The George Derrick was held on 16 August.
VTC Round 4 – 1969 CCRMIT George Derrick Memorial Trial
Jeff Beaumont tells the story…
Forty two crews started the “ Derrick “, including Harry Firth with Roger Bonhomme in a new V8 Monaro, as a test run prior to entering a team of these big cars in the Australian Rally Championship.
As Mike Osborne was assisting Tom Cox and Tom Seymour as Directors, Tony Roberts enlisted the “retired” navigator Charlie Davis to read the maps.
The rally started in Melbourne, allowing the navigators plenty of time to plot the forty five grid references on the way to the start proper north of Gisborne. The competitives ran through Shepherd’s Flat, then skirted Tullaroop Reservoir and on towards Maryborough, where the Renaults were clean, without loss of points.
Janson had alternator problems, whilst Graham Alexander / Peter Haas in a Monaro stormed through the dust to be quickest on the next two sections.
Unmapped roads east of Adelaide Lead caused problems for most crews, followed by a couple more expensive controls at Homebush and west of Wehla, before they headed south to another stop in Maryborough.
The final run was back to the finish at Bullengarook, via the reverse run through the Eberys – Shepherds Flat section, then on to Glenlyon and south through the forest to Lyonville.
Janson’s Gordini almost gave up with a smokey engine but he finally limped across the finish line.