chivas Mini had failing oil pressure and retired. On the next section heading south along the transmission line track towards Cooleman Caves, Makinen’s gearbox let go, a broken gear holing the casing, releasing the oil and causing the engine to seize. Stahl’s Fiat also retired on this section when two housing bolts on the diff guard vibrated loose, causing the diff to lose oil and seize, a great shame after so much panel beating back in Canberra. Hopkirk, Fall and Green cleaned in the Minis and were joined by Kilfoyle, now getting into his stride after a slow start.
After Kiandra came the challenging run along Lobbs Hole Ravine and O’Hares Trail to Sue City, with snow beside the road but not on it. Special quarter minute timing applied. Kilfoyle was quickest down 2 minutes (8 points) followed by Keran and Theiler on 9, then Green and Ferguson on 10. Hopkirk’s gearbox had failed and he was also out, but with top gear he was able to limp back to Kiandra to join Makinen at the chalet! Falls’ rear sub-frame was loose again and he was losing time and later in the division the Mini blew a head gasket. Janson struck a bank and had to skip sections.
On the run down to the Victorian border, Green’s Mini, now the leading BMC entry, had the top of the carbie fuel bowl came off and they lost 8 minutes. At the mealbreak at Corrying, Kilfoyle had taken a the lead light on 40, followed by Keran and John Garard on 47, Ferguson on 48, Green 49 and Holden 52.
Light rain turned to a downpour as crews headed south on the slippery road over Sassafras Gap to Omeo. Firth’s differential stopped working and the Cortina plunged down a precipice, rolling four times and stopping 20 metres down against a tree but with a further 50 metres below to the creek. The car was a wreck and they were out of the event, Hodgson was next on the scene and had to scramble down the precipice to assist, Firth and Hoinville were uninjured but Mullins took Firth to Bairnsdale for a checkup. With quarter minute timing, Ferguson was 7 minutes late (28 points), followed by Green 29, Keran, Bond and Greg Garard on 30, John Garard, Roberts, Whatman, Theiler and Holden on 31 with Stewart and Fall on 32. Kilfoyle was slow for reasons unknown, maintaining that all was well, and lost the lead to Ferguson who would not relinquish it for the remainder of the event. Keran moved into second.
And so the crews headed southwards through Swifts Creek to Bullumwaal, down through Deptford and across to Bruthen, all with minute timing. Somewhere in here Greg Garard tripped on a bridge to plunge upside down into a creek. With help from a recovery vehicle they extricated the car and were able to stay within late time and rejoin on the third night. To Deptford Theiler was clean with Crown and Kilfoyle on 2, then Janson, Keran and Collier on 3.
On the lengthy loop of sections to the east there was plenty of drama. On the first long section east of Nowa Nowa, John Garard, Mullins and Green were clean with Ferguson, Collier and Phillips on 1. The loop almost to Buchan used quarter minute timing and was only cleaned by Theiler (who knew the area as Director of previous Alpine Rallies), then Roberts on 4, with Keran and Ferguson on 5, Kilfoyle was not in the hunt and was losing time. The next section encompassed the treacherous Hospital Creek Road and then up Tara Range, and had Fall and Christie quickest on 3 (minutes) with Ferguson, Keran and Phillips on 4.
A fallen tree delayed the field on the next section down to the Princes Highway at Wairewa (and presumably the section was cancelled). The delays mean that by division end at Bairnsdale it was well and truly light. On the final section of the division, a lengthy run across Colquhoun Forest, Ferguson and Keran cemented their positions by cleaning together with Theiler, Vaughan, Roberts, Winkless, Collier, Crown, Phillips and Green. Bond had an excursion into the bushes avoiding Jack Murray reversing out of a bog. Bond was bogged but Murray towed him out. They lost 19 minutes and probably an eventual third outright. Many crews were out of late time at Bairnsdale and expected that it would not be enforced, and they were allowed to continue into Days 3 and 4, but were excluded at the finish (this perhaps explains why some reports say there were 50 finishers, some 39, but others say only 26 finishers).
So at the Bairnsdale halfway point Ferguson led on 90 from Keran 91, Kilfoyle 114, Phillips 117, Green 130, Holden 137, John Garard 141 and Collier 145. A one hour service as allowed and Fall’s Mini had a new head after the blown head gasket. They were well down in the running on 191 points, so the BMC hopes rested with Evan Green.
Day Three
The third day took crews back east from Bairnsdale, apparently through Lakes Entrance, although it seems that the first two competitive sections were up the Bonang Highway. The night began with disaster for second placed Keran. Sadly, Keran’s navigator, Steve Halloran, turned the wrong way out of Bairnsdale and headed towards Melbourne. Thirty miles later he realised the error and they backtracked at high speed! Unbeknown to them there had a been an unrelated accident on the approach to Lakes Entrance. A local being pursued by the police had crashed into another car and then the police car had swerved to miss them and crashed into a palm tree. A service van driven by Bob Riley was also involved. Keran arrived at top speed, swerved to miss the milieu, skated across the grass verge and over an embankment into the lake. Keran extricated the bent Volvo and continued but their second place was well gone.
The competition resumed on the Bonang Highway, 18 miles of twisty gravel. It is not known if quarter minute timing was used, but it seems likely. Green was clean, then Theiler and Fall on 1, Ferguson and Phillips on 2, Kilfoyle 3, then Bond, Collier and Janson on 5. Both the Cheeseman/Pratley Mini and the Burns/Kaye Fiat retired, the latter in contact with a tree. The next section used the next part of the Bonang Highway with Green, Fall, Bond, Stewart and Theiler clean, and Ferguson and Kilfoyle on 1.
The next four sections section looped into and around the tiny hamlet of Bendoc, a kind of repeat of the Bethanga Stampede from the previous year. But heavy rain made many roads treacherous and some quite boggy. Fog added to the challenge. Ferguson took it gently to protect his lead while Greg Garard set fast times, following his indiscretion towards the end of the second night. Kilfoyle did his best but was still losing time to Ferguson. Green took a wrong track and lost a lot of time. Theiler scored a tree and with think retired. Keran became hopelessly bogged and Fall was delayed when twenty cars needed to be towed through a bog.
All four sections were assumed to use quarter minute timing. The first ran into Bendoc, with Ferguson, Kilfoyle, Green, Fall, Holden and Winkless fastest, 15 seconds clear of Bond, Crown, Hodgson, Stewart, Theiler and Janson. The second longer loop to the east had Greg Garard down 7 points, a full minute ahead of Ferguson on 11, Kilfoyle on 17 then Green, Vaughan, Theiler, Roberts and Holden on 21. The next loop comprised two sections, the first (Gunmark Road) of which had a steep climb and had Ferguson and Kilfoyle on 26 points, Bond 27, Green 28, then Vaughan and Holden on 29. The second section back to Bendoc was rough and foggy, with Christie quickest on 4, seemingly more than 3 minutes quicker than Ferguson and Kilfoyle on 18, Bond on 20, then Roberts and Winkless on 22.
At the Delegate mealbreak there was much concern about late time limits with so many crews having been delayed in bogs, so many decided to short-cut sections. It seems that it was a fairly easy run down to Merimbula then a challenging climb over Tantawangalo Mountain (probably quarter minute timing) with only Ferguson, Kilfoyle, Vaughan, Theiler, Holden, McPherson and Janson clean. Green almost spun and ended up teetering over a drop but was pulled back onto the road by Phillips.
Somewhere in here Doug Stewart glanced down at his safety-belt coupling for some reason, and a ‘dip’ sign flashed by at almost 160 km/h. The Colt hit the dip and launched into the air, landed on its nose and did an end-for-end roll resulting in three punctures. Slewing off the road, the Colt hurdled an embankment, hit it once more and then Stewart (as he described it) lost control and the car crashed into a fence. The service crew, quickly on the scene, straightened things out, and the car made Canberra, was further repaired and continued to take out third in class (appropriately in the Modified Division!!).
At Canberra the scores were Ferguson 166 had a commanding lead over Kilfoyle on 202. It was tight for the final podium position and with a number of quarter minute timed stages on the final night it was still wide open with Bond 242, Phillips 257 and Holden 267.
Day Four
We have somewhat scant information on the final night but certainly Ferguson broke a fan belt on a special stage and was passed by Kilfoyle on the road. He dropped 17 points (over 4 minutes) but retained his lead and then regained much of the lost time with great driving. Green, by this stage largely out of the running, split a fuel tank and lost plenty of petrol and time. Fourth placed Phillips had diff failure reducing the final podium competition to Bond and Holden, with Vaughan joining in the fray with some great times. At the Moruya mealbreak it was Ferguson on 274 from Kilfoyle on 312, but Bond, Holden and Vaughan were now on 374, 376 and 381. Kilfoyle’s Cortina got new front suspension at the Moruya mealbreak but he couldn’t take any more time off Ferguson on the remaining stages. Holden set great times to take third place from Bond by just 3 points (effectively 45 seconds).
