The Blue Ribbon was held on April 8.
VCS Round 2 – 1972 VSCC Blue Ribbon Trial
Jeff Beaumont tells the story…
This popular and very competitive event attracted a full field of 60 crews for this second Clubman round, including three classified crews. The event was run north and north-east of Melbourne, in dry and dusty conditions.
The event started at Euroa and the first Division ran through the Strathbogie Ranges out to a break at Mansfield.
The second division was basically a drivers’ stage up to Tolmie and back to Mansfield. The rally had been relatively smooth and straightforward up until this point but the drama was about to unfold.
The second division was in stark contrast and proved to be quite destructive, with difficult navigation over rough roads and tracks through the mountains. It contained a number of short sections down the Jamieson – Woods Point Road to the A1 Mine site.
Then followed a number of very challenging sections such as “Finders Keepers” which saw damage to many cars.
There were not too many happy crews at the finish at Cambarville in the early hours of Sunday morning. After many months of summer dryness and lack of rain, the heavens dramatically opened and totally drenched out the finish barbeque !
It was a convicing win for Bob Bird and Warwick Smith in their Cortina, 16 minutes clear of John Coleman and Jeff Beaumont in the Torana.
