History of the Southern Cross

AMSAG is the registered owner of the name SOUTHERN CROSS RALLY and strives to have its rallies match the excitement and competition of those "hey days" of rallying epitomised by the Southern Cross Rally which was run between the 1960's and 1980's in some of the same forests AMSAG use for competition. Our round at Wingham features the infamous Black Flat Lane which was a regular stage in the Southern Cross. The majority of the roads set for the Wauchope round set for 2001 are nearly all ex "Cross" stages, which will no doubt bring back some fond memories for some of our veteran crews, many of whom were regular runners in the east coast's former international rally, and the pacesetter of indurance rallying world wide. Here is a brief history of The Southern Cross which will give you some idea of the calibre of car and driver the event used to attract.

1966
With the support of Rothmans, the Southern Cross was run for the first time in 1966 along the lines suggested by the ASCC. It was immediately a great success attracting official works entries from BMC, Holden, Ford, VW, Volvo and others. Two of the great names in international rallying were competing:Paddy Hopkirk and Timo Makinen, both in works prepared Mini Coopers. Despite their presence the first Soothern Cross provided an Australian winner. Harry Firth with Grahame Hoinville navigating, took his works Ford Cortina to a great win after Barry Ferguson crashed out of the lead on the last night north of Canberra.

1966 Results
1 H.Firth/G.Hoinville Cortina GT
2 G.Garard/F.Goulburn Cortina GT
3 I.Vaughan/R.Vaughan Cortina GT
4 R.Lunn/G.Thomas Holden HR
5 F.Kilfoyle/B.Forsyth Cortina GT

1967
Next year the Southern Cross was back again as were Hopkirk and Makinen in their Minis, joined by Tony Fall in a similar car. This time it was Firth's turn to fall off the road, near Omeo in the Victorian Alps, and Barry Ferguson made up for his bad luck in 1966 by winning in his VW Beetle with Dave Johnson navigating. As was the case of the previous year none of the overseas stars did well, only Fall managing to finish. One of the major incidents of the rally concerned the works Volvo of Sydney driver John Keran. Hurrying to make up time after a navigation error while leading,t he Volvo driver misjudged a corner on the outskirts of Lakes Entrance, running off the road and into the lake! News of the killer event was to spread quickly with the overseas drivers, and would see a stead stream of international talent make the trip down under for our challenging roads.

1967 Results
1 B.Ferguson/D.Johnson VW Beetle
2 F.Kilfoyle/D.Rutherford Cortina GT
3 B.Holden/G.Shephard Mini Cooper S
4 C.Bond/B.Hope Colt Fastback
5 I.Vaughan/R.Vaughan Cortina GT

1968
Like Ferguson before him, Keran in the works Volvo bounced back better than ever in '68 in the last Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney 'Cross, and the first directed by AMSAG Founder Allan Lawson. Matching the fierce pace of the works Minis of Makinen and Hopkirk on the first night he took command when those drivers fell out and went on to record a great win in his Volvo. Peter Meyer was in the Navigators Seat.

1968 Results
1 J.Keran/P.Meyer Volvo
2 F.Kilfoyle/D.Rutherford Cortina
3 C.Bond/B.Hope Colt Fastback
4 T.Roberts/M.Osborne Holden HK
5 B.Hodgson/B.Forsyth Cortina

1969
1969 saw a general ban on rallying in New South Wales for the year. Rather than abandon the rally the ASCC got permission to run the event in southern Queensland and far northern NSW, starting at Surfers Paradise. Andrew Cowan, back in Australia after his win in the 1968 LSM, took a surprise win in a works ex-LSM Austin 1800, which was a surprise because many people considered the car too slow to win an event like the 'Cross. It goes to show you what a clever driver Andrew Cowan was over the longer rallies. Cowan's nav was Dave Johnson, notching up his second victory. In second place for the third time was Victorian ace Frank Kilfoyle driving the Ford Team's Lotus Cortina. Last years winner Keran left the road on the first night but fought back in his Volvo to finish well up.

1969 Results
1 A.Cowan/D.Johnson Austin 1800
2 F.Kilfoyle/D.Rutherford Cortina GT
3 C.Bond/B.Hope Colt 1500SS
4 B.Ferguson/R.Bonhomme Monaro
5 B.Collier/L.Adcock Renault

1970
The following year saw yet another location change for the rally, which was directed again by Allan Lawson. Starting in Sydney the rally moved to Port Macquarie on the NSW central north coast. Competitive rallying took place between Sydney and Grafton. The move was so successful that the event remained with Port Macquarie for quite a few years. Despite the presence of Cowan and Brian Culcheth both in works Minis, it was again an Australian driver taking the laurels. Barry Ferguson and Dave Johnson took their Holden Dealer Team Torana XU-1 to victory after team mate Colin Bond developed gearbox problems while leading on the last night. Second Place went to long distance specialist Evan Green with Peter Brown in their works Cooper S. The event was marred by rain on the final night which ruined the chances of a number of top running crews as the route took in a 100 mile stage over the Gloucester Tops range north of Newcastle.

1970 Results
1 B.Ferguson/D.Johnson Torana XU-1
2 E.Green/P.Brown Mini Cooper S
3 S.McLeod/A.Mortimer Datsun 1600
4 R.Harris/N.Collier Mazda R100
5 P.Older/C.Alexander Volvo 142S

1971
The pace of the rally hotted up in 1971 with the presence of a strong Mitsubishi works team with Galants, headed by dual East African Safari winner Edgar Hermann. Hermann and Colin Bond in the HDT Torana staged a fierce battle throughout the rally after early leader Doug Chivas dropped back in his Galant. Hermann ran off the road on the final night and Bond and George Shephard went on to take the event victory. Hermann continued on to take second. Find of the rally that year was your ACT driver Peter Lang who finished fifth outright in his Gerry Ball Rally Team Datsun 1600 with Ed O'Cleary. Lang was later to become Australian Rally Champion before retiring in 1975.

1971 Results
1 C.Bond/G.Shepheard Torana XU-1
2 S.McLeod/A.Mortimer Torana XU-1
3 B.Ferguson/G.Connelly Galant
4 E.Herrmann/B.Riley Galant
5 P.Lang/E.O'Cleary Datsun 1600

1972
This was yet another important year for the Southern Cross because it saw the official entry for the first time of the mighty Nissan Works Team, with their chief driver the original flying Finn Rauno Aaltonen and the car was a 240Z. Fresh from victory in the East African Safari they hoped to do well with the safari spec car, but some minor navigation problems and a broken differential kept them down to second place. The winner for the second time was Andrew Cowan in a works Mitsubishi Galant, this time with John Bryson navigating. This was the beginning of Cowan's fantastic run of success in the rally which carried through unbroken till 1976. Doug Chivas took third in the other Galant, with Edgar Hermann in Forth in his Works Datsun. Previous winner Barry Ferguson rolled out of the rally on the second night in his works Galant Coupe.

1972 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Galant
2 R.Aaltonen/S.Halloran Datsun 240Z
3 D.Chivas/P.Meyer Galant
4 E.Herrmann/M.Mitchell Datsun 180B
5 A.Jackson/P.Godden Datsun 1600

1973
The year of the Big Wet as far as the Cross was concerned, terrible weather before and during the rally decimated the field with only 9 cars completing the whole route. Mitsubishi's new Lancer revelled in the conditions taking the first four places outright while the Datsun team floundered in the mud behind them. Cowan and Bryon led all the way for another great win with Barry Ferguson and Wayne Gregson in second. Star of the event in many peoples eyes was Colin Bond, who started the event as last car in the field yet pulled up to 5th outright by the end of the first night and eventually finished in that position. The best placed Datsun was the 180B SSS of Frank Kilfoyle after English star Tony Fall rolled his 240Z near Ebor on the second night.

1973 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Lancer
2 B.Ferguson/W.Gregson Lancer
3 D.Chivas/P.Meyer Lancer
4 J.Singh/G.Connelly Lancer
5 C.Bond/G.Shepheard Lancer

1974
In many ways 1974 was a repeat of the previous year, with the same rain, same tough event and same winner. But this year only 3 crews completed the whole course and only 7 finished the rally. Datsun pinned their hopes on Swede Harry Kallstrom in a new 710 coupe but the former European champion retired on the second night with broken front suspension. Cowan and Bryson were then able to take a fairly easy victory. Second place went to Singh and Connelly after the luckless Barry Ferguson suffered electrical failure on the very last special stage. For the first time a Japanese crew finished highly placed, Tatsuo Yaginuma and Harua Okada taking third place in a Toyota Trueno. Hero of the rally was you Australian Driver George Fury in a semi works Datsun who finished Fourth after early challenging for second spot.

1974 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Lancer
2 J.Singh/G.Connelly Lancer
3 T.Yaginuma/H.Okado Toyota Trueno
4 G.Fury/M.Suffern Datsun 710
5 Y.Iwashita/N.Yasuoka Datsun

1975
In a concerted bid to win the rally away from Mitsubishi the Nissan team returned at full strength for the 1975 event. They had a team of three 710's for Aaltonen, Kallstrom and Fury. By the end of the second night all three had retired with engine failure, once again leaving the rally to the front running Lancers. Cowan, now with Fred Gocentas Navigating, notched up his fifth win. Young Canberra driver Greg Carr upheld Datsun's Honour by bringing his Gerry Ball Datsun 180B SSS into third. The works Escort RS1800 of Bob Watson retired while holding forth place on the last night but the similar car of Bruce Hodgson/Chris Heaney battled on to take fifth place. The works Lancer of Finn, Hannu Mikkola lasted until halfway through the night before rolling out of the rally.

1975 Results
1 A.Cowan/F.Gocentas Lancer
2 B.Ferguson/L.Adcock Lancer
3 G.Carr/W.Gregson Datsun 180B
4 D.Stewart/J.Dawson-Damer Lancer
5 K.Shinozuka/G.Connolly Lancer

1976
Added excitement was thrown into the rally when Ford decided to enter two of their all-conquering RS1800 Escorts for Timo Makinen and Roger Clark to challenge the top running Lancers of Cowan and Ferguson and the Datsuns of Aaltonen, Kallstrom, Fury, Carr and Walfridsson. The Ford challenge came to nothing for neither driver was able to batch Cowan on stage times overall and both cars suffered rear axle problems. Carr retired on the first night after leaving the road and Aaltonen went out with engine mounting failure. Fury led the rally until well into the last night when he eventually succumbed to Cowan's pressure and later retired with a broken diff, joining Kallstrom out with gearbox failure.

1976 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Lancer
2 B.Ferguson/N.Faulkner Lancer
3 S.Mehta/A.Mortimer Datsun 710
4 D.Stewart/J.Dawson-Damer Lancer
5 K.Shinozuka/G.Connolly Lancer

1977
For the first time in many years Mitsubishi did not compete and it seemed that the battle would be fought between the Escorts of Carr and Bond, Stig Blomquist's Saab 99 and the Datsuns driven by Makinen, Aaltonen, Kallstrom, Fury, Dunkerton, Watson and Mehta. Despite their weight of numbers this year, it seemed for a long time that Datsun would again loose the rally. At the end of the first night, which saw Blomquist's retirement, Makinen held a narrow lead over the Escort RS1800 of Carr/Gregson, but Carr was soon in the lead and he stayed there until late on the last night when hit by alternator failure. Aaltonen then took over the lead and with only a few stages to complete, easily held on to win from Kallstrom. The rally was marked by considerable drama on the last night when Makinen retired with a broken sump and Bond with broken steering in his Escort RS2000. Others including Mehta ran out of petrol on the 240 KM stage from Bellingen to Kempsey.

1977 Results
1 R.Aaltonen/J.Beaumont Datsun 710
2 H.Kallstrom/C.Billstam Datsun 710
3 B.Watson/P.Godden Datsun
4 K.Shinozuka/G.Connolly Lancer
5 G.Carr/W.Gregson Escort

1978
Joint Australian Rally Champion George Fury, Navigated by Monty Suffern, had an easy win in the 78 Cross. Driving his Stanza, Fury was fastest in almost every second of the rally, and was a popular and deserving winner after trying for many years. In a rally that was characterised by dusty and fast conditions, together with a wet second night, saw the top 4 favoured works crews retired early on. Defending champ Rauno Aaltonen dropped out on the first night with a blown engine. Andrew Cowan broke a half shaft in his VW Golf, Carr broke an axle and retired on the first night. Kalstrom also blew his engine on the 2nd night. This left Fury, Bond, Bell and Dunkerton to tussle for the honours, which they did to the end of the event.

1978 Results
1 G.Fury/M.Suffern Datsun Stanza
2 C.Bond/J.Dawson-Damer Escort
3 W.Bell/G.Shepheard Gemini
4 R.Dunkerton/A.Mortimer Datsun Stanza
5 F.Neale/P.Dodd Lancer

1979
The Datsun Rally team dominated the 1979 Southern Cross International helped along by a rear end disease that struck down pre event favourites Ford. Fury led the Stanza brigade 1-2-3 home to pick up his second Southern Cross Victory. His win came after a waiting game, the Ford Rally team's Greg Carr had been put out early with broken axles again, and Bonds diff played up, to put him out of contention. the wait was for something to happen to rally leader Bjorn Waldergaard, the world champ was doing it easy in one of the Bond Escorts with a 8 minute lead after the first night. He looked set for a win unless the ailments which stopped his team mate finally got him too. The inevitable did happen and the bursts of the world champion form that had spectators shaking their heads in disbelief came to an end. The stanzas had been poised and surged into the lead with a lone Escort team driver Bond too far behind to be a threat. Fury and team mates Dunkerton and Aaltonen never looked like stopping from then on.

1979 Results
1 G.Fury/M.Suffern Datsun Stanza
2 R.Dunkerton/J.Beaumont Datsun Stanza
3 R.Aaltonen/A.Mortimer Datsun Stanza
4 C.Bond/J.Dawson-Damer Escort
5 F.Johnson/S.Halloran RX3

1980
What an event was the 1980 Cross as Dunkerton came from fourth on day one, to third on day three and second going into the fourth and final division to take his first Cross Victory. It was a fairy tale victory for the multiple Aussie Rally champ as his consistently safe but spectacular performance suddenly handed him the rally lead going into the last night. Highlight of the event was of course the appearance of Finnish and WRC superstar Ari Vatanen in a Escort, after his display in the Castrol earlier in the year. Early on, Ari took the rally lead by 29 seconds from Geoff Portman. Apart from a few laps around Parramatta Speedway, Ari had not driven the car before the event. Day 2 saw Geoff Portman take the lead, but relinquished the lead to Fury on day 3. Fury set out to wrap up the event to be stunned by another engine failure like Portman. Carr and Vatenen closed in for the kill, but Dunk managed to hold them off in a last day battle for the rally. Although we didn't know it at the time, the 1980 event was the last, killed off by a combination of lack of sponsorship, a burned-out directing team and a new direction towards shorter sprint events.

1980 Results
1 R.Dunkerton/J.Beaumont Datsun Stanza
2 G.Carr/F.Gocentas Escort
3 A.Vatenen/D.Richards Escort
4 I.Hill/A.Heaney Lancer
5 D.Jones/I.Pearson Commodore