1979 Australian Rally Championship

Table of Contents

Series Regulations
Events
Pointscores

In something of a repeat of the previous year, the championship was a tussle between the Nissan and Ford works teams. Nissan had Dunkerton and Fury in Datsun Stanzas while Ford had Carr and Bond in Escort RS1800s. The other serious contender was up and coming Victorian, Geoff Portman, in a Datsun 1600 (the Grunter).

The year was very competitive with five different winners across the five rounds, with the final round win going to Portman. Consistency paid off for Dunkerton and Beaumont, taking the championship with one win, one second and three thirds. It was Dunkerton fourth national title.

Tom Snooks has provided the full story here.

To see other years of the Australian Rally Championship go to the ARC series page.

Series Regulations

Events were run under the National Rally Code. The final three rounds were special stage events timed to the second, but Rally of the West and Akademos still used minute timing.

Vehicle eligibility was CAMS Group G – Australian Rally Cars.

Points were awarded down to sixth: 9-6-4-3-2-1, with all results to count.

Events

The series was back to five rounds, one in each state except Tassie. The Broken Hill round was dropped and teh Akademos replaced the Marchal as Victoria’s round.

Akademos Rally (Vic)
Rally of the West (WA)
Lutwyche Village Rally (Qld)
Bega Rally (NSW)
Endrust Forest Rally (SA)

Pointscores

Drivers Pointscores

Place	Driver	State	Aka	WA	Qld	Bega	SA	Total
1	Ross Dunkerton	WA	6	4	9	4	4	27
2=	Greg Carr	ACT	4	9	4		6	23
2=	Colin Bond	NSW	2	6	3	9	3	23
4=	George Fury	Vic	9			6		15
4=	Geoff Portman	Vic			6		9	15
6	Dean Rainsford	SA		3	2			5
7	Clive Slater	WA		2			2	4
8=	Mike Batten	NSW	3					3
8=	Peter Gaudron	NSW				3		3
10	Paul Nudd	NSW				2		2
11=	Chris Power	Vic	1					1
11=	Frank Johnson	WA		1				1
11=	Russell Worthington	Qld			1			1
11=	Ian Swan	Vic				1		1
11=	Phil Pittaway	SA					1	1

Navigators Pointscores

Place	Driver	State	Aka	WA	Qld	Bega	SA	Total
1	Jeff Beaumont	Vic	6	4	9	4	4	27
2=	Fred Gocentas	ACT	4	9	4		6	23
2=	John Dawson-Damer	NSW	2	6	3	9	3	23
4=	Monty Suffern	Vic	9			6		15
4=	Ross Runnalls	Vic			6		9	15
6	Jeremy Browne	SA		3	2			5
7=	Steve Owers	NSW	3					3
7=	Graeme Pigram	NSW				3		3
9=	Yvette Polonyi	ACT		2				2
9=	Barbara Nudd	NSW				2		2
9=	Ian Beckwith	WA					2	2
12=	Fred Kakerink	Vic	1					1
12=	Steve Vanderbyl	WA		1				1
12=	Bruce Fullerton	Qld			1			1
12=	Phil Rainer	Vic				1		1
12=	Russell Knight	SA					1	1