The Alpine Rally was held on 28 May.
1972 ARC 2 – MUCC Akademos Rally
Jeff Beaumont tells the story…
The Akademos was run over 500 kilometers in the area north of Bairnsdale.
This second round of the ARC certainly turned out to dramatic, with the majority of the top ARC crews having off-road excursions or mechanical failures.
The entire Mitsubishi Team had problems and all failed to finish. This left the three XU-1s to fight for honours with Bob Watson / Geoff Thomas in their Renault R12 Gordini. This group, together with Stewart McLeod, were covered by just two points near the end and staged a fight to the finish.
Then Watson slipped off on a muddy corner, Bond broke a trailing arm forcing him to limp home and McLeod hit a tree heavily and retired.
This left Kilfoyle and Bonhomme in front by a single point from Bond/ Shepheard, with Watson fighting back to finish ahead of Barry Ferguson / Warwick Smith in the third XU-1.
Victorian crews filled the next five placings.
