# 1975 Australian Rally Championship

The 1975 Australian Rally Championship was a series of seven rallying events held across Australia. It was the eighth season in the history of the competition.
Ross Dunkerton and navigator John Large in the Datsun 240Z were the winners of the 1975 Championship.

## Season review

The eighth Australian Rally Championship was once again held over seven events across Australia. This season consisted of two events each for Victoria and New South Wales, and one each in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. The 1975 season saw domination of the Datsun 240Z's, with Dunkerton and Large winning convincingly (three wins, two seconds and a third) from McLeod and Mortimer.

## The Rallies

The seven events of the 1975 season were as follows.
| Round | Rally |
| 1 | Mazda House 1000 Rally (NSW) |
| 2 | Toms Tyres 1600 Rally (WA) |
| 3 | Akademos Rally (VIC) |
| 4 | Bega Valley Rally (NSW) |
| 5 | Warana Rally (QLD) |
| 6 | Walker Trophy Rally (SA) |
| 7 | Alpine Rally (VIC) |

### Round One – Mazda House 1000 Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | George Fury | Roger Bonhomme | Datsun 710 | 34 |
| =2 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 260Z | 39 |
| =2 | Doug Stewart | Brian Hope | Mitsubishi Lancer GSR | 39 |
| 4 | Adrian Taylor | John Suominen | Honda Civic | 49 |
| 5 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 260Z | 51 |
| 6 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche 911 | 64 |

### Round Two – Toms Tyres 1600 Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 260Z | 44 |
| 2 | John Edwards | Bill Philip | Datsun 260Z | 63 |
| 3 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 260Z | 64 |
| 4 | Ed Mulligan | George Shepheard | Holden Torana L34 | 67 |
| 5 | John Neal | Dave Manners | Torana GTR XU-1 | 92 |
| 6 | Alan Stean | Lyn Mathews | Datsun 240Z | 104 |

### Round Three – Akademos Rally

| =1 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 260Z | 48 |
| =1 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 260Z | 48 |
| 3 | George Fury | Monty Suffern | Datsun 710 | 55 |
| 4 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Holden Torana L34 | 61 |
| 5 | Doug Stewart | Lindsay Adcock | Mitsubishi Lancer GSR | 64 |
| 6 | Dean Rainsford | Bernie Peasley | Porsche 911 | 77 |

### Round Four – Bega Valley Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Holden Torana L34 | 65 |
| 2 | Robert Jackson | Ross Jackson | Torana GTR XU-1 | 77 |
| 3 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 260Z | 87 |
| 4 | Ed Mulligan | Fred Gocentas | Holden Torana L34 | 88 |
| 5 | David Jones | Ian Baldock | Mitsubishi Galant | 97 |
| 6 | Barry Dyer | Brian McGuirk | Subaru Coupe | 145 |

### Round Five – Warana Rally

| 1 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 260Z | 49 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 260Z | 50 |
| 3 | Ed Mulligan | Fred Gocentas | Holden Torana L34 | 52 |
| 4 | Alan Hall | Bruce Mallett | Mazda RX3 | 83 |
| 5 | David Jones | Ian Baldock | Mitsubishi Galant | 86 |
| 6 | Peter Wickham | Darryl Kelly | Torana GTR XU-1 | 100 |

### Round Six – Walker Trophy Rally

| 1 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche 911 | 45 |
| 2 | Ross Dunkerton | John Large | Datsun 260Z | 45.75 |
| 3 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 260Z | 50.25 |
| 4 | Bob Pike | Graham Middleton | Datsun 260Z | 59.5 |
| 5 | Jim Conaghty | Kevin Attwood | Mazda RX3 | 72.25 |
| 6 | Dieter Thumm | Barry Walmsley | Ford Escort RS2000 | 72.5 |

### Round Seven – Alpine Rally

| 1 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 260Z | 121 |
| 2 | David Bond | Ian Richards | Mitsubishi Lancer | 143 |
| 3 | Murray Coote | Rod Browning | Datsun 1200 | 148 |
| 4 | Roger Jackson | Fred Gocentas | Torana GTR XU-1 | 159 |
| 5 | Garry Harrowfield | Trevor Boyd | Datsun 1600 | |
| 6 | David Jones | Ian Baldock | Mitsubishi Galant | 215 |

## 1975 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1975 is as follows.

### Ross Dunkerton – Champion Driver 1975

| Position | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | Ross Dunkerton | Datsun 240Z | 37.5 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Datsun 240Z | 30.5 |
| 3 | George Fury | Datsun 710 | 13 |
| 4 | Colin Bond | Holden Torana L34 | 12 |
| 5= | Ed Mulligan | Holden Torana L34 | 10 |
| 5= | Dean Rainsford | Porsche 911 | 10 |

### John Large – Champion Navigator 1975

| Position | Navigator | Car | Points |
| 1 | John Large | Datsun 240Z | 37.5 |
| 2 | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 30.5 |
| 3 | George Shepheard | Holden Torana L34 | 13 |
| 4= | Fred Gocentas | Holden Torana L34 | 10 |
| 4= | Graham West | Porsche 911 | 10 |
| 6 | Roger Bonhomme | Datsun | 9 |