1976 Australian Rally Championship
# 1976 Australian Rally Championship

The 1976 Australian Rally Championship was a series of six rallying events held across Australia. It was the ninth season in the history of the competition.

Ross Dunkerton and navigator Jeff Beaumont in the Datsun 240Z were the winners of the 1976 Championship.

## Season review

The ninth Australian Rally Championship was held over six events across Australia, the season consisting of two events for Victoria and one each for Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia. The 1976 season saw the domination of the Datsun 240Z of Dunkerton for the second year running, winning convincingly with navigator Jeff Beaumont (four wins and a second). Their main opposition came from Dean Rainsford and Graham West in the Porsche Carrera. The results of the season could have been different had it not been for the controversy over the eligibility of George Fury's Datsun 710 Coupe. This car was FIA homologated and as such was eligible for the international Southern Cross Rally, but deemed to be ineligible for the ARC.

## The Rallies

The six events of the 1976 season were as follows.

| Round | Rally |
| - | - |
| 1 | Rally of the West (WA) |
| 2 | SEV Marchal Rally (VIC) |
| 3 | Bega Valley Rally (NSW) |
| 4 | Rally Renault (SA) |
| 5 | North Eastern Rally (VIC) |
| 6 | Warana Rally (QLD) |

### Round Three – Bega Valley Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ross Dunkerton | Jeff Beaumont | Datsun 240Z | 34 |
| 2 | Dean Rainsford | Graham West | Porsche Carrera RS | 36 |
| 3 | Adrian Taylor | John Souminen | Honda Civic | 55 |
| 4 | David Jones | Ian Pearson | Mitsubishi Galant | 68 |
| 5= | Ed Mulligan | Fred Gocentas | Holden Torana L34 | 71 |
| 5= | Peter Gaudron | Graeme Pigram | Datsun 1600 | 71 |

### Round Six – Lutwyche Village Warana Rally

| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Murray Coote | Brian Marsden | Datsun 1600 |
| 2 | Ross Dunkerton | Jeff Beaumont | Datsun 260Z |
| 3 | Henk Kabel | Simon Kabel | Mazda RX3 |
| 4 | Ron Marks | Graham Gillies | Lancia Stratos |
| 5 | David Jones | Ian Pearson | Mitsubishi Galant |
| 6 | Jim Reddiex | Greg Sked | Citroen CX 2200 |

## 1976 Drivers and Navigators Championships

Final pointscore for 1976 is as follows.

### Ross Dunkerton – Champion Driver 1976

| Position | Driver | Car |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Ross Dunkerton | Datsun 240Z |
| 2 | Dean Rainsford | Porsche Carrera RS |
| 3 | David Jones | Mitsubishi Galant |
| 4 | Danny Bignell | |
| 5 | Murray Coote | |
| 6 | Evan Green | |

### Jeff Beaumont – Champion Navigator 1976

| Position | Navigator | Car |
| - | - | - |
| 1 | Jeff Beaumont | Datsun 240Z |
| 2 | Graham West | Porsche Carrera RS |
| 3 | Ian Pearson | Mitsubishi Galant |
| 4 | Brian Marsden | |
| 5 | Simon Kabel | |
| 6 | John Bryson | |
