The Southern Cross Gold (50th) Anniversary Rally started in Albury on Tuesday, November 8. The teams and the cars are re-tracing the route of the 1966 Southern Cross Rally, first travelling south through Victoria and then proceeding via the Barry Way to Jindabyne and driving in to Cooma this morning.
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The stopover gives Cooma and Monaro residents a great opportunity to see the cars and meet the drivers of the 30 classic rally cars competing. At 9am the competitors will depart, travelling north along Shannons Flat Road and Jones Plain Road for a timed special stage, then on to Canberra. After Canberra, the route will head north via Newcastle to Port Macquarie, where the classic roads of the Southern Cross rallies of the 1970s will be re-visited. The event will finish in Coffs Harbour on November 19 coinciding with Rally Australia, the final round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship.
The star driver in the event is five times Australian rally Champion Ross Dunkerton who is driving a Datsun 1600 navigated by his wife Lisa. Other well-known historic rally stars are Ian Swan driving a very quick Volvo 242, former NSW Rally Champion Mike Batten in a Datsun 1600, and 2011 Alpine Rally winner Darryn Snooks. The Rally Director is Bob Watson who is a former Australian and Victorian champion car rally driver, International rally winner, author of several motor sport books, and inaugural inductee into both the Australian and Victorian Rally Halls of Fame. Bob also co-drove a Holden Monaro to third place in the 1968 Hardie-Ferodo 500 (forerunner of the Bathurst 1000).
The Southern Cross Rally was first run from Sydney to Melbourne and back to Sydney in 1966, with its field including International stars Paddy Hopkirk, Timo Makinen and Rauno Aaltonen, as well as Australia’s best rally drivers. The ‘Southern Cross’ went on to become Australia’s first truly International rally, running from 1966 to 1980 attracting top factory teams and the world’s best rally drivers including six-time winner, Scot Andrew Cowan. Cowan regrets that he is not able to take part in the Golf Anniversary Rally and said “I am very sorry that I cannot be with you but my thoughts will be!” “How can I ever forget my times on the ‘Cross? Evan Green whom I got to know on the London Sydney Marathon in 1968 invited me to drive Tony Fall’s Morris 1800 marathon car in the 1969 ‘Cross’. We won with Dave Johnson navigating and the rest is history – five wins for Mitsubishi between 1972 and 1976.”
The Gold Anniversary Rally is being organised by the Historic Rally Association to celebrate the first running of this iconic event. The Rally is a Touring Road Event, which will include a variety of timed competitive events each day, and is intended for both past participants and those who missed the opportunity to compete when the event was run. Entry to the event has been in general limited to road legal 2WD models at the discretion of the organisers. There is a wide range of cars entered, mostly 1960s and 1970s rally favourites including 6 Datsun 1600/P510 models and a 240Z, Peugeot 404s, 504s and a 505, 3 Volvos, Mitsubishis and some more modern cars including a Renault Clio Sport.
