1972 Victorian Rally Championship

The 1972 VRC was keenly contested with six different winners across the first six rounds. Gil Davis and Peter Haas won the final round, Gil’s second win of the season, to secure the championship. Peter Haas, who directed the second round that was won by Davis, tied with Roger Bonhomme for the navigator’s title.

One welcome addition to the 1972 series was Peter Brock, in preparation for the upcoming Dulux Rally to be held later in the year. He drove a HDT Torana XU-1, partnered by his rallycross foe, Frank Kilfoyle. Peter tried his hand at navigating in the 1972 Experts but admitted that he was hopeless, particularly in such a demanding navigational event. He sent Frank up so many wrong roads that Frank finally told Peter to drive the rest of the event. They still managed to get to the finish, despite the atrocious snowy conditions in the hills around Marysville.

Two weeks after the Experts. Brockie and Kilf ran in the Midyear Rally. Frank made a navigational error, “I went to sleep“, he confessed.  At the time they were challenging for the lead.

The Otway Trial (not part of the VRC) completed Peter’s preparation for the Dulux, with Warwick Smith as navigator. They started 2nd last in a field of 30 and were finally declared provisional winners. However they were penalised for a Wrong Direction entry to a control despite back tracking to come in the right way. They were deemed to have passed inside the control boundary.

… Jeff Beaumont

A summary of the year was published in Giant Killers, although some pointscores differ from our tally.

To see what else happened during 1972 in Victorian rallying, go to the 1972 year page.

To see other years of the Victorian Rally Championship, go to the VRC page.

Gil Davis and Peter Haas at the start of the 72 BP Rally

Series Regulations

The series name was changed from the “Victorian Trials Championship” in 1971 to the “Victorian Rally Championship” for 1972 to reflect the more modern nature of the series.

There were no specific restrictions on the kinds of events that could be rounds of the VRC. All events were timed to the minute, but there were virtually no tied placings.

Only the outright award was given. Points were allocated 9-6-4-3-2-1 for first to sixth with the best five of six results to count.

Events

VRC events this year were as follows. Click on each event for full details and results.

  1. Penfolds Motors Trial
  2. Classic Rally
  3. Experts Trial
  4. Midyear Rally
  5. George Derrick Memorial Trial
  6. Two Day Trial
  7. Cooper Memorial

Pointscores

Best 5 results count, total shown in brackets where different.

Drivers Pointscores

PlaceDriverR1R2R3R4R5R6R7Total
1Gil Davis19661931 (32)
2Matt Philip44249326
3Peter Janson693119
4Bob Watson29617
5Bob Bird64616
6John Dixon91414
7Barrie Edmonds911½
8George Fury36211
9Len Shaw24410

Navigators Pointscores

PlaceNavigatorR1R2R3R4R5R6R7Total
1=Peter Haas166922
1=Roger Bonhomme4429322
3Geoff Thomas229619
4Chris Jessup914418
5Warwick Smith64616
6Monty Suffern36211
7David Long9110
8Mike Osborne93113
9Rex Muldoon911½
10Mike Mitchell639
11Jim McAuliffe448