SOUTHERN CROSS INTERNATIONAL RALLY
Sydney - Port Macquarie, OCTOBER 1980
Finnish flyer Ari Vatanen was the next world-renowned international to fall to the Australian Datsun Team onslaught as four-times Australian Champion Ross Dunkerton took his Stanza to a close but convincing victory over his Ford Escort rival Greg Carr. Dunkerton took the lead on the final night, when team mate George Fury, on a hat trick and leading comfortably, lost the engine of his Stanza.
It was a low budget “Southern Cross" this year, being organised by the CAMS when staff and financial difficulties beset the A.S.C.C. Thus the only international visitors were Vatanen in a Ford Team Escort and from Japan, Takima (Datsun 1808) and Nakamoto (Datsun Sunny).
Greg Carr (Escort) took an early lead at Amaroo, but Vatanen hit his straps in the forest and cleared away from the new Datsun Team member, Geoff Portman, Dunkerton, Fury and Bell (Gemini), while Carr dropped back with a puncture and damaged brakes. Vatanen hit a tree, but still led into Port, while Bell dropped back some twenty places with a broken ignition lead. Drama struck the Escorts in the second division when Carr broke a fanbelt and Vatanen’s alternator failed. Portman hit the front from Fury and Dunkerton, with Carr fourth and Vatanen, whose car caught fire when the exhaust pipe was pressed against the floor, now back to fifth.
Portman led away on the third leg, but in the third special stage his Datsun flew off the edge, wrecking the front suspension, costing him 30 minutes as he made emergency repairs. Both Carr and Vatanen left the road too, and though they stayed third and fourth - in front of Ian Hill (Escort) now fifth and Portman sixth - Fury and Dunkerton were clearing further away in the lead. Early in the final division, Carr hit a bank in his bid to catch up to the leaders, but continued on, with a front wheel badly askew, Fury’s engine let go soon after, leaving Dunkerton well out in front to cruise home. Then, an electrical fault and a sticking throttle slowed the Datsun, and Dunkerton drove 15 km on the ignition switch while Carr was closing the gap to be just 3 minutes behind at the finish.
Results of all finishers (times are cumulative minutes and seconds):
1st: Nissan Motor Australia: Ross Dunkerton / Jeff Beaumont, Datsun Stanza, 836.262nd: Ford Motor Co.: Greg Carr / Fred Gocentas, Ford Escort RS1800, 839.26
3rd: Ford Motor Co.: Ari Vatanen / Dave Richards, Ford Escort RS1800, 863.29
4th: Gosford Dynotune: Ian Hill / Anne Heaney, Ford Escort RS1800, 898.52
5th: Kambrook Distributors: David Jones / Ian Pearson, Holden Commodore, 933.22
6th: Frank Johnson / Steve Vanderbyl, Mazda 323, 936.33
7th: John Bearne / David Peiti, Ford Escort RS 2000, 950.07
8th: Race & Rally: Gordon Leven / Robert Wilson, Datsun SSS, 964.34
9th: Graham Clark / Arthur Davis, Datsun 180B, 974.43
10th: Apex Batteries: Gary Meehan / Greg Gifford, Toyota Celica, 977.36
11th: Gary Mecak / Ron Marks, Mazda 323, 984.27
12th: Max Roberts / Tony Carroll, Datsun Stanza, 997.30
13th: Nobuhiro Tajima / Kiyoshi Kawamura, Datsun, 1004.24
14th: Wayne Pritcahrd / Garry Pritchard, Ford Escort, 1012.01
15th: Alan McLucas / Derek Hunter, Datsun 1600, 1025.35
16th: Peter Nelson / Grahame Moule, Datsun, 1034.16
17th: Col Parry / Philip Speer, Holden Commodore, 1038.26
18th: Hank Kable / Gary Kable, Mazda 323, 1051.07
19th: Whalebone Wharf: Dan White / Steve Griffiths, Ford Escort RS2000, 1071.29
20th: John Murray / Jeff D'Albora, Holden Commodore, 1072.04
21st: Stephen Annabel / Fran Fifield, Mazda RX3, 1076.45
22nd: George Kahler / Greg Weale, Mazda RX7, 1134.25
23rd: Takashi Yufune / Yukiaki Aida, Datsun Sunny, 1177.56
24th: George Rugg / ??, Mitsubishi Galant, 1207.45
Privateer Award: Ian Hill / Anne Heaney, Ford Escort RS1800
Teams Award: Commodores - David Jones, J. Murray & Col Parry
Manufacturers Award: Datsun
Ladies Award: Ann Heaney
Group 1: A. McLucas / D. Hunter, Datsun
Group 2: N. Tajima / K. Kawamura, Datsun
Group 3: Ross Dunkerton / Jeff Beaumont, Datsun Stanza
More details:
Some videos from 1980:
