This was the third year of the transition of the ARC away from Group G. In terms of the transition, it was a success with significantly more PRC cars running, predominantly Subaru RX Turbos, but also Toyota Corallas, Nissan Pulsars and Mazda 323s. The era of the 4WD was emerging at last. And, for the first time, PRC cars won two of the rounds in the hands of Ross Dunkerton (a Subaru) and Murray Coote (a Mazda 323).
But the year was seemingly dominated by fast Victorian High Bell in his Mazda RX7 (with Pedders sponsorship), winning three rounds. But strangely, the “drop your worst result” rule was dropped with all points counting. Bell and co-driver Steve Ellis did not go to the West, and had offs in Queensland and South Australia resulting in low points hauls. They almost won the championship! The year also saw a breakthrough win for another Victorian, Brian Smith with David McKenzie in a Mitsubishi Sigma.
But it was Barry Lowe and Kevin Pedder in a PRC Subaru RX Turbo (also with Pedders sponsorship) who took out the title by a mere 3 points, despite their best outright placing was third in their home event in South Australia (they were initially shown as winning the event but were penalised two minutes and relegated to third as a result of a jump-start). If they had been forced to drop their worst result in WA, Bell and Ellis would have won the title by a single point.
Tom Snooks has provided the full story here.
To see other years of the Australian Rally Championship go to the ARC series page.
