1992 Victorian Rally Championship

The 1992 VRC was won by Peter Fyfe and Gerry Bashford in a Nissan Pulsar GTI-R. They didn’t start well, only pacing tenth on the Begonia. On the other hand, Graham Alexander and David Stewart won the Begonia and the Alpine, taking a solid lead. But misfortune saw them fail to finish the remaining heats. Even going into the final round, Alexander and Stewart could still win the championship (40 points to the 51 of Fyfe and Bashford) but a kangaroo had other ideas after they collected it and failed to finish.

The Novice award went to Greg Plumridge and Roger Virgo in a Toyota Corolla GT.

To see what else happened during 1992 in Victorian rallying, go to the 1992 year page.

To see other years of the Victorian Rally Championship, go to the VRC page.

Need photos notice

Series Regulations

These were specified in the VRC Standing Regulation but we don’t have a copy.

The VRC was made up exclusively of Special Stage events. Navigators were re-named co-drivers from this year! 

Eligible vehicles were PRC and Group N.

Awards were made for outright champions and Novice. There were also car class awards as follows: PRC 2WD up to 1300cc, PRC 2WD 1301-1600cc, PRC 2WD 1601-2000cc, PRC 2WD over 2000cc, PRC 4WD, Group N 2WD under 1600cc, Group N 2WD over 1600cc, Group N 4WD.

Outright and Novice points were allocated 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1 for first to tenth. Class points were allocated 9-6-4-3-2-1. With five events, competitors counted their best four results. It appears Novice grading was based only on the driver, but it was not clear whether a non-Novice co-driver with a Novice driver would be eligible for the Novice co-driver award.

It appears that Series Registration was introduced this year (Standing Regulation 17?). This has made is difficult to reconstruct the points tables! Using Unicar as a guide, it appears that where both crewmembers were ineligible for points, their placing was disregarded and the points directed to the next placed crew. But where only one of the crewmembers was registered, they received the points but the points for their unregistered crewmember were simply dropped. All this confusion seemingly resulted in series registration being dropped for the following year.

Events

The VRC  comprised five events. The second round, the Alpine, was also an ARC round but the VRC events was a subset of the ARC event. With the demise of the Light Car Club, the Blue Ribbon Rally was cancelled, but then resurrected by BAC, but then seemingly cancelled.

Click on each event to see further details, including results:

  1. Begonia (BLCC)
  2. Alpine (Simon Brown!)
  3. Akademos (MUCC)
  4. North Eastern (NECC) 
  5. Rising Sun (NCCA)

Outright Pointscores

Outright Drivers Pointscores

PlaceDriverR1R2R3R4R5Total
1Peter Fyfe11515201566 (65)
2Graham Alexander202040
3Graeme Gambold612826
4Neil Cuthbert121224
5Mark Miller1101223
6Nigel Letty61521
7=David Officer2020
7=Glen Cuthbert2020
9Gary Kendrick81018
10=Graeme Wise10616
10=Andrew Murdoch410216
12Allan Johnson1515
13=Pat Barber41014
13=Rob Devenish236314
15=Bruce Robertson3811
15=Alan Friend8311
17Greg Hoinville3249
18Dean Nixon88
19Andrew Vibert66
20=Rob Thomas44
20=David Greig44
22=Mark Rodgers22
22=Paul Mahoney112
24=Chris Neilsen21
24=Peter Whitten11

Outright Co-Drivers Pointscores

PlaceCo-driverR1R2R3R4R5Total
1Gerry Bashford11515201566 (65)
2David Stewart202040
3Jim Maude151227
4Chris Randell612826
5Darryl Adams121224
6Greg Plant1101222
7Stephen Young61521
8David McKenzie2020
9Ron Gottschalk81018
10Helen Wylie10616
11=Geoff Floyd41014
11=Peter Auld236314
13Robin Smalley323412
14Ian Enders3811
15=Marlene Nixon88
15=Horton Poulter88
17David Vears66
18Michael Cairns145
19Rob Beekman44
20=Deanne Westcombe22
20=David Haddon22
20=Chris Walter112

Novice Pointscores

The combination of Series Registration and incomplete results has not allowed us to reconstruct points tables for the Novice Award. The following are taken from December Unicar.

Novice Drivers Pointscores

  1. Greg Plumridge 75
  2. Ian Lightfoot 85 but 70 with one result dropped
  3. Tony Cunningham 22

Novice Co-drivers Pointscores

  1. Roger Virgo 70
  2. Graeme Palmer 77 but 65 with one result dropped, but perhaps was not Novice so no points!
  3. Malcolm Hobrough 55
  4. Brendan Clough 36

Class Awards

PRC 2WD under 1300cc: David Bamford / Rick Bamford, Datsun 1200 Coupe

PRC 2WD 1300-1600cc: Mark Miller / Greg Plant, Ford Escort 1600

PRC 2WD 1600-2000cc: Greg Hoinville / Robin Smalley, Ford Escort RS2000

PRC 2WD over 2000cc: Rob Devenish / Peter Auld, Datsun 260Z

PRC 4WD: Graham Alexander / David Stewart, Mitsubishi Galant VR4

Group N 2WD under 1600cc: Ian Douglas, Suzuki Swift GTI, equal co-drivers Malcolm Hobrough and Marlene Nixon

Group N over 1600cc: Not awarded

Group N 4WD: Peter Fyfe / Gerry Bashford, Nissan Pulsar GTI-R