The 1980 Australian Rally Championship

Australian Rally Championship

The Australian Rally Championship is a 6 Round National motorsport Championship run in forested countryside throughout Australia.-Current Competition:...

was a series of five rallying

Rallying

Rallying, also known as rally racing, is a form of auto racing that takes place on public or private roads with modified production or specially built road-legal cars...

 events held across Australia. It was the 13th season in the history of the competition.

George Fury

George Fury

George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship.-Rallying:Born in Hungary, Fury rose to prominence during...

 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

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 and West 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

Colin Bond

Colin John Bond is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team...

 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)
2	Lutwyche Village Rally (QLD)
3	Akademos Rally (VIC)
4	Bega Valley Rally (NSW) Bega Valley Rally The Bega Valley Rally is one of the main car rallies held in Australia and has a history dating from the 1960s when it evolved from the Snowy Mountains Rally. It was centred in the New South Wales town of Bega since 1973 and used roads and forestry tracks in the Southern NSW/Victorian Border...
5	Donlee Rally (SA)

Round Four - Bega Valley Rally

Bega Valley Rally

The Bega Valley Rally is one of the main car rallies held in Australia and has a history dating from the 1960s when it evolved from the Snowy Mountains Rally. It was centred in the New South Wales town of Bega since 1973 and used roads and forestry tracks in the Southern NSW/Victorian Border...

Position	Driver	Navigator	Car	Time
1	George Fury George Fury George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship.-Rallying:Born in Hungary, Fury rose to prominence during...	Monty Suffern	Datsun Stanza	6:19.43
2	Colin Bond Colin Bond Colin John Bond is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team...	John Dawson-Damer	Ford Escort RS1800	6:20.20
3	Ross Dunkerton Ross Dunkerton Ross Dunkerton is considered Australia's most successful rally driver to date, originating in Perth, Western Australia. He was previously a councillor for the Town of Bassendean, but moved with his family to Cairns in Far North Queensland in late 2007.Ross is married to his wife Lisa has two...	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 Holden Gemini The Holden Gemini is a compact car that was built and sold by General Motors-Holden's from 1975 to 1986. It was derived from the Japanese Isuzu Gemini, one of the many cars based on the GM T-car platform.- TX :...	7:08.52
6	Peter Nelson	Graham Moule	Datsun 1600 Datsun 510 The Datsun 510 was a series of the Datsun Bluebird sold from 1968 to 1974, and offered outside the U.S. and Canada as the Datsun 1600. According to AutoWeek's G.D...	7:16.47

George Fury

George Fury

George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship.-Rallying:Born in Hungary, Fury rose to prominence during...

 - Champion Driver 1980

Position	Driver	Car	Points
1	George Fury George Fury George Fury is a retired Australian rally and racing car driver. For the majority of his career Fury was associated with Nissan, twice winning the Australian Rally Championship, and twice runner up in the Australian Touring Car Championship.-Rallying:Born in Hungary, Fury rose to prominence during...	Datsun Stanza
2	Colin Bond Colin Bond Colin John Bond is a retired Australian racing driver. Bond reached the highest levels in Australian motorsport in 1969 when he was recruited by Harry Firth to the newly formed Holden Dealer Team...	Ford Escort RS1800
3	Ross Dunkerton Ross Dunkerton Ross Dunkerton is considered Australia's most successful rally driver to date, originating in Perth, Western Australia. He was previously a councillor for the Town of Bassendean, but moved with his family to Cairns in Far North Queensland in late 2007.Ross is married to his wife Lisa has two...	Datsun Stanza
4	Geoff Portman	Datsun Stanza
5	Greg Carr	Ford Escort RS1800
6	Barry Ferguson	Holden Gemini TC Holden Gemini The Holden Gemini is a compact car that was built and sold by General Motors-Holden's from 1975 to 1986. It was derived from the Japanese Isuzu Gemini, one of the many cars based on the GM T-car platform.- TX :...

Monty Suffern - Champion Navigator 1980

Position	Navigator	Car	Points
1	Monty Suffern	Datsun Stanza
2	John Dawson-Damer	Ford Escort RS1800
3	Jeff Beaumont	Datsun Stanza
4	Ross Runnalls	Datsun Stanza
5	Fred Gocentas	Ford Escort RS1800
6	Steve Owers	Holden Gemini TC Holden Gemini The Holden Gemini is a compact car that was built and sold by General Motors-Holden's from 1975 to 1986. It was derived from the Japanese Isuzu Gemini, one of the many cars based on the GM T-car platform.- TX :...

External Links

• http://www.begavalleyrally.com.au/history/ Results of Snowy Mountains Rally and ARC results.