# 1974 Australian Rally Championship

The 1974 Australian Rally Championship was a series of seven rallying events held across Australia. It was the seventh season in the history of the competition.
Colin Bond and navigator George Shepheard in the Holden Dealer Team Holden Torana GTR XU-1 were the winners of the 1974 Championship.

## Season review

The seventh Australian Rally Championship was expanded to seven events now venturing to the West with the first ever round to be staged in Western Australia. This season consisted of two events in Victoria and one each in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. 1974 was to be the last year of domination from the Holden Torana GTR XU-1's. Bond and Shepheard had four wins and a second to win the championship, but had increasing opposition from the Datsun 240Z's of Stewart McLeod/Adrian Mortimer and Ross Dunkerton/John Large.

## The Rallies

The seven events of the 1974 season were as follows.
| Round | Rally |
| 1 | Semperit 1600 Rally (WA) |
| 2 | Akademos Rally (VIC) |
| 3 | Bega Valley Rally (NSW) |
| 4 | Uniroyal Southern Rally (SA) |
| 5 | Warana Rally (QLD) |
| 6 | Bunbury-Curran Rally (NSW) |
| 7 | Alpine Rally (VIC) |

### Round One – Semperit 1600

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Peter Lang | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 47 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 48 |
| 3 | Bob Watson | R van der Straaten | Renault 16TS | 54 |
| 4 | Bob Riley | Tom Snooks | Mitsubishi Galant | 57 |
| 5 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 240Z | 66 |
| 6 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche 911S | 69 |

### Round Two – Akademos Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 32 |
| 2 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 240Z | 46 |
| 3 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 47 |
| 4 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche 911S | 59 |
| 5 | Bill Evans | Mike Mitchell | Datsun 120Y | 61 |
| 6 | D Sutton | R van der Straaten | Torana GTR XU-1 | 65 |

### Round Three – Bega Valley Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 55 |
| 2 | Peter Lang | Fred Gocentas | Torana GTR XU-1 | 56 |
| 3 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 240Z | 63 |
| 4 | Bill Evans | Mike Mitchell | Datsun 120Y | 85 |
| 5 | Bruce Cheesman | Graham Lockie | Datsun 1600 | 110 |
| 6 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 116 |

### Round Four – Uniroyal Southern Rally (Walkerville)

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 5.25 |
| 2 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche 911S | 7.25 |
| 3 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 240Z | 9.5 |
| 4 | Bob Riley | Brian Hope | Mitsubishi Galant | 9.75 |
| 5 | Bill Evans | Mike Mitchell | Datsun 120Y | 11.75 |
| 6 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 12.5 |

### Round Five – Warana Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 64 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 67 |
| 3 | Adrian Taylor | John Suominen | Honda Civic | 70 |
| 4 | Bill Evans | Mike Mitchell | Datsun 120Y | 80 |
| 5 | Murray Coote | Brian Marsden | Datsun 1200 | 81 |
| 6 | Tom Barr-Smith | Rob Hunt | Leyland P76 | 89 |

### Round Six – Bunbury-Curran Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 31 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 37 |
| 3 | Bill Evans | Mike Mitchell | Datsun 120Y | 93 |
| 4 | R Pike | J Cardi | Datsun 180B | 95 |
| 5 | B Moore | R Moore | Toyota Corolla Sprinter | 272 |
| 6 | Brian Hilton | Bruce Mudd | Alfa Romeo Alfetta | 278 |

### Round Seven – Alpine Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 78 |
| 2 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 79 |
| 3 | Adrian Taylor | John Suominen | Honda Civic | 93 |
| 4 | Tom Barr-Smith | R Hunt | Leyland P76 | 115 |
| 5 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche 911S | 123 |
| 6 | R Pike | J Cardi | Datsun 180B | 142 |

## 1974 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1974 is as follows.

### Colin Bond – Champion Driver 1974

| Position | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | Colin Bond | Torana GTR XU-1 | 42 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Datsun 240Z | 36 |
| 3 | Ross Dunkerton | Datsun 240Z | 16 |
| 4 | Peter Lang | Torana GTR XU-1 | 15 |
| 5 | Bill Evans | Datsun 120Y | 14 |
| 6 | Dean Rainsford | Porsche 911 | 12 |

### George Shepheard – Champion Navigator 1974

| Position | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 45 |
| 2 | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 36 |
| 3 | John Large | Datsun 240Z | 16 |
| 4 | Mike Mitchell Graham West | Datsun 120Y | 14 |
| 5 | Graham West | Porsche 911 | 12 |
| 6 | John Suominen | Honda Civic | 8 |