The Castrol International Rally, organised by the Southern Districts Motor Sports Association, was conducted on April 1-2 in the forests around Canberra.

Carr wins from Blomqvist

Greg Carr took his fourth successive Castrol Rally win on the Escort RS1800, this time by almost three minutes from international star, Stig Blomqvist in a Saab 99. The event gained true international status with the arrival of Blomqvist, as well as Mitsuo Ayabe from Japan who finished fifth. Locals fill the other places with Wayne Bell third in the Gemini, Carr’s teammate, Colin Bond in an Escort RS2000, with the up and coming Geoff Portman sixth in the “Grunter” Datsun 1600.

Heavy rain made the first day and much of Saturday extremely treacherous. Carr handled the conditions well, despite a fractured bone in his right hand due to an accident in the Western Australian ARC round. He won every daylight stage on Saturday to open a four minute lead over Blomqvist.

Blomqvist turned up the pace at night and started to match Carr’s times, but could not bridge the gap. But on SS18, Champagne, Carr slid off the road and took a maximum penalty of 6 minutes, while Blomqvist did 2m37s. Carr held a slender 30 second lead after the night division.

Conditions improved a little on Sunday, and saw a tight battle between Carr and Blomqvist, with the Swede taking twelve stage wins to Carr’s four. But on the first run over the Mineshaft stage, the Saab’s battery came lose and they took a 4 minute maximum to Carr’s clean, allowing Carr to back off. But for that problem, Blomqvist may have won, but finished second 2 minutes and 45 seconds adrift.