This was Lawson’s third Southern Cross and he moved to a third new area, and an area that would become the home to the event for the next decade. The organisation in 1970 also moved the event up a notch as discussed in this extract from the event report in the November edition of Racing Car News:
Excelling even his efforts over the past two years was Director, Allan Lawson, backed by the undeniable resources and energies of the Australian Sporting Car Club and its loyal members. After launching his unique approach to this even last year by centering it on the Queensland Gold Coast, Lawson this time chose the delightful NSW central north coast resort town of Port Macquarie. There the competitors based themselves for three days, while at night they contested hard fought 400-mile loops to Grafton, Tamworth and then back to Sydney.
The support given by the Port Macquarie Council, headed by its Mayor, Ald. C.C. Adams, the Tourist Authority and Greg Hannett, and the surrounding 24 Shire Councils in the area ensued the organisers and competitors of a highly successful and smooth running event. This support ranged from the closing of a street in Newcastle, the provision f an entire impounded area in Port Macquarie and the complete approval of the rally route by all Councils to the setting up of several rooms in the Port Macquarie Motel for use by officials and scorers.
Then there were the sponsors, the companies who pay the bills, either as a calculated investment to derive publicity, or purely because they are true enthusiasts for the sport. This year, for a change, the investment was small, but the return huge. Coming in at the last minute to accept the biggest load was the Westfield Shopping Plaza at Hornsby, already a backer of Allan Lawson in his private forays in rallying. They provided the bulk of the prizemoney and covered the organising costs, and we thank them. Supporting then strongly were Amoco, who among other things spent largely on media advertising to present the progress details of the event, and in doing so almost stole the lion’s share of the credit. Which is great and we know they’ll be back even more strongly.
Grimley Limited. the huge auto parts wholesalers in Sydney, provided men and equipment to assist the organisers, together with dozens of their famous Cibie driving lights and fog lights that are regarded as priceless by International rallyists. We appreciated the Cibie arrows and control markers too.
Ronco-Vickers supplied men and copying equipment right from the first planning stages of the Southern Cross to provide the reams of printed matter necessary. One of the major prizes was a full page advertisement in the national newspaper, “The Australian”, to be used by the winner to proclaim his success. This, together with the extensive presentation of progress reports written by Bob Watson, put “The Australian” high in the list of credits.
Finally, an essential part of such an event is the entertainment of Press, VIPs and competitors, both before and after, and assisting here, together with the other sponsors, were Carlton United Brewery, who provided copious quantities of the nut brown.
The Southern Cross has become a major undertaking, and one which brings rewards not only to the entrants and competitors, but also to the commercial and tourist interests, who support it. With this kind of support one can confidently look forward to the Southern Cross Rally of the future being Australia’s answer to the Monte Carlo Rallye.
