1978 Australian Rally Championship

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1978 Australian Rally Championship
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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.

Australian Rally Championship

The Australian Rally Championship (ARC) is Australia's leading off-road motor rally competition. A multi-event national championship has been held each year since 1968.

Rallying form of motorsport where modified or specially built road-legal compete not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format

Rally is a form of motorsport that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars. It is distinguished by running not on a circuit, but instead in a point-to-point format in which participants and their co-drivers drive between set control points, leaving at regular intervals from one or more start points. Rallies may be won by pure speed within the stages or alternatively by driving to a predetermined ideal journey time within the stages.

Contents

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.

Greg Carr is an Australian former rally driver. Carr won the Australian Rally Championship three times and dominated the prestigious Castrol International Rally in the 1970s as well as winning numerous other rallies.

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 West 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.

New South Wales State of Australia

New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Tasman Sea to the east. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state. New South Wales' state capital is Sydney, which is also Australia's most populous city. In March 2019, the population of New South Wales was over 8 million, making it Australia's most populous state. Just under two-thirds of the state's population, 5.1 million, live in the Greater Sydney area. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen.

Victoria (Australia) State in Australia

Victoria is a state in south-eastern Australia. Victoria is Australia's smallest mainland state and its second-most populous state overall, making it the most densely populated state overall. Most of its population lives concentrated in the area surrounding Port Phillip Bay, which includes the metropolitan area of its state capital and largest city, Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city. Victoria is bordered by Bass Strait and Tasmania to the south, New South Wales to the north, the Tasman Sea, to the east, and South Australia to the west.

Queensland North-east state of Australia

Queensland is the second-largest and third-most populous state in the Commonwealth of Australia. Situated in the north-east of the country, it is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean. To its north is the Torres Strait, with Papua New Guinea located less than 200 km across it from the mainland. The state is the world's sixth-largest sub-national entity, with an area of 1,852,642 square kilometres (715,309 sq mi).

The Rallies

The six events of the 1978 season were as follows.

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

Round Four – Bega Valley Rally

PositionDriverNavigatorCarPoints
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
4Geoff PortmanRoss Runnalls Datsun 1600 60
5Murray CooteBrain Marsden Datsun 120Y 61
6Ed MulliganM. Rebecchi Datsun 1600 74

1978 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1978 is as follows. [2]

Greg Carr – Champion Driver 1978

PositionDriverCarPoints
1 Greg Carr Ford Escort RS1800
2 Ross Dunkerton Datsun 710 Coupe
3 Colin Bond
4 George Fury
5Clive Slater
6Geoff Portman Datsun 1600

John Dawson-Damer – Champion Navigator 1978

PositionNavigatorCarPoints
1John Dawson-Damer Ford Escort RS2000
2Fred Gocentas Ford Escort RS1800
3Jeff Beaumont Datsun 710 Coupe
4Monty Suffern
5Steve Halloran
6Ross Runnalls

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References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 14 November 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)