# 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. 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

The five events of the 1980 season were as follows.
| 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.

### 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 |