1970 Australian Rally Championship

Table of Contents

Series Regulations
Events
Pointscores

The withdrawal of the Ford factory team from rallying left the door wide open for the new Renault team to dominate this year’s ARC. And dominate they did, with Watson and McAuliffe winning four out of the five rounds and Renault taking the Manufacturers Championship. Their main rivals should have been Harry Firth’s Holden Dealer Team with Tony Roberts and Barry Ferguson in Toranas, and Colin Bond in the Monaro. A variety of problems beset the HDT, but Bond scored well in the second half of the season to claim second place in the championship.

Tom Snooks has provided the full story here.

To see other years of the Australian Rally Championship go to the ARC series page.

Series Regulations

Events were run under the National Rally Code. Several of the event had difficult navigation.

Vehicle eligibility was CAMS Group C – Australian Touring Cars, with additional requirements as per the NRC and state addenda.

Points were awarded down to sixth: 9-6-4-3-2-1, with the best four out of five results to count.

A Manufacturers Award continued.

Events

There were only five events in the series this year, with the Alpine dropped, two new rounds in Victoria. and a different event in SA. The Snowy and Warana Rallies were the only ones providing some continuity.

Eureka Rally (Vic)
Blue Ribbon Rally (Vic)
Snowy Rally (NSW)
Cambridge Toyota 500 (SA)
Warana Rally (Qld)

Pointscores

Drivers Pointscores

Place	Driver	State	Eureka	Blue/Rib	Snowy	SA	Warana	Total
1	Bob Watson	Vic	9	9	9	6	9	42(36)
2	Colin Bond	NSW			6	4	6	16
3	Mal McPherson	Vic	4	2½	1	1	4	12½(11½)
4	Tony Roberts	Vic	2½	4		3		9½
5	Stewart McLeod	SA				9		9
6	Peter Robertson	Vic	2½	6				8½
7=	Rex Lunn	Vic	6					6
7=	Bruce Collier	NSW		1	3	2		6
9	Max Winkless	NSW			4			4
10	Roger Brameld	Qld					3	3
11	Colin Wilson	Vic		2½				2½
12=	Peter Houghton	NSW			2			2
12=	Brian Michelmore	Qld					2	2
14=	David Cuthbert	Vic	1					1
14=	Ron Daniels	Qld					1	1

Navigators Pointscores

Place	Navigator	State	Eureka	Blue/Rib	Snowy	SA	Warana	Total
1	Jim McAuliffe	Vic	9	9	9	6	9	42(36)
2	Robin Sharpley	Vic	4	2½	1	1	4	12½(11½)
3	Brian Hope	NSW			6	4		10
4	Mike Osborne	Vic	2½	4		3		9½
5	Jack Lock	SA				9		9
6	Roger Bonhomme	Vic	2½	6				8½
7=	John Hall	Vic	6					6
7=	Peter Haas	NSW		1	3	2		6
7=	George Shepheard	NSW					6	6
10	Peter Meyer	NSW			4			4
11	Gerry Brameld	Qld					3	3
12	Tony Wunderlich	Vic		2½				2½
13=	Mick Neilsen	NSW			2			2
13=	Greg Sked	Qld					2	2
15=	Andy Chapman	Vic	1					1
15=	Roy Spillane	Qld					1	1