1976 Australian Rally Championship

Table of Contents

Series Regulations
Events
Pointscores

In terms of the championship, it was a pretty dominant performance by Ross Dunkerton and Jeff Beaumont, in their Datsun 260Z, taking four wins and a second place. They were challenged early in the season by Dean Rainsford and Graham West in their Porsche, who lead the series at the mid-point, but their challenge faded in the second half of the year with mechanical failures and an off.

But the other part of this year’s story was the rise of George Fury in an FIA Group 2 Datsun 710 who won the final three rounds, but was ineligible for ARC points. This was becoming an untenable situation for the series which would be addressed the following year.

Nissan won the Manufacturers Award.

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.

Vehicle eligibility was CAMS Group C – Australian Touring Cars, with additional requirements as per the NRC and state addenda. In several events winners or significant placegetters were not eligible for ARC points. These were generally FIA Group 2 cars imported for the Southern Cross, as well as heavily modified CAMS Group G cars.

Points were awarded down to sixth: 9-6-4-3-2-1, probably all results to count.

Events

The series was planned to have seven rounds, but the opening round, the Mazda House Rally, was postponed due to weather and ultimately cancelled, leaving six rounds. The WA event was renamed and with new personnel turned out to be somewhat unsatisfactory. A new SA round ran further north in the Flinders Ranges but was not well supported. The Akademos also had new personnel and was dropped back to a state heat, while the Alpine decided to go international, with the Marchal Rallye and North Eastern Rally each stepping up and providing excellent Victorian rounds. All events were now navigationally straightforward.

Commonwealth Bank Rally (WA)
SEV Marchal Rallye (Vic)
Bega Valley Rally (NSW)
Rally Renault (SA)
North Eastern Rally (Vic)
Lutwyche Village Warana Rally (Qld)

Pointscores

Drivers Pointscores

Place	Driver	State	WA	Marchal	Bega	SA	NE	Warana	Total
1	Ross Dunkerton	WA		9	9	9	9	6	42
2	Dean Rainsford	SA	9	6	6				21
3	David Jones	Vic		2	3	6	4	2	17
4	Danny Bignell	WA?	6			3½			9½
5	Murray Coote	Qld						9	9
6=	Hank Kabel	Qld	3					4	7
6=	Evan Green	NSW		1			6		7
8=	Terry Mann	WA	4						4
8=	Greg Carr	ACT		4					4
8=	Adrian Taylor	Qld			4				4
8=	Ed Mulligan	NSW			2		2		4
12	Dieter Thumm	SA				3½			3½
13=	John Coleman	Vic		3					3
13=	Garry Harrowfield	Vic					3		3
13=	Ron Marks	NSW						3	3
16=	Terry O’Sullivan	WA?	2						2
16=	Frank Johnson	WA				2			2
18=	John Odgers	WA?	1						1
18=	Lindee Anderson	NSW			1				1
18=	Elizabeth Sandery	SA				1			1
18=	John White	Vic					1		1
18=	Jim Reddiex	Qld						1	1

Navigators Pointscores

Place	Navigator	State	WA	Marchal	Bega	SA	NE	Warana	Total
1	Jeff Beaumont	Vic		9	9	9	9	6	42
2	Graham West	SA	9	6	6				21
3	Ian Person	Vic		2	3	6	4	2	17
4	Brian Marsden	Qld						9	9
5=	Simon Kabel	Qld	3					4	7
5=	John Bryson	NSW		1			6		7
7	Peter Bainbridge	WA?	6						6
8=	Peter Jordan	WA?	4						4
8=	Wayne Gregson	ACT		4					4
8=	John Souminen	Qld			4				4
8=	Fred Gocentas	ACT			2		2		4
12=	Barry Walmsley	SA				3½			3½
12=	Brian Bousfield	WA?				3½			3½
14=	Bernard Peasley	Vic		3					3
14=	Geoff O’Donnell	Vic					3		3
14=	Graham Gillies	NSW						3	3
17=	Terry Wood	WA?	2						2
17=	Brian Clark	WA?				2			2
19=	Lee Brailsford	WA?	1						1
19=	Sinja Kable-Cumming	NSW			1				1
19=	John Seith	SA?				1			1
19=	Ronn Jay	Vic					1		1
19=	Greg Sked	Qld						1	1