The Akademos, organised by the Melbourne University Car Club, was held on 29-30 August.
It was Round 4 of the Australian Rally Championship and comprised approximately 300km of competitive stages. Directed by David McKenzie, it was the first ARC event to use a pre-cursor of A-A timing. The aim was to make spectating a better experience by keeping the leading cars at close to 2 minute intervals. Following a pre-start display in the City Square, Akademos started in the underground carpark at Melbourne University and finished in Sale.
Akademos was won by Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls driving a Nissan Stanza SSS entered by Nissan Australia. Although one round remained in the championship, the win was enough to secure their place as 1981 Australian Rally Champions.
Second were George Fury and Monty Suffern, also in a factory Nissan Stanza. Completing a trifecta for Nissan, Chris and Simon Brown were third in their Datsun 180B SSS.
