This Sunday’s Lone Star Rally of Canterbury in association with Joe’s Garage marks fifty-years since the 1975 event and the start of the NZ national championship.
Rod Millen (Mazda RX3) was the winner of the Canterbury Rally, the opening round of the 1975 Marlboro Rally Championship. In fact, three Mazda RX3s and a Datsun filled the top four placings after the Ford Escort onslaught faded over the 24-hour event.
Tauranga’s Trevor Tapper (Mazda RX3) came in second ahead of local Trevor Crowe in a standard production Datsun SSS with Rob Gerard from Akaroa (Mazda RX3) in fourth.
The 1975 Canterbury Rally was organised by what was known as the Canterbury Rally Panel before the Autosport Club found its feet and became the ‘rally’ recognised club that it is today.
That year the national Rally Pilots Association (RPA) began the national championship and while it was a Motorsport NZ sanctioned championship, MSNZ has not recognised the 1975 and 1976 RPA series.
To have the first national rally in 1975 in the Canterbury region was a real coup for the local scene and it attracted a huge entry of 103.
The rally started at 1pm on Saturday 3 May 1975 with two gravel Special Stages in the Malvern Hills before reaching Ashley Forest, north of Rangiora, in the fading light of the late afternoon.
The Woodford Glen Speedway presented drivers with five timed laps before heading to Banks Peninsular and misty rain.
Having lost time in Ashley Forest after stalling, Mike Marshall (Ford Escort RS1600) lost 20 minutes after putting his front wheels off the road.
The atrocious conditions caught Timaru’s Leo Leonard out after his Datsun 1200 SSS left the road and rolled down a bank. Meanwhile, Paul Adams (Ford Escort) lost 28 minutes with alternator failure.
Rob Gerard was on his home roads and was eventually rewarded with fourth overall.
The final two stages back in the Ashley Forest saw a number of drivers caught out by the blinding rising sun and soft boggy road conditions.
The winner, Rod Millen, would go on to win the 1975 Marlboro Rally Championship and repeated this in 1976.
The event finished 24 hours after the start with many electing to grab some much need sleep while Jim Richards spent the afternoon racing a saloon car back at Woodford Glen.
Overall Results (Top 10)
1/ R Millen/M Franchi Mazda RX3
2/ T Tapper/J Gooderham Mazda RX3
3/ T Crowe/C Cole Datsun SSS
4/ R Gerard/B Hessey Mazda RX3
5/ J Richards/R Halls Ford Escort RS2000
6/ A Mitchell/R Emple Ford Escort RS1700
7/ N Johns/R McLean Ford Capri 3000
8/ A Goldsbury/A Meier Fiat 125
9/ F Emson/G Colebrook Datsun 1600
10/ J Sergel/B Reid Ford Escort RS2000
Comments