1973 Australian Rally Championship
# 1973 Australian Rally Championship

The 1973 Australian Rally Championship was a series of six rallying events held across Australia. It was the sixth season in the history of the competition.

Peter Lang and navigator Warwick Smith in the Holden Torana GTR XU-1 were the winners of the 1973 Championship.

## Season review

The sixth Australian Rally Championship was decided over six events, staged across the Eastern States of Australia with two events each in New South Wales and Victoria and one each in Queensland and South Australia. The series saw more domination from the Holden Torana GTR XU-1's which won all six rounds, three wins for Peter Lang/Warwick Smith, two wins for Colin Bond/George Shepheard and one win for Steward McLeod/Adrian Mortimer. Lang and Smith managed high placings in the events that they didn't win and thus convincingly took out the 1973 championship.

## The Rallies

The six events of the 1973 season were as follows.

| Round | Rally | Date |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Uniroyal Southern Rally (SA) | 10/11 March 1973 |
| 2 | Classic Rally (VIC) | 24/25 March 1973 |
| 3 | Bunbury Curran (NSW) | 14/15 April 1973 |
| 4 | Bega Valley Rally (NSW) | 2–4 June 1973 |
| 5 | Warana Rally (QLD) | 22/23 September 1973 |
| 6 | Alpine Rally (VIC) | 8/9 December 1973 |

### Round One – Uniroyal Southern 500 Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Torana GTR XU-1 | 68 |
| 2 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Citroen GS | 78 |
| 3 | Tony Roberts | Jeff Beaumont | Peugeot 504 | 79 |
| 4 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 87 |
| 5 | Bob Holden | Roger Bonhomme | Torana GTR XU-1 | 100 |
| 6 | Frank Kilfoyle | Mike Osborne | Datsun 240Z | 107 |

### Round Two – Classic Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 79 |
| 2 | Peter Lang | Warwick Smith | Torana GTR XU-1 | 96 |
| 3 | Tony Roberts | Jeff Beaumont | Peugeot 504 | 112 |
| 4 | Ed Mulligan | Mike Batten | Mazda RX-2 Coupe | 119 |
| 5 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Torana GTR XU-1 | 135 |
| 6 | Bruce Hodgson | Fred Gocentas | Ford XA Falcon GTHO | n/a |

### Round Three – Bunbury Curran Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Lang | Warwick Smith | Torana GTR XU-1 | 24 |
| =2 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Datsun 240Z | 38 |
| =2 | Frank Kilfoyle | Mike Osborne | Datsun 240Z | 38 |
| 4 | Tony Roberts | Jeff Beaumont | Peugeot 504 | 53 |
| 5 | Bruce Hodgson | Fred Gocentas | Ford XA Falcon GTHO | 65 |
| 6 | Wal Glass | R Smith | Holden HR | 75 |

### Round Four – Bega Valley Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Lang | Warwick Smith | Torana GTR XU-1 | 79 |
| 2 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 84 |
| 3 | Ed Mulligan | Mike Batten | Mazda RX-2 Coupe | 85 |
| 4 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Torana GTR XU-1 | 97 |
| 5 | Roy Denny | Richard Denny | Triumph 2.5 PI | 181 |
| 6 | Wal Glass | R Smith | Holden HR | n/a |

### Round Five – Warana Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 40 |
| 2 | Ed Mulligan | Mike Batten | Mazda RX-2 Coupe | 61 |
| 3 | John Shera | Lloyd Meller | Mazda 1300 | 104 |
| 4 | Peter Lang | Warwick Smith | Torana GTR XU-1 | 106 |
| 5 | Bryan Evans | Barry Lake | Datsun 240Z | 115 |
| 6 | Jim Reddiex | Moss Pollack | Citroen GS | 168 |

### Round Six – Golden Alpine Rally

Note that Kilfoyle and Osborne won this event outright in a works Datsun 180B SSS but were ineligible for ARC points.

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Lang | Warwick Smith | Torana GTR XU-1 | 118 |
| 2 | Stewart McLeod | Adrian Mortimer | Torana GTR XU-1 | 132 |
| 3 | Bruce Hodgson | Fred Gocentas | Ford XA Falcon GTHO | 147 |
| 4 | Ed Mulligan | Mike Batten | Mazda RX-2 Coupe | 156 |
| 5 | Colin Bond | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 744 |
| 6 | Roy Denny | Richard Denny | Triumph 2.5 PI | 776 |

## 1973 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1973 is as follows.

### Peter Lang – Champion Driver 1973

| Position | Driver | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Peter Lang | Torana GTR XU-1 | 36 |
| 2 | Colin Bond | Torana GTR XU-1 | 29 |
| 3 | Stewart McLeod | Torana GTR XU-1 | 25 |
| 4 | Ed Mulligan | Mazda RX-2 Coupe | 16 |
| 5 | Tony Roberts | Peugeot 504 & Saab | 11 |
| 6 | Bruce Hodgson | Falcon GT | 7 |
| =7 | Dean Rainsford | Citroen GS | 6 |
| =7 | Frank Kilfoyle | Datsun 240Z | 6 |
| 9 | John Shera | Mazda 1300 | 4 |
| 10 | Bryan Evans | Datsun 240Z | 2 |

### Warwick Smith – Champion Navigator 1973

| Position | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Warwick Smith | Torana GTR XU-1 | 36 |
| 2 | George Shepheard | Torana GTR XU-1 | 29 |
| 3 | Adrian Mortimer | Torana GTR XU-1 | 25 |
| 4 | Mike Batten | Mazda RX-2 Coupe | 16 |
| 5 | Jeff Beaumont | Peugeot 504 & Saab | 11 |
| 6 | Fred Gocentas | Falcon GT | 7 |
| =7 | Grahame West | Citroen GS | 6 |
| =7 | Mike Osborne | Datsun 240Z | 6 |
| 9 | Lloyd Meller | Mazda 1300 | 4 |
| 10 | Barry Lake | Datsun 240Z | 2 |
