1987 Australian Rally Championship

This was the first year of the ARC with only PRC/Group A car eligible. It was arguably now a level playing field with no weird points being scored by lowly placegetters!

The year was expected to be dominated by 4WD cars, but Greg Carr surprised many by taking the championship in a rear-wheel drive Alfa GTV. His closest rival was Wayne Bell, arguably the fastest driver to never win the ARC. Bell took two wins to Carr’s one, but lost the title largely as a result of an off at the Queensland round where he scored no points. Across the six rounds here were five different round winners (Bell, Carr, Hill, Edie and Dunkerton) in four different cars (Subaru RX Turbo, Mazda 323, Toyota Corolla Levin and Alfa GTV) showing the success of the move to PRC.

Tom Snooks has provided the full story here.

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

Carr / Gocentas (Alfa GTV6) 1987 BP Visco Alpine

Series Regulations

Events were run under the National Rally Code. All rounds were special stage events timed to the second.

Vehicle eligibility was CAMS PRC – Production Rally Cars and FIA Group A – Touring Cars.

Points were awarded down to tenth: 20-15-12-10-8-6-4-3-2-1, all results to count.

Events

There were six rounds again, the same events as the previous year except for the renaming of the Tasmanian round:

  1. APPM International Rally (Tas)
  2. Forest Rally (WA)
  3. Bega Valley Rally (NSW)
  4. Keema Classic Rally (Qld)
  5. Tile Supplies Rally (SA)
  6. Alpine Rally (Vic)

Pointscores

Drivers Pointscores

PlaceDriverStateTasWABegaQldSAAlpineTotal
1Greg CarrACT10151220121584
2Wayne BellNSW20121520875
3Ed OrdynskiSA1210151047
4Ian HillNSW8122040
5David EadieNSW62026
6David OfficerVic15823
7Mark TolcherSA101222
8Ross DunkertonWA2020
9Jim MiddletonNSW38617
0Graham AlexanderVic136616
11Murray CooteQld1515
12=Rob HerridgeWA1010
12=Adrian TaylorQld1010
14=Geoff KeysQld88
14=Allan MuttonSA88
16Mick BaldwinNSW437
17=Tony FloodWA66
17=Geoff MaguireVic66
17=Tom CumpstonQld426
20=Mark TaylorNSW44
20=Frank JohnsonWA44
20=Jon WaterhouseACT44
20=Wayne TaylorVic224
20=Pat BarberVic44
25=Bruce RobertsonVic213
25=Chris JudsonNSW33
25=Steve WinwoodSA33
25=Peter JohnsonQld33
29=Jim MardenWA22
29=Reg CarterNSW22
31David SherryWA11

Navigators Pointscores

PlaceCo-DriverStateTasWABegaQldSAAlpineTotal
1Fred GocentasACT151220121574
2Dave BoddyNSW121520855
3Phil BonserNSW8122040
4Kate OfficerVic15823
5=Greg PreeceSA121022
5=David TolcherSA101222
7=Peter ClarkNSW2020
7=Mick HarkerACT101020
7=Steve McKimmieWA2020
7=Chris ShearerNSW2020
11Dale PayneNSW38617
12David StewartVic136616
13=Iain StewartQld1515
13=Jeremy BrowneSA1515
15=Steve VanderbylWA1010
15=David AmbroseQld1010
17=Robert CarterQld88
17=Brenton ThorndikeSA88
19S. SimmonsNSW437
20=Geoff JonesNSW66
20=Martin MorrisWA66
20=Patrick CaseyVic66
23=Coral TaylorNSW44
23=Greg FloodWA44
23=Ross WittyACT44
23=Mark LaidlayVic224
23=Dennis BakerVic44
23=Tom GarveyQld44
29=David SinclairNSW33
29=Rod WinfieldSA33
29=Tom SmithQld33
32=Ian EndersVic22
32=Ken JaffeyWA22
32=Tony BestQld22
32=Bob ReesNSW22
36=Robert MattanbonjWA11
36=Chris RobsonVic11