The Derrick was held on 25 – 27 April. Jeff Beaumont tells the story:
VRC Round 2 CCRMIT ‘75 George Derrick Memorial Trial
A welcome entry in this two day, Hamilton based event in western Victoria was Tom Barr-Smith and Rob Hunt from Adelaide, in their “big“ but competitive Leyland P76, with V8 power. The former South Australian Champions ultimately finished in a fine fourth place.
Frank Kilfoyle was sitting beside David Bond, as his usual navigator Ian Richards was part of the directing team for this event.
The two night rally would return to Hamilton for a day time rest break. The first night ran generally to the south of Casterton before heading up into sandy country around Dergholm. A highlight was the run along the very overgrown “No. 1 Break” west of Casterton where the instructions read “The unmapped road (No. 1 Break) is dead straight so when entering the reeds a course of 138° magnetic should be set and the navigator’s right hand clamped firmly on the wheel”. The second night ran further south through Dartmoor, Kentbruck Plantation and the Mount Deception Forests to the west of Heywood.
Garry Harrowfield and Geoff Boyd put up a dominant performance in their Datsun 1600 to take the win from John Dixon and Tony Walsham. Making its second appearance in the VRC, Dicko’s little Mazda 1300 coupe, fitted with Capella running gear, was certainly a competitive weapon but they had a few brake problems during the second day of the rally. Despite this issue they finished an excellent 2nd place.
Roger Bonhomme and Monty Suffern were well placed after the first day but bent a few panels on the second day and retired. Pierre Dalle and Ray Daniel in the Peugeot misread a tricky blind crest on Fingerpost Road and barrel rolled out of the event.
First round winners David Hodge / Jim Maude were very competitive early on but inverted their Datsun 1600, needing a new turret in readiness for the next round of the VRC, the Midlander.
