The Ferguson Commodore, with Bell driving, was first to enter the stage starting at about 5.30 am, just as the slightest glimmers of daylight would have been brightening the eastern sky. Next was Brock about 10 minutes behind, then Cowan perhaps 5-10 minutes behind, then about 5 minutes to the Mehta Commodore with Dunkerton perhaps another 10 minutes behind. So the first five cars were spread over at least 30 minutes.
Then there was a gap of about 30 minutes to the next group of cars – Barth, Nalder, Loader and Portman, with the cutting and running Datsun 1600 of Dave Colless slotting into the middle of that group. This second group all started the stage just after sunrise.
Bell punctured two tyres simultaneously early on and they were stopped for a considerable time changing tyres and straightening the bent rims. Brock came up behind and they agreed to travel in convoy. When they reached the Sherlock River, Bell immediately became stuck and being first on the road, it perhaps took the 4WDs a few minutes to get organised. It would have also been barely light! Brock waited on solid ground while Richards and Philip surveyed the area on foot and they eventually waved Brock through and he did not get bogged.
Knowing that the other team Commodore (Mehta) would be fairly close behind, they decided to head off. According to Beaumont, quoted in the Challenge book, Cowan caught and passed both of them, presumably while Brock was waiting. The 17 car may have been bogged twice, but in any case, Brock dropped 16 minutes to Ferguson’s 30 minutes. Ferguson’s lead had been cut to 6 minutes. It was a decisive stage in the event.
But the dramas were not over. Soon after and now perhaps first on the road, Cowan cracked a hydraulic line on a rock and lost suspension. A trail of hydraulic fluid marked the location. They stopped for a considerable time while Reddiex effected makeshift repairs to at least close off the cracked pipe and get some suspension. The Brock and Ferguson cars were of course now well gone. Soon the Mehta car arrived and joked with them briefly about the curse that Mehta had put on the Citroen by pissing on its wheel! Mehta continued, doing the fastest time on the stage, almost catching the Ferguson Commodore.
Dunkerton was also going quite slowly, perhaps with more broken shockers, but also eventually passed Cowan who was travelling even slower. In fact Cowan was going so slowly that they were also caught by some of the next group of cars. The Barth 924 was making reasonable time and was the first of that group to pass Cowan, and almost caught Dunkerton. Early in the stage the Loader Lancer (Hill driving) passed the Nalder Celica (Richards driving) who had strategically decided to take the one hour maximum and preserve the car. Hill then passed Cowan towards the end of the stage. Portman also passed the Celica and then passed the Lancer and the ailing Citroen. Portman had moved up to sixth on the road, a remarkable recovery after his Wanneroo roll. Cowan made it out just in front of the Celica, and was therefore at least an hour and a half late, but the stage had a one hour maximum.
The next group of cars probably included Rowney, who was flying, as well as Davis, Watson, and perhaps Stewart, Mason and Hilton. Bob Watson, in his book In Control, suggests that he travelled together with Hill, Nalder and Davis on this stage, but he also admits that his recollection is vague. Certainly the Peugeot team may have worked together with the Davis Datsun but it was perhaps the Hilton Celica and others, since Hill and Nalder were quite some distance ahead. Stewart and Parry certainly had considerable delays in the sand on this and the next stage and arrived at Port Hedland absolutely exhausted and ready to give up.
Further back two of the Cortinas were battling on. Carr broke a rear axle locating bolt on the stage and had to hold it in place with the winch, but they made it through to Port Hedland. Bond’s perserverence finally came to an end in this stage when the Cortina’s sump haemorrhaged. They eventually retreated to Wittenoom, desperately scrounging oil from oncoming cars, and then headed for Darwin after making repairs.
In all, about 50 cars completed the stage with about 30 cars doing under the one hour maximum:
- Mehta 11
- Brock, Rowney 16
- Mizel 17
- Herrmann 18
- Portman 21
- Wilson 22
- Watson, Foden 23
- Clyborne 25
- Goldsborough 28
- Ferguson 30
- Barth 31
- Moloney 34
- Loader 37
- Jackson, Roberts, Birrell 39
- Gough 40
- Beveridge 48
- Hurrey, Bolch 49
- Mason 50
- Sheridan 51
- Dunkerton, Clarke 53
- Giddings 54
- Davis, Caddey 57
- Bell 59
Those who took the one hour maximum were Cowan, Nalder, Carr, Jensen, Murray, O’Shanesy, Hilton, Faulkner, Miettunen, Kuss, Finlay, Lockhart, Myers, Nicholson, Herdy, Lahiff, Travis, Haslam, Stockley, Rayner and Stewart. What this doesn’t show is how much over the hour they were. Nalder was only a couple of minutes over with a slow but clean run whereas Stewart had apparently been bogged for 3 hours.
