The Akademos, organised by the Melbourne University Car Club, was held on November 16.
1985 ARC Round 6 / VRC Round 7 – MUCC Akademos Rally
The Akademos was to be held on its traditional May date as a VRC round but weather forced director, Michael Morrissey, to postpone the event to November. It was fortuitous as with the demise of the Alpine, the Akademos was promoted to also be the final round of the 1985 Australian Rally Championship.
Despite the postponement, heavy rain in the lead up to the event created an organisational nightmare with considerable re-routing and cancellation of stages. In the end, only the Saturday stages ran and the event was only comprised 106 competitive kilometres. The Director’s reflection on the event can be read in November Unicar.
Both championships hung in the balance. In the ARC Barry Lowe and Kevin Peddar headed Hugh Bell and Steve Ellis by four points. Bell beat Lowe home by over a minute but the second place was sufficient to give Lowe the national title.
In the VRC, Smith and Birrell held a slender one point lead over Jones and Curtain, with both Harris/Oliver and Horan/Wiseman mathematically able to take the championship. The Smith/Birrell Sigma finished sixth outright and third VRC to beat Jones/Curtain by one place and take the state title by just a couple of points.
