The Zodiac Rally was held on 16 September.
1978 VCS Round – CRBCC Zodiac Rally
Jeff Beaumont tells the story…
The Zodiac Rally, round six of the Victorian Clubman Series, was won by the flying Fitchers, Alex and Jan, making it two starts and two wins in the series.
Directed by George Jacobson on behalf of the Country Roads Board Car Club, and running around the Gippsland area above Bairnsdale, this year’s Zodiac was fully route charted.
From the start at Bairnsdale, crews transported to the local Speedway for a few fast timed laps, where quickest was Warwick Freemantle in his Datsun.
At the half way point at Bruthen, Freemantle / Spring and Alex / Jan Fitcher were equal on 9 points, with Peter Thompson / Ian McCallum ( Datsun ) on 10 points, equal with Mike Ellis / John McKay ( Datsun )
Series leaders, Ian and Trevor Boyd struck problems, first with a damaged exhaust, then a broken rear trailing arm, which forced their retirement.
The Fitchers forged ahead on the night stages to open a 2 minute lead on the chasing pack. They extended their lead by a further minute, to claim a fine victory in their well eveloped Datsun 1600.