The Canon Zodiac Rally was held on 15 September. Jeff Beaumont tells the story:
Victorian Clubman Series Round 6 – 1979 Canon Zodiac Rally
The final Clubman Rally for the year attracted 33 entries, together with generous sponsorship from Canon Australia (with thanks also to Shane Blandford), plus a number of smaller contributors, such that every stage of the Rally carried an award of some type.
And the winners were decided on the very last section of the rally.
The event was directed by George Jacobson on behalf of the Country Roads Board Car Club and ran in the Bruthen area, with the start and finish at Bairnsdale. The first competitive section was a blast around the local Speedway, then crews headed north for a series of route charted stages .
Lee / Roberts and Wall / Vaux were the early pace setters but both crews suffered problems shortly after. This allowed Randall / Scott and Cartan / Trevillian, in the hard charging Mazda RX3, to fight for the lead. These two crews engaged in a great battle for the next five stages, with just seconds separating them. However the pace took its toll, with both cars retiring from the lead.
The battle was then taken over by Chambers / Collins and Mitchell and Sichlau with Ron Pedder / Gordon Paul also going well.
In the last section Chambers kept his cool to pick up the win by just a single minute.