Renmark to Adelaide

V20 - Kingston Transport

Distance	Time allowed	First car due	Map
45.1 km	45 minutes	11.45 am Monday	Click here

This was a leisurely drive through Berri and the Riverland orchards and vineyards to just west of Kingston. The day was now fine and sunny and certainly the leading crews were looking forward to an easy run into Adelaide. A handful of crews, most likely as a result of sheer exhaustion, decided to skip straight to Adelaide missing this and the subsequent three controls.

Crews waiting to start the Murray Flats trial stage at Kingston
Hilton's car left, behind the Nalder Celica, Warmbold's Audi further in front
(Photo: Ian Richards)

V21 - Murray Flats Trial Stage

Distance	Time allowed	First car due	Map
145.3 km	1 hour 30 minutes	1.15 pm Monday	Click here

This stage using a mixture of gravel roads and sandy/rocky laneways was a fairly pointless exercise and it was obvious that no-one was going to lose much time unless they did something stupid. There were a few tricky narrow tracks with rocks and washaways but no need to be pushing hard.

A turn right onto this grotty track was a minor challenge
(Photo grabbed from Google Maps Street View)

All the leading cars cleaned and in fact 41 cars lost no time. However, the stage was not without some drama. The distributor on Carr's Cortina worked loose and needed quick repairs while Dunkerton's Volvo had a problem with the diff, apparently the bolts working loose and wearing a hole in the housing. They both limped on without any loss of time on this easy stage.
Further back in the field times were slower and losses ranged from a few minutes up to a couple of hours. There were 36 cars that lost between 10 minutes and an hour, so many that it is difficult to conclude that they all had mechanical problems and perhaps they were simply exhausted and slow. Alternatively, perhaps there were a couple of sandy stretches that caused problems for later cars. The battling Murray Carter dropped more than an hour in the Falcon, while George Harris in the Citroen lost an hour and a half. The Cuthell Torana, Sparkes Fairmont and Bolton Dodge Kingsway were all very late and skipped to Adelaide. The Farmer P76 and the Stockley Porsche 911 scored maximum 4 hour penalties, presumably having major problems or having simply decided to skip to the end of the stage.

V22 - Kuitpo Transport

Distance	Time allowed	First car due	Map
86.5 km	1 hour 10 minutes	2.25 pm Monday Hold until 3.00 pm	Click here

This transport ran from Murray Bridge across through Strathalbyn to the edge of the Kuitpo Forest. There was a hold at the end with the first car starting the Kuitpo Special Stage at 3.00 pm Monday afternoon. At the front, Carr needed service time to deal with the loose distributor and also a loose rear shock absorber which apparently shook the rear so badly as to pop the rear windscreen from its seal. The Cortina lost 14 minutes which dropped them from second to tenth. A number of other crews lost time on what was an easy transport, presumably needing service time, while large time losses befell the Ruyter Moke (55 minutes), the Macarther Falcon (1 hour) and the Ohta Toyota (1 hour 42 minutes). The Ellis/Wall Datsun struck trouble after their early quick times and cut directly to Adelaide.

V23 - Adelaide Special Stage

Distance	Time allowed	First car due	Map
11.4 km	7 minutes	3.07 pm Monday	Click here

Bond about to start the Kuitpo Special Stage
(Photo: Ian Richards)

The short special stage through the Kuipto pine plantation was on reasonably good forest roads and included plenty of turns (32 instructions). It basically ran across the plantation from east to west to a turn hard right at a spectator point, then back across to the east side before heading to the finish on the west side again. Quite a few spectators were at the spectator point which also had a passage control. Conditions were reasonable although it was certainly damp and the roads may have cut up a bit for later cars.

Wayne Bell on the Kuitpo Special Stage
(Photo grabbed from ABC Sport video)

None of the leading cars had any problems although Carr was somewhat slow with the loose shocker, Dunkerton was limping through with the leaking diff in the Volvo dropping about 4 minutes more than a good time, and the Davis 180B was also quite slow. Mulligan stalled at the spectator point and was unable to restart the Escort, however the problems were more serious and they were unable to complete the stage at all. They limped into Adelaide but their rally was effectively finished.

Ed Mulligan's run comes to an early end in Kuitpo Forest
(Photo courtesy of Ray Berghouse, Chevron Publishing)

As night fell, the remainder of the tired field came through this dinky little stage which should not have presented any real challenges. Yet the times stretched out more and more as the relative inexperience of so many crews was evident. Although 108 cars completed the stage, only 79 had a time under 10 minutes which equated to an average speed of 40 km/h. Those with large time losses included the Jones Riley (45 minutes), Heaton's HJ Holden (50 minutes), the Barnes Hillman (57 minutes), the Walsh 'Grey Ghost' (1 hour 3 minutes), Pittaway's Ford Ute (1 hour 18 minutes) and Madgwick's F100 (1 hour 40 minutes).

Fastest times:

• Brock 2.30
• Mehta (Aaltonen?) and Portman 2.39
• Ferguson (Bell) 2.46
• Perkins 2.53
• Fury 3.07
• Bond 3.08
• Sutton 3.12
• Rowney 3.17
• Carr 3.18
• Cowan and Quill 3.30
• Stewart 3.41
• Jackson 3.44
• Herrmann 3.45
• Miettunen 3.48
• Nalder 3.52
• Warmbold 3.53
• Barth 3.59
• Loader 4.03
• Taylor and Hilton 4.05
• Hodgson 4.07
• Faulkner 4.08
• Mason 4.19
• Ohta 4.24
• Hurrey 4.28
• Lund 4.32
• Maloney and Colless 4.33
• Beveridge 4.38
• Glennie 4.44
• Jensen 4.47
• Davis 4.53
• Lloyd 4.57
• Roberts 4.59
• Leighton 5.01
• Tholstrup 5.07
• Watson 5.12
• Sawyer 5.18
• Mizel 5.24
• Murray (Jack Milko) 5.34
• Meehan 5.38
• Finlay 5.40
• Murray (Gelignite Jack) 5.52
• Neislon 5.54
• Boaden 5.55
• Kuss 5.56
• McCubbin 6.01

V24 - Adelaide Breather Transport

Distance	Time allowed	First car due	Map
48.0 km	53 minutes	4.00 pm Monday	Click here

It was obvious that this transport into the heart of Adelaide was going to be tight. The early parts were on somewhat twisty roads in the Lofty Ranges while the latter parts were mixing it with peak hour traffic. Many cars were late but in the end the organisers deleted all late penalties. Cars were scrutineered and then impounded for the overnight stop.
While the first cars arrived on time from 4.00 pm, it is worth remembering that with six hours of late running time and the original field being spread out over five and a half hours (although holds at Renmark and Kuitpo may have compressed the field somewhat) that the last cars were probably coming into Adelaide around 3 am Tuesday morning, not long before the first of the leaders were being released from impound for the division to Perth!

Next: Division V Summary