The Victorian Rally Championship was the evolution

Evolution (term)

The English noun evolution refers to any kind of gradual change.It is used in biology, of biological evolution, in economics, historical linguistics, and many other technical fields where systems develop or change gradually over time, e.g...

 series of car rallies

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...

 in Victoria, Australia

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....

. Prior to 1972, car rallies/trials relied heavily on the ability of a navigator

Navigator

A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...

 to read a map

Map

A map is a visual representation of an area—a symbolic depiction highlighting relationships between elements of that space such as objects, regions, and themes....

, and then direct his/her driver

Driving

Driving is the controlled operation and movement of a land vehicle, such as a car, truck or bus.Although direct operation of a bicycle and a mounted animal are commonly referred to as riding, such operators are legally considered drivers and are required to obey the rules of the road...

 over a planned course

Course

Course can refer to:* Course , the path of travel* Course , the principal sail on a mast of a sailing vessel* Course , in the United States, a unit of instruction in one subject, lasting one academic term...

 covering shire

Shire

A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in the United Kingdom and in Australia. In parts of Australia, a shire is an administrative unit, but it is not synonymous with "county" there, which is a land registration unit. Individually, or as a suffix in Scotland and in the far...

 road

Road

A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

s and forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 tracks at night

Night

Night or nighttime is the period of time when the sun is below the horizon. This occurs after dusk. The opposite of night is day...

.

In 1972 the series evolved – in line with improvement of forest tracks, and population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of properties along shire roads – into a more driver-oriented event.

Route instructions became comprehensive, making it almost impossible for a crew to get lost, and results were effectively determined by the speed

Speed

In kinematics, the speed of an object is the magnitude of its velocity ; it is thus a scalar quantity. The average speed of an object in an interval of time is the distance traveled by the object divided by the duration of the interval; the instantaneous speed is the limit of the average speed as...

 with which a driver was prepared to drive on the generally narrow forest roads.

Since 1990, many of these events are held during daylight

Daylight

Daylight or the light of day is the combination of all direct and indirect sunlight outdoors during the daytime. This includes direct sunlight, diffuse sky radiation, and both of these reflected from the Earth and terrestrial objects. Sunlight scattered or reflected from objects in outer space is...

 hour

Hour

The hour is a unit of measurement of time. In modern usage, an hour comprises 60 minutes, or 3,600 seconds...

s – making the competition

Competition

Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...

 more attractive to spectators

Spectator sport

A spectator sport is a sport that is characterized by the presence of spectators, or watchers, at its matches. For instance, Tennis, Rugby, F-1, baseball, basketball, cricket, football , and ice hockey are spectator sports, while hunting or underwater hockey typically are not...

.

Victorian Rally Champions

Winners of the Victorian Rally Championship and the preceding Victorian Trials Championship are as follows:

Year	Driver	Navigator/Co-Driver
1961	Geoff Russell	Martin Hartigan
1962	Geoff Russell	R.H.Collingwood
1963	Harry Firth Harry Firth Harry L. Firth is an Australian former racing driver and team manager. Firth was a leading race and rally driver during the 1950s and 1960s and continued as an influential team manager well into the 1970s...	Graham Hoinville
1963	Frank Kilfoyle	Mike Flanagan
1964	Frank Kilfoyle	Roger Abraham
1965	Harry Firth	Graham Hoinville
1966	Tony Roberts Tony Roberts (racing driver) Anthony Roberts, , was an Australian race and rally driver.Roberts won the 1968 Sandown 3 Hours with Bob Watson, giving the Holden Monaro a debut victory...	Peter Haas
1967	Reg Lunn*	Roger Vaughan *
1968	Bob Watson	Jim McAuliffe
1969	Bob Watson	Jim McAuliffe
1970	Bob Watson	Jim McAuliffe
1971	Mal McPherson	Peter Haas
1972**	Gil Davis	Roger Bonhomme
1973	Bob Watson	Jeff Beaumont
1974	Garrie Harrowfield	Geoff Boyd
1975	David Bond	Ian Richards
1976	Bob Waterhouse	Paul Paterson
1977	Gil Davis	David Long
1978	Warwick Smith	Paul Paterson
1979	Warwick Smith	Paul Paterson
1980	Chris Brown	Simon Brown
1981	Geoff Portman	Ross Runnalls
1982	Chris Brown	Noel Richards
1983	David Officer	Kate Hobson
1984	Peter A Thompson*	Anthony Sartory*
1985	Brian Smith	John Birrell
1986	Geoff Portman	Peter Gale
1987	Geoff Portman	Peter Gale
1988	David Greig	Paul Tirant
1989	Greg Hoinville	Michael Cains
1990	David Greig	Paul Tirant
1991	Peter Fyfe	Gerry Bashford
1992	Peter Fyfe	Gerry Bashford
1993	Graeme Wise	Helen Wylie
1994	Graeme Wise	Helen Wylie
1995	Graeme Wise*	Greg Foletta*
1996	Graeme Wise	Rob Beekman
1997	Mike Reeves	Robin Smalley
1998	Craig Morris	Jenny Cole
1999	Scott Pedder	Paul Humm
2000	Scott Pedder	Paul Humm
2001	David Stannus	Peter Campbell
2002	Brett Thompson	Rob Vanderee
2003	Mike Reeves	Robin Smalley
2004	Peter Montgomery	Chris Montgomery
2005	Justin Dowel	Matt Lee
2006	Justin Dowel	Matt Lee
2007	Justin Dowel	Matt Lee
2008	Mark Fawcett	Simon Ellis

* Driver and navigator were not from the same crew.

** Victorian Rally Championship introduced; previously, this was known as the Victorian Trials Championship.