The Alpine Rally, organised by the Light Car Club of Australia, was held on November 21-22. The event was sponsored by BP and directed by Stuart Lister. For the first time in many years the Alpine was not based around Bright. A sponsorship arrangement with the Lake Hume Resort saw the event move to Albury. Another first was that the Alpine would be both a round of the ARC and the VRC, although the VRC crews would only do 75% of the route.
Australian Rally Championship Round 6
Victorian Rally Championship Round 5
The ARC was still hanging in the balance with the Alpine as the final round., with just two points separating Greg Carr in the Alfa and Wayne Bell in the Mazda Familia. Both drivers had used two different navigators and that title was all but assured to go to Fred Gocentas. But on the Alpine Carr had suspension dramas and Bell had an off, allowing Ian Hill and Phil Bonsar to take the win. Both Carr and Bell managed to continue finishing second and fifth respectively, with Carr taking the championship.
In the VRC the situation was just as tight with Portman/Gale in the Group G Datsun 1600 battling Gambold and Gould in the PRC Toyota. Because of the dual Group G/PRC points system, Portman had to win, and they did, taking the championship by just 4 points.
