The Alpine Rally of East Gippsland, organised by the Historic Rally Association and directed by Stuart Lister, was held on November 25-27.

Portman’s sixth victory 

The popularity of the Alpine as Australia’s premier rally for classic cars was confirmed with a bumper entry and 112 starters. Stuart Lister had made some wholesale changes to the route, including dropping the tarmac stage, but adding several new stages close to Cann River. The weather was unkind, with heavy rain causing several Saturday stages to be cancelled to the north of Orbost and two Sunday stages cancelled north of Nowa Nowa. Quite a few other stages were interrupted by cars blocking the road, and in one case a large fallen tree. 

Despite the dramas, the event was considered a great success. Many crews found the conditions challenging, to say the least. There were a lot of excursions off the road in the slippery conditions. Nevertheless, 74 cars were crediting with completing all stages.

Geoff Portman and Ross Runnalls were in an ideal car, a Grant Walker prepared and sponsored Escort RS1800. It was no surprise that they won by more than two minutes, with Portman equalling Greg Carr’s record of six Alpine wins. The Datsun 1600s of Paul Batten/Glen Raymond and Wayne Hoy/Lisa Dunkerton completed the podium with several minutes between them. Jeff David and Grant Geelan brought the Porsche home fourth only 33 seconds off third.