1980 Australian Rally Championship

The 1980 Australian Rally Championship was a series of five rallying events held across Australia. It was the 13th season in the history of the competition.

George Fury and navigator Monty Suffern in the Datsun Stanza won the 1980 Championship.

Season review

The 13th Australian Rally Championship was held over five events across Australia, the season consisting of one event each for New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.[1] The 1980 season saw the Datsun Stanzas dominate the competition, taking out first, third and fourth places in the championship. It was the fifth championship for Datsun in six years, with wins in all five rounds. Colin Bond and John Dawson-Damer put up some opposition in their Ford Escort RS1800 but it was Datsun's and in particular Fury's year.

The Rallies

Colin Bond placed second in the Drivers Championship with this Ford Escort RS1800

The five events of the 1980 season were as follows.[2][3]

Round Rally Date
1 Rally of the West (WA) 5–6 April 1980
2 Lutwyche Village Rally (QLD) 3/4 May 1980
3 Akademos Rally (VIC) 24/25 May 1980
4 Bega Valley Rally (NSW) 14–16 June 1980
5 Donlee Rally (SA) 19/20 July 1980

Round One – Commonwealth Bank Rally of the West

Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 271:22
2 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS1800 275:54
3 Clive Slater Ray Stubbs Toyota Corolla TE27 292:14
4 Tony Masling Hope Datsun Stanza 307:47
5 Peter Flood John Robinson Holden Gemini 311:42
6 Frank Johnson Steve Vanderbyl Mazda RX4 321:55
7 Chris Hake Vicky Hake Datsun 1600 322:24
8 Adrian Stafford Roger Forestier Mitsubishi Galant 326:40

Round Two – Lutwyche Village Rally

Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 236.54
2 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS1800 238.19
3 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 239.36
4 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS1800 244.22
5 Wayne Bell Dave Boddy Holden Gemini Turbo 248.12
6 Ed Mulligan C Heaney Ford Escort RS1800 250.22
7 Murray Coote Brian Marsden Ford Escort RS2000 254.43
8 Ray Vandersee Ian Young Datsun 120Y 269.12
9 Barry Ferguson Steve Owers Holden Gemini TC 269.49
10 Lisle Neumann P Young Datsun 1600 299.45

Round Three – Akademos Rally

Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 48.47
2 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS1800 55.49
3 Greg Carr Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS1800 62.43
4 Barry Ferguson Steve Owers Holden Gemini TC 66.42
5 Chris Brown Paul Patterson Datsun 1600 67.53
6 Hugh Bell Damian O'Reilly Datsun 1600 71.16

Round Four – Bega Valley Rally

Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 6:19.43
2 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS1800 6:20.20
3 Ross Dunkerton Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 6:20.56
4 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun Stanza 6:31.25
5 Barry Ferguson Steve Owers Holden Gemini TC 7:08.52
6 Peter Nelson Graham Moule Datsun 1600 7:16.47
7 G Clarke A Davis Datsun 180B SSS 7:17.36
8 B Clarke Mal Sinfield Datsun 180B SSS 7:18.43
9 P Eather S Yorke Datsun 180B SSS 7:20.28
10 D Balmain B Woolcott Mitsubishi Lancer 7:21.02


Round Five – Donlee Rally

Position Driver Navigator Car Time
1 Geoff Portman Ross Runnalls Datsun Stanza 5:53.47
2 Colin Bond John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS1800 6:01.07
3 George Fury Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 6:05.29
4 Barry Burns Dave Milne Datsun 1600 6:36.45
5 Brenton Udy Mike Ball Renault 12 6:42.29
6 John Atkinson Jeff Small Ford Escort RS2000 7:16.47

1980 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1980 is as follows.[4][5]

George Fury – Champion Driver 1980

Position Driver Car Points
1 George Fury Datsun Stanza 31
2 Colin Bond Ford Escort RS1800 27
3 Ross Dunkerton Datsun Stanza 17
4 Geoff Portman Datsun Stanza 12
5 Greg Carr Ford Escort RS1800 10
6 Barry Ferguson Holden Gemini TC 5

Monty Suffern – Champion Navigator 1980

Position Navigator Car Points
1 Monty Suffern Datsun Stanza 31
2 John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS1800 27
3 Jeff Beaumont Datsun Stanza 17
4 Ross Runnalls Datsun Stanza 12
5 Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS1800 10
6 Steve Owers Holden Gemini TC 5

References

  1. "Bega Valley Rally". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  2. Racing Car News, June 1980
  3. Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1980/81
  4. "Bega Valley Rally". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
  5. Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1980/81
  • Results of Snowy Mountains Rally and ARC results.
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