The Castrol Australia Rally, organised by the Southern Districts Motor Sports Association, was conducted on March 14-15 in the forests around Canberra.
Last Castrol International to Fury
The 1981 Castrol Australia Rally was so named because it was seeking inclusion in the World Rally Championship and was being observed by two FIA representatives. Perhaps for the first time ever in Australia, a recce was allowed, so the top crews were using pace notes. As was stated in the Event Guide, the “rally will either be a round of the World Rally Championship in 1982 or there’s a chance it won’t be held at all.” The organisers, under the leadership of Geoff Sykes, were ever hopeful, but it was not to be. This would be the last Castrol International with the event run as the one day “Castrol Stages” in 1982.
While the event attracted the cream of Australian rallying, the international entrants were limited to a couple of New Zealanders. Jim Donald and Kevin Lancaster were non-starters when their Escort was delayed in arriving. With the withdrawal of the Ford team, Greg Carr, looking for his seventh win in the Castrol, was in an essentially privately entered Escort with co-driver Fred Gocentas. This was also the final year of the Nissan team, and they entered a single Datsun Stanza for George Fury and Monty Suffern. Other hopefuls included spectacular Victorian Hugh Bell, in a Datsun 1600 and Wayne Bell in a Holden Gemini.
Wayne Bell’s Gemini was an early retirement, whereas Hugh Bell would put in a stunning performance to finish second outright. Carr and Fury were just a few seconds apart on the daylight stages with Fury taking a slight advantage on the tarmac stages with the Stanza running lowered suspension, leading Carr by 4 seconds into the night. Carr’s local knowledge allowed him to overtake Fury on the early night stages, but his hopes of a seventh victory evaporated during the night with mechanical issues.
Fury was several minutes clear of Hugh Bell and able to ease off a little on the Sunday stages and take a convincing win, eventually six minutes ahead of Hugh Bell.
