1981 Martini Mountain Rally

The Mountain Rally, sponsored by Martini and directed by Rod Green for the Swinburne Car Club, was held on 7 February.

VRC Round 1 – Martini Mountain Rally to Portman/Runnalls

Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls took their Autosport sponsored Datsun 200B to a convincing victory in the first round of the 1981 VRC. Chris Power and Phil Rainer were more than 3 minutes adrift but only 14 second ahead of third placed Chris Wall and Lloyd Minifie.

Fourth place and first Grade 2 were David Officer and Kate Hobson in their Galant. Phil Eather and Stephen Yorke were sixth and first Clubman.

A report appeared in March Unicar.
 
1981 Mountain cover
1981 Martini Mountain - 1st O-R Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls (Bruce Keys)
1st O-R Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls (Bruce Keys)
1981 Martini Mountain - 2nd O-R Chris Power and Philip Rainer (Bruce Keys)
2nd O-R Chris Power and Philip Rainer (Bruce Keys)
1981 Martini Mountain - 3rd O-R Chris Wall and Loyd Minifie (Bruce Keys)
3rd O-R Chris Wall and Loyd Minifie (Bruce Keys)
1981 Martini Mountain - 4th O-R Dinta and Kate Officer (Bruce Keys)
4th O-R Dinta and Kate Officer (Bruce Keys)
5th O-R David Jones and Noel Richards (Bruce Keys)
5th O-R David Jones and Noel Richards (Bruce Keys)
11th O-R Gil Davis and Graeme Toner (Bruce Keys)
11th O-R Gil Davis and Graeme Toner (Bruce Keys)

Results and entry list

PlaceDriverNavigatorCarTimeGrade 2Clubman
1Geoff PortmanRoss RunnallsDatsun 200B2:26:02
2Chris PowerPhil RainerDatsun 16002:29:46
3Chris WallLloyd MinifieDatsun 16002:30:00
4David OfficerKate HobsonGalant2:33:351
5David JonesNoel RichardsLancer2:34:40
6Phil EatherStephen YorkeDatsun 180B2:37:3621
7Gary GrealyBarry CollinsDatsun 16002:37:563
8Mike DunnPeter GodsonDatsun2:40:0442
9Peter GloverTony HatherEscort2:40:4253
10Simon BirrellDi CornishGalant2:41:326
11Gil DavisGraham TonerDatsun 180B2:42:53
12Steve AshtonRo NixonDatsun 16002:43:31
13Graeme WiseMark BrookeDatsun2:45:484
14Jeff MoorheadPeter HadawayDatsun 16002:46:195
15Ian MillerDavid McAdamDatsun2:48:146

Detailed results

Route

In a change from tradition, the 1981 Mountain Rally ran in the Otways. Some details:

Daylight:

  • SS1 was 5km along Hammond Road
  • SS2 was Old Telegraph Road, East Wormbete Creek Road and Paddy Swamp Road
  • SS3 was 11.34 km along Dunse Track and Norman Track
  • SS4 was 7.05 km along Wickham Track
  • SS5 was 6.23 km along Neck Track
  • SS6 was 10.14 km along Goat (Goet?) Track and Cowley Track
  • SS7 was 10.02 km north along Thompson Track
  • SS8 was 9,92 km around Yaugher Plantation
  • SS9 was 7.34 km along Westwood Road
  • SS10 was 5.35 km along Parkes Lodge Track then north along Pipeline Road
  • SS11 was 5.12 km along Westward Track

Night:

  • SS12 was SS11 reversed
  • SS13 was SS10 reversed
  • SS14 was SS9 reversed
  • SS15 was back into Yaugher Plantation
  • SS16 was south along Thompson Track.
  • SS17 was a reverse of SS6
  • SS18 was the reverse of SS5
  • SS19 was 6.92 km (perhaps) a reverse of SS4
  • SS20 back to Pennyroyal
  • SS21 was back along Paddy Swamp Road (maybe reverse of SS2?)
  • SS22 was a repeat of SS1
  • SS23 was 4.35 km along Gum Flat Road
  • SS24 along Bald Hills Road

Other event documents

not available yet