1978 Australian Rally Championship

The 1978 Australian Rally Championship was a series of six rallying events held across Australia. It was the eleventh season in the history of the competition.

Greg Carr and navigator Fred Gocentas in the Ford Escort RS1800 won the 1978 Championship, finally breaking the dominance of the Datsuns for the past three years.

Season review

The eleventh Australian Rally Championship was held over six events across Australia, the season consisting of two events for New South Wales and one event each for Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.[1] The 1978 season was again a closely fought battle which resulted in a tie at the finish of the last event of the season between the Datsun of Dunkerton and the Escort of Carr. However the championship was awarded to Carr on a countback as he had three wins to Dunkerton's one.

The Rallies

The six events of the 1978 season were as follows.

Round Rally Date
1 Rally of the West (WA)
2 Lutwyche Village Rally (QLD)
3 Donlee Rally (NSW)
4 Bega Valley Rally (NSW)
5 Endrust Forest Rally (SA)
6 Marchal Rally (VIC)

Round Four – Bega Valley Rally
Position Driver Navigator Car Points
1 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS1800 40
2 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun 710 Coupe 42
3 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS2000 54
4 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun 1600 60
5 Murray Coote Brain Marsden Datsun 120Y 61
6 Ed Mulligan M. Rebecchi Datsun 1600 74

1978 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1978 is as follows.[2]

Greg Carr – Champion Driver 1978
Position Driver Car Points
1 Greg Carr Ford Escort RS1800
2 Ross Dunkerton Datsun 710 Coupe
3 Colin Bond
4 George Fury
5 Clive Slater
6 Geoff Portman Datsun 1600

John Dawson-Damer – Champion Navigator 1978
Position Navigator Car Points
1 John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS2000
2 Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS1800
3 Jeff Beaumont Datsun 710 Coupe
4 Monty Suffern
5 Steve Halloran
6 Ross Runnalls

References
  1. "Bega Valley Rally". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  2. "Bega Valley Rally". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  • Results of Snowy Mountains Rally and ARC results.


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