Highlights
This year Victorian rallies moved under the auspices of the newly formed Confederation of Australian Motor Sport, having previously been loosely administered by the RACV under the auspices of the Australian Automobile Association.
A growing number of car clubs were now active in rallying and conducting many events. A new club formed in 1953 was the North Eastern Car Club which would be active in rallying for many decades.
A new major Victorian event was the Sun Rally, conduced in April. It would evolve into the long running BP Rally.
A big boost to rallying was the first REDeX Round Australia Trial which came through Victoria in mid September.
Below we have presented some events for which we have information. No doubt there were many more events than are listed here.
Major Events
The first Sun Rally was held in April, directed by Maurie Monk and Donald Thomson. The 4 day event traversed almost every part of Victoria. It was won by Lex Davison and Peter Ward in a Holden.
The first REDeX Round Australia Trial was held in August-September and was won by Ken Tubman and John Marshall in a Peugeot 203. This was a “half” round Australia, not going to WA, and passed through Victoria with a stopover in Melbourne enroute to the finish in Sydney.
