Day 1
The first night took a heavy toll with many retirements. One of the first was Kilfoyle who flipped the Datsun 710 on the second competitive section in the Nerong Forest, a serious blow to the fancied Datsun team. Later in the night the Leyroad BMW left the road. The Watson/Beaumont Renault Alpine retired with electrical problems while fires beset the McLeod/Mortimer 260Z, the Hodgson/Gocentas Escort BDA and the Chivas/Faulker Lancer, the latter being a write-off. Thompson broke the gearbox in his Datsun while the Evans/Mitchell 120Y suffered mechanical problems. Many crews also became bogged for up to an hour on the treacherous middle part of the Barrington Tops section.
At the end of the first night Cowan and Kallstrom were neck and neck with 43 points down, followed by George Fury (Datsun 180B) on 50 points and Mitsubish Team leader Stewart 64, marginally ahead of Kenjiro Shinozuka, also in a Lancer, on 67 and Tatsuo Yaginuma (Toyota Toreno) on 68.
Kallstrom and Bonhomme looked strong on Day 1
Day 2
Datsun were in a seemingly strong position with equal first and third, but Kallstrom/Bonhomme retired early the first competitive stage of the second might with suspension failure. Later in the night a very slippery hill in the Styx Forest caught many crews who then exceeded their late time. Stewart/Johnson also retired, stuck at the bottom of a hill down a wrong road that came up at the correct distance. They shared the hill with the Mecak/McQuick Mazda RX3. Takaoko tore the steering out of the leading Subaru on am uncautioned washaway. Many crews were forced to short-cut during the night, including eventual sixth placegetters, Jackson/Jackson in the XU-1 who had enjoyed a virtually trouble free run until stuck behind other crews on Stage 16.
Robert and Ross Jackson were consistent performers
Only 16 crews remained in the event by the time they returned to Port Macquarie, and of those, only 6 had completed the entire course. Cowan held a commanding lead on 122 points with Ferguson climbing from 9th on the first night to be second on 150, just ahead of Fury on 155, Singh 176, Yaginuma 188 and Ishiguro on 226.
Day 3
From the start of the third night andothe r'start' was made by the Southern Cross Rally. George Fury, with navigator Monty Suffern, fought tooth and nail to chase down the leaders and he became the favourite of the rally followers and the media. Cowan was nevertheless commanding, and won the first long stage around the Horseshoe Road a minute ahead of Fury. Although not competitive, the crossing of the Bellingen River at the Gordonville ford provided plenty of entertainment. There were 6 retirements during the night, including Laing-Peach/Lake in the sole surviving Subaru, with a blown head gasket. Cowan was on 158 and had maintained his lead over Ferguson who was on 194, then Fury 190, Singh 212 and Yaginuma 326. The remaining 5 runners had missed controls - Shinozuka on 538, Kanno 994, Jackson 1291, Iwashita 1874 and Munro 2332.
Fury took the fight up to the leading Lancers
Day 4
Ten starters fronted the final division and of these only seven survived. Kanno retired with a broken diff, Shinozuka fell just short of the 80% of controls and Ferguson had electrical failure on the last special stage. Fury was lucky to reach the finish after hitting a bank near Elands and having skip controls to reach the finish. Jackson was also lucky to finish after getting stuck in a creek without a starter motor, catching fire and also leaving the road on the last special stage.
With all this drama, Cowan seemingly cruised to a magnificent victory, which was in no way diminished by the fact that the win was his for the taking from the moment that Kallstrom retired early on the second night. The other six finishes put in an amazing effort to complete what the media soon dubbed 'the magnificent seven'.
Joginder Singh and Gary Connelly would take their Lancer into second place
