1980 Australian Rally Championship

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1980 Australian Rally Championship
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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.

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

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

George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship. Fury, a farmer living and working in the New South Wales country town of Talmalmo, was nicknamed "Farmer George" or "The Talmalmo Farmer".

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 West 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.

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

Colin Bond placed second in the Drivers Championship with this Ford Escort RS1800 Ford Escort RS1800 (VJT444).jpg
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]

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

Round One – Commonwealth Bank Rally of the West

PositionDriverNavigatorCarTime
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
4Tony MaslingHope Datsun Stanza 307:47
5Peter FloodJohn Robinson Holden Gemini 311:42
6Frank JohnsonSteve Vanderbyl Mazda RX4 321:55
7Chris HakeVicky Hake Datsun 1600 322:24
8Adrian StaffordRoger Forestier Mitsubishi Galant 326:40

Round Two – Lutwyche Village Rally

PositionDriverNavigatorCarTime
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
5Wayne BellDave Boddy Holden Gemini Turbo 248.12
6Ed MulliganC Heaney Ford Escort RS1800 250.22
7Murray CooteBrian Marsden Ford Escort RS2000 254.43
8Ray VanderseeIan Young Datsun 120Y 269.12
9Barry FergusonSteve Owers Holden Gemini TC 269.49
10Lisle NeumannP Young Datsun 1600 299.45

Round Three – Akademos Rally

PositionDriverNavigatorCarTime
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
4Barry FergusonSteve Owers Holden Gemini TC 66.42
5Chris BrownPaul Patterson Datsun 1600 67.53
6Hugh BellDamian O'Reilly Datsun 1600 71.16

Round Four – Bega Valley Rally

PositionDriverNavigatorCarTime
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
4Geoff PortmanRoss Runnalls Datsun Stanza 6:31.25
5Barry FergusonSteve Owers Holden Gemini TC 7:08.52
6Peter NelsonGraham Moule Datsun 1600 7:16.47
7G ClarkeA Davis Datsun 180B SSS 7:17.36
8B ClarkeMal Sinfield Datsun 180B SSS 7:18.43
9P EatherS Yorke Datsun 180B SSS 7:20.28
10D BalmainB Woolcott Mitsubishi Lancer 7:21.02


Round Five – Donlee Rally

PositionDriverNavigatorCarTime
1Geoff PortmanRoss 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
4Barry BurnsDave Milne Datsun 1600 6:36.45
5Brenton UdyMike Ball Renault 12 6:42.29
6John AtkinsonJeff 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

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

Monty Suffern – Champion Navigator 1980

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

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References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ Racing Car News, June 1980
  3. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1980/81
  4. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ↑ Australian Motor Racing Yearbook 1980/81
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