Cars departed Adelaide pre-dawn on Tuesday morning for the long run to Perth via Broken Hill, Coober Pedy and the horrifying rocks of the Nullarbor Plain. The only official break was in Broken Hill for an hour but the leading crews got an unplanned rest just before the Nullarbor at Immarna when the fuel tanker was late arriving. The first car would not reach Perth until late Thursday afternoon.
The route comprised only 1 special stage of 25.9 km, 13 trial stages totalling 2,818.2 km and 13 transport stages totalling 1,145.5 km for a total division distance of 4,689.6 km of which 61% was competitive. This was the highest competitive proportion in any division.
This division, and the run across the Nullarbor in particular, was decisive in the final results of the event. Numerous cars had multiple punctures on the razor sharp flint stones that cover the Nullarbor. For some who refused to back off, such as Portman, it meant running out of spares and either driving on the rim or desperately scrounging a spare from another competitor. Portman lost over 2 hours on the Nullarbor and dropped to eighth. For many others it meant backing off to a snails pace to avoid further punctures with time losses also running into hours. At the front, the 10 minute lead into Perth held by Bond over the leading two Commodores was deceptive as his car was already in trouble, as were the other factory Cortinas that were in fourth (Carr) and fifth (Fury).
