Day One
Starting in Sydney, the 2500 mile course headed over the Blue Mountains via Bell and Hampton to Crookwell. Special stages around the Wyangala Dam and Boorowa began to eliminate many runners, and even the celebrated visitors were in trouble with their cars' rigid suspensions on the rough roads. Despite the challenges, a dozen crews were clean by the first stopover at Wagga Wagga.
Reg Lunn and Geoff Thomas in their Holden X2
Day Two
Dust laden roads on the run southwards added heavy penalties, but the carnival atmosphere of a special loop stage near Tumbarumba restored everyone's spirits as thousands of the town's population turned out to watch impromptu "drags" and "wheelies" in their main street, while beaming police and council officials looked on. More special stages just over the border have become immortalised as the "Bethanga Stampede" - a cluster of loops emanating from a single control in town (see here). The leaders were now well established with the VW of Barry Ferguson and Tony Denham on 40 points, a comfortable 9 points ahead of the Firth/Hoinville Cortina with just one point over team mates Frank Kilfoyle/Bob Forsyth on 50. A hectic run through Myrtleford, Mansfield and Warburton took the field to Melbourne's Olympic Park, but all the leaders were clean. The Holden of Bob Watson/Jim McAuliffe reportedly suffered engine failure near Wangaratta. Firth had been running on three cylinders since Albury and needed to change a cam follower, which they did in Melbourne in 42 minutes (see the full story here), maintaining their second place. In fourth behind Kilfoyle was team mate Vaughan on 52, the Garard Holden on 53, Evan Green the first of the Minis on 54, then Hodgson and Winkless 61, Lunn 63 and Drane 65.
Max Winkless and A. Smith in their Volvo 122S
Day Three
The return journey to Sydney began with a high speed run through eastern Victoria, although special stages were not allowed. Here Aaltonen and Hopkirk really showed their form. They were the only ones to clean the section through the Bunyip Forest. The Gormandale section in South Gippsland took a lot of points off crews with Aaltonen down 6, Hopkirk 6 then Firth and Green on 7. The demanding 164 km run up the Barry Way to Jindabyne was cleaned by the leaders. The remaining special stage of the night was north of Cooma but was familiar to many crews. The leaders were on time. By Canberra, Ferguson was on 57 points, still in the lead but their lead was cut to just 2 minutes ahead of Firth. Then came Kilfoyle on 60 and Vaughan on 63. Tired cars were feeling the strain - Evan Green and John Keeffe (Mini Cooper S) were steadily dropping back while the Holden HR of Tony Roberts and Peter Haas was beset with wheel bearing troubles.
Rauno Aaltonen and Roy Denny in the BMC Mini Cooper
Day Four
The pace was on in the fourth night from Canberra to Sydney, with 5 special stages. Hopkirk was quickest on the first, dropping only 1 point (10 or 15 seconds) on the 86 km run up to Craven. Closest to him was Firth on 5 points, then Green and Garard on 8 points. Firth was now in the lead perhaps by only a point. Several straightforward sections followed, taking crews generally eastwards, but on the section before the meal break at Collector, Ferguson was out. The VW, steering upset by a blown tyre, left the road on a surprise corner and crashed into a tree. Victory was now Firth's to lose, with his closest rival being Garard was was handling his Holden beautifully. Aaltonen also retired at Collector with a blown head gasket. Kilfoyle struck problems on the 74 km special stage across to Marlowe, blowing a tyre in a deep river crossing and dropping 34 points (depending on the timing this could have been between 6 and 9 minutes) and dropping to fifth. The Araluen loop south of Braidwood was a driver's delight with Hopkirk quickest on 17 points (3 or 4 minutes late), then Firth and Garard, both on 20 and Geoff Russell on 24. The special stage up the west side of the Budawangs saw Firth and Kilfoyle equal quickest on 42 points (7 to 10 minutes late). The final special at Kangaroo Valley was tough on brakes but the positions were now pretty much settled - or were they? Unknown to many, the Firth Cortina was struggling and desperately needed oil, which they managed to get off a control official (see the full story here). The final sections were straightforward for the leaders, even though there was some dramas at a deep ford south of Robertson.
Roselands Finish
