The Southern Cross Rally was a major international rally mainly held in the Port Macquarie region of New South Wales , Australia , between 1966 and 1980. The rally attracted many of the world's leading rally drivers and factory teams.
47-554: The inaugural Southern Cross Rally was won by Harry Firth in a works Ford Cortina . Scotsman Andrew Cowan dominated the event in the 1970s winning the rally five years in a row for the Mitsubishi works team from 1972 to 1976. The last four wins were in a Mitsubishi Lancer 1600 GSR and Cowan had also earlier won the 1969 'Cross in an Austin 1800 making a total of six victories. Some other notable Southern Cross winners were Colin Bond in
94-409: A Ford Cortina GT . The Ford works team didn't enter any cars for the 1966 Gallaher 500 at Bathurst and Firth teamed with Ern Abbott in a Morris Cooper S to finish in 6th place. The first nine finishers in the race all drove the famed Cooper S. 1967 saw Firth notch up his last victory as a driver in the annual 500 mile race at Bathurst, winning the 1967 Gallaher 500 with a young Fred Gibson in
141-500: A Ford XR Falcon GT , the first Australian made Ford Falcon to use a V8 engine . Sydney based racer/designer Frank Matich was scheduled to co-drive with Firth but had to withdraw due to other commitments. Firth wouldn't have minded so much on missing out on the driving talents of Frank Matich as he was always of the belief that drivers used to being able to drive their specially built race cars hard weren't well suited to Series Production racing where you had to be much easier on what
188-700: A Holden Dealer Team Torana GTR XU-1 in 1971, the 'flying Finn' Rauno Aaltonen in a Datsun Violet 710 in 1977, Talmalmo farmer George Fury in 1978 and 1979 in the Datsun Stanza and Ross Dunkerton who won the 1980 rally driving a Stanza. There were many famous international rally drivers who contested the rally without winning it, including world champions Swedes Björn Waldegård and Stig Blomqvist , and Finns Ari Vatanen and Hannu Mikkola . Some other notable international rally drivers who competed include Edgar Herrmann , Timo Mäkinen , Shekhar Mehta and Paddy Hopkirk . The final Southern Cross Rally in 1980
235-400: A Cortina GT. Firth also won the 1964 Lowood 4 Hour with John Raeburn in a Ford Cortina GT . Firth and John Reaburn finished 3rd in the 1964 Armstrong 500 in a Cortina GT, while Bob Jane won his 4th in a row, teaming with George Reynolds , also in a GT. Firth and Reaburn also teamed in the 1965 Armstrong 500 , but while the winning Ford Works car of Barry Seton and Midge Bosworth was
282-558: A Ford Works Team Ford Falcon XL to victory in the 1962 Armstrong 500 at Philip Island. Firth and Jane recorded the races first hat-trick of wins when they won the 1963 Armstrong 500 driving a Mk.I Ford Cortina GT at Bathurst (the race had moved to Bathurst that year due to the poor state of the Phillip Island Circuit following the 1962 race). In 1964 Firth and Hoinville won the Ampol Round Australia Trial in
329-537: A bad start and a collision another car, with de Cesaris putting in the drive of the race to finish 3rd after starting early from the pit lane and being almost half a lap down when he took the green flag. Jane is credited with bringing stock car racing to Australia. Long resistant to oval racing (seeing it as dull and monotonous when compared to circuit racing, although speedway ( Dirt track racing ), held on smaller ¼ or ⅓ mile oval tracks, has been popular in Australia since
376-514: A driver, engineer and team manager, he was "As cunning as an outhouse rat" . Firth was awarded the Medal of the order of Australia on 26th January 1999 for services to Motor Racing as a driver, team manager and engineer. https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/887108 On 27 April 2014, Firth died in his sleep surrounded by his family, he was aged 96. Firth was born in Orbost , Victoria. Firth enlisted in
423-409: A kitchen knife. In a Victorian County Court, on 22 January 2009, a jury found Laree Jane not guilty of five charges, including assault, related to the domestic dispute. Jane met Laree when he performed Grand Marshal duties for the 1986 James Hardie 1000 at Bathurst. Jane declared bankruptcy on 8 July 2016. On 28 September 2018, Jane died from prostate cancer, 21 years after his diagnosis. He
470-472: A retreaded tyre blowing out. Having lost control of Bob Jane T-Marts, Jane attempted to create a new tyre business using his name. It was blocked by son Rodney in court which also ruled Jane pay legal costs. In May 2015, his Diggers Rest farm was seized by the state sheriff in order to settle the outstanding costs. From 1980 to 1984, the Australian Grand Prix was held at his Calder Park Raceway in
517-679: A six-hour race at the Green Valley Raceway in Smithfield , Texas , and a four-hour race at Riverside in California . Following the Riverside race, the American's reportedly wanted Firth to stay and help the team but Firth refused, stating that he had to be back in Australia for a rally. Harry Firth won the rally in question, the inaugural Southern Cross Rally, with navigator Graham Hoinville, driving
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#1732858808372564-458: A so-called "Dealer's Council") was actually a full works team backed by Holden and set up by GMH executive John Bagshaw. Because of General Motors worldwide factory ban on motorsport at the time (dating back to the 1955 24 Hours of Le Mans disaster that killed 80 people), the team's cash flow from Holden had to come through the 'back door' to avoid alerting GM headquarters in Detroit . Ironically,
611-529: The Adelaide International Raceway which features the only other paved NASCAR type oval in Australia with its half mile Speedway Super Bowl, which, unlike the Thunderdome, is a permanent part of the road circuit. In 1992, Jane and Sydney based speedway promoter and Channel 7 television commentator Mike Raymond also announced plans to turn the old half mile harness racing track that surrounded
658-563: The Armstrong 500 at Phillip Island , Victoria , driving a Mercedes-Benz 220SE . Jane and Firth, driving a Ford Falcon XL , won the race again the following year, the last before the event moved to Mount Panorama at Bathurst , New South Wales , retaining the Armstrong 500 name. Jane, driving for the Ford works team , won a further two Armstrong 500s at the new venue, the first with Firth in 1963 and
705-639: The Parramatta Speedway in Sydney into a paved oval for NASCAR and the Australian AUSCAR category, giving Australia a third paved oval speedway. However, the project never got past the planning stage. On 23 February 2007, Jane was granted a 12-month intervention order against his estranged wife, Laree Jane (born 1967). At the time, she was 39 years old and they had been married for 20 years. He accused her of threatening to shoot him and threatening him with
752-601: The Teams Prize . In 1969, Firth was considered by those at Ford to be 'too old' and was replaced as Ford Works Team boss by Al Turner, an American more known in Drag racing than circuit racing. Within a short time he had crossed over to General Motors Holden (GMH) to become manager of the new Holden Dealer Team , which despite the "Dealer" name (and Harry's claims on the ABC's Four Corners program in 1970 that as team boss he worked for
799-553: The Winston Cup's Pontiac Excitement 400 at the Richmond International Raceway the previous weekend, and Allison, who had won the 1988 Daytona 500 just one week prior to that, dominated the race, swapping the lead several times on a hot summer afternoon in which cabin temperatures were reported to reach over 57 °C (135 °F). Bonnett won the 280 lap race from Allison with Dave Marcis finishing 3rd. The race
846-468: The naming rights sponsorship for the Bathurst 1000 , the race Jane dominated early in his career. The company also held the naming rights to the former Bob Jane Stadium , home of South Melbourne FC . Bob Jane T-Marts is the only major tyre retailer in Australia who do not sell retread tyres. Jane's personal reason for this is that his second eldest daughter Georgina had died in a car accident in 1991 due to
893-455: The 1920s), Australian motorsport fans finally had their own NASCAR -style high banked superspeedway when Jane spent A$ 54 million building the Thunderdome on the grounds of Calder Park Raceway. The 1.801 km (1.119 mi) Thunderdome, with 24° banking in the turns, was built as a quad-oval with Jane modelling the track on the famous Charlotte Motor Speedway . Opened on 3 August 1987,
940-634: The 1950s Firth successfully competed in Porsche 356 ’s in races and hillclimbs. Firth had a great record in the Alpine Rally winning the event five times between 1953 and 1962. Firth then teamed with Bob Jane in a Mercedes-Benz 220SE to win the 1961 Armstrong 500 at Philip Island. In 1962 the Firth Motors workshop at Queens Avenue, Auburn ( Melbourne ) became the base for the Ford works team. Firth and Jane drove
987-546: The ATCC, he finished on the podium 21 times. Jane also won the 1963 Australian GT Championship at the wheel of a Jaguar E-type , and the Marlboro Sports Sedan Series, in both 1974 and 1975, at his own Calder Park Raceway driving a Holden Monaro GTS 350 (at times he also drove his Repco V8 powered Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1 which was mostly driven by John Harvey ). Jane retired from competitive motor racing at
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#17328588083721034-524: The Australian Army on 23 October 1939 and was assigned to the 1st Corps of Signals. He was discharged at the end of the war on 3 October 1945. https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=421086&c=WW2 After returning from service in World War II, Firth turned his attention to motorsport. He was involved in preparing the winning BMW 328 for the 1948 Australian Grand Prix (driven by Frank Pratt). In
1081-699: The Australian. The 1983 race was the last time the Grand Prix was included as a round of the Australian Drivers' Championship. During 1984 it was announced that from 1985, the Australian Grand Prix would be held on the Streets of Adelaide and would be the 16th and final round of the 1985 Formula One season , giving the Grand Prix "World Championship" status for the first time in its history. Despite this, Jane
1128-699: The Geoghegans), were correctly awarded 1st place later that night. Firth won the 1968 Australian Rally Championship driving a Ford Cortina Lotus . That year he also led a three car Ford Australia assault on the inaugural London–Sydney Marathon , preparing a trio of XT Falcon GT's for the event which started on 24–25 November at Crystal Palace in London and traveled through Europe , the Middle East and South Asia before arriving in Bombay , India on 1–2 December. From there,
1175-729: The HDT in a Holden Monaro GTS350 , with Des West and Brock finishing third in a similar car. Over the next eight years the Holden Dealer Team under Firth achieved many notable race and rally victories and championship wins. Included among these are: At the end of 1977, Firth retired as manager of the Holden team but continued his involvement in motor racing as National Chief Scrutineer between 1978-1981. 1961-62 were run at Phillip Island. The race moved to Bathurst in 1963. Bob Jane Robert Frederick Jane (18 December 1929 – 28 September 2018)
1222-467: The HDT operated out of Firth’s Auburn workshop, the same that had once housed the Ford works team. That year (1969) Firth was instrumental in launching the professional careers of two soon to be famous drivers – talented up and coming rally driver Colin Bond and young tearaway Peter Brock whose feats in an Austin A30 had brought him to Firth’s attention. Bond and Tony Roberts won the 1969 Bathurst 500 for
1269-623: The Harry Firth developed Ford Cortina GT500 , Firth and Reaburn finished only 14th outright but won Class A for cars priced under £ 920 in a Mk.I Ford Cortina 220 . As part of his work with Ford Australia , Firth was recommended as a driver by a young Canadian born Aussie racing in the new Trans-Am series in the United States named Allan Moffat , and he traveled to the US and co-drove with Moffat in an Under-2 litre class Lotus Cortina in two races,
1316-532: The Thunderdome played host to the first ever NASCAR event held outside North America on 28 February 1988 with the Goodyear NASCAR 500 . Several prominent drivers from the United States came to Australia for this race including Alabama Gang members Bobby Allison and Neil Bonnett , along with Kyle Petty , Michael Waltrip , Dave Marcis , and others from the Winston West Series . Bonnett, who had won
1363-424: The best Formula One drivers of the era. Each race from 1981 to 1984 was won by those driving the popular Ralt RT4 - Ford . The 1981 Australian Grand Prix was won by future F1 driver Roberto Moreno from Brazil . Finishing second, also in an RT4 was 1981 World Champion Nelson Piquet (Brazil) with Australian Geoff Brabham finishing 3rd in his RT4. Alan Jones and Ligier's Jacques Laffite also participated in
1410-456: The early 1950s as a champion bicycle rider, holding many state records before turning to four wheels. In the later 1950s, he started Bob Jane Autoland, a company that distributed parts for Jaguar and Alfa Romeo . Through this venture, a love of cars and motor sport blossomed and he first entered competitive racing in Australia in 1956; by 1960, he was racing with some of Australia's top sedan drivers. In 1961, Jane and co-driver Harry Firth won
1457-547: The end of 1981 due to sciatica . At the time of his retirement he had been driving a 6.0 litre Chevrolet Monza in the Australian Sports Sedan Championship . After giving up driving, Jane asked touring car star Peter Brock to drive the Monza in the re-formed Australian GT Championship . Brock raced the car in 1982 and 1983 before Jane sold the car in early 1984 to Re-Car owner Allan Browne. In 1965, Jane opened
Southern Cross Rally - Misplaced Pages Continue
1504-702: The final two races held at the Island and twice at Bathurst ). He also won the Southern Cross Rally and the Australian Rally Championship . He was inducted into the Supercars Hall of Fame in 2007. Firth has often been described as a 'bush engineer', someone who could probably build a race winning engine from nothing more than a roll of wire, while leading Australian Motoring journalist and former part-time racer Bill Tuckey once wrote of Firth that as
1551-702: The first Bob Jane T-Marts store in Melbourne. The company remains an independent, family-owned business to this day; Bob's son, Rodney Jane, is the current CEO. In 2011, 81-year-old Jane resigned as chairman of T-Marts citing difficulties in the relationship with his son Rodney. From 1984 To 1997 Bob Jane formed a cross shareholding partnership with Ian Diffen. Bob Jane operated in Queensland and Ian Richard Diffen operated Ian Diffen's World of Tyres and Mufflers in Western Australia. From 2002 to 2004, Bob Jane T-Marts held
1598-471: The outer suburbs of Melbourne, Jane taking over the promoting and staging of the Grand Prix in the hope of Calder Park being granted a round of the Formula One World Championship (an ambitious plan at best as Calder was a 1.6 km long circuit which the faster cars lapped in less than 40 seconds). The 1980 Grand Prix was open to Formula 5000 , Formula Pacific and Formula One cars and
1645-576: The race, though both failed to finish. The 1981 race was the first time since 1968 that the AGP had two or more, current or past World Champions, on the starting grid. On that occasion, Jim Clark (1st), Graham Hill (3rd), Denny Hulme (9th), and Australia's own triple World Champion Jack Brabham (DNF) participated as the race was part of the popular off-season Tasman Series . For the 1982 Australian Grand Prix , Jane again attracted F1 drivers in Piquet, Laffite,
1692-573: The second in 1964 with George Reynolds as co-driver. Despite the change of venue, Jane is officially credited with winning Australia's most famous endurance race four times in a row, something no other driver, not even nine-time race winner Peter Brock , has ever done. Jane won the Australian Touring Car Championship (now known as the V8 Supercars Championship ) in 1962 , 1963 , 1971 and 1972 . His 1971 ATCC win
1739-613: The teams and their cars had an eight-day boat trip to Fremantle , Western Australia . The cars then traveled across the Nullarbor Plain into South Australia before finally crossing into New South Wales and arriving at the Warwick Farm Raceway in Sydney on 18 December. The Ford Works Team cars, which included Firth in the driving line up, survived the tough conditions of the marathon rally and finished 3rd, 6th and 8th and claiming
1786-711: The then retired Jones, plus future Formula One World Champion Alain Prost . Frenchman Prost won the 100 lap race from Laffite and 1981 winner Roberto Moreno. When Prost later won his second AGP in Adelaide in 1986 to win his second of four Formula One World Championships, he became the only driver to ever win the Australian Grand Prix in both World Championship and non-championship formats. The 1983 race , while only attracting one current F1 driver in Jacques Laffite, as well as Alan Jones, who had made an abortive F1 comeback earlier in
1833-557: The year, did attract 24 entries (mostly the Ford powered RT4), including former winner Moreno, Geoff Brabham and future F1 driver Allen Berg . Moreno won his second AGP from local drivers John Smith and Laffite. Geoff Brabham finished 4th with Jones in 5th and Charlie O'Brien . Reigning Australian Drivers' Champion Alfredo Costanzo led the race early in his Tiga FA81 before suffering a differential failure on lap 25. Moreno would later claim that had 'Alfie' not retired then he would likely have won as he didn't believe he would have caught
1880-587: Was a hard-fought battle between the Datsun Stanzas of Dunkerton, Fury and Geoff Portman and the Ford Escort BDA's driven by Greg Carr and Ari Vatanen. Dunkerton held off the Escorts to win. A combination of lack of sponsorship money and 'burn-out' of the rally organisers led to the demise of what was still a very competitive event. Harry Firth Henry Leslie Firth, OAM (18 April 1918 – 27 April 2014)
1927-582: Was an Australian race car driver and prominent entrepreneur and business tycoon. A four-time winner of the Armstrong 500, the race that became the prestigious Bathurst 1000 and a four-time Australian Touring Car Champion , Jane was well known for his chain of tyre retailers, Bob Jane T-Marts . Jane was inducted into the V8 Supercars Hall of Fame in 2000. Bob Jane grew up in Brunswick , an inner-city suburb of Melbourne . His passion for racing began in
Southern Cross Rally - Misplaced Pages Continue
1974-451: Was an Australian 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 with first the Ford works team and then the famed Holden Dealer Team (HDT) well into the 1970s. Firth’s nickname was "the fox", implying his use of cunning ploys as a team manager. Firth won the Bathurst 500 , including its predecessor at Phillip Island , four times (twice in
2021-464: Was in a Chevrolet Camaro ZL-1 with a 427 cubic inch engine. Jane was forced by a rule change to replace the 427 engine with a 350 cubic inch engine for the 1972 championship but the Camaro still managed to beat the opposition, which included Allan Moffat 's Ford Boss 302 Mustang , Ian Geoghegan 's Ford XY Falcon GTHO Phase III , and Norm Beechey 's Holden HT Monaro GTS350 . Of the 38 races he started in
2068-535: Was marred by an early multi-car crash in turns 3 and 4 involving 8 cars including the Ford Thunderbird of local touring car champion Dick Johnson , and the Oldsmobile of Allan Grice who, after running out of brakes, couldn't slow down coming off the back straight and ran into the wreck at speed. Grice, whose car was a write-off , suffered a broken collarbone and was taken to hospital for x-rays. Jane also owned
2115-511: Was really a road going car. Matich then recommended Gibson (who had finished 2nd in the 1966 race in a Cooper S) for the drive, with Firth meeting Gibson for the first time at a Bathurst hotel on the Friday before the race. Firth and Gibson were actually flagged in 2nd behind their Ford works team mates, Ian and Leo Geoghegan but following a re-count of the lap charts (after Firth protested the result resulting in long term animosity between himself and
2162-533: Was still able to successfully attract current Formula One drivers to participate in the 1984 Australian Grand Prix . Headlining the 'imports' was three time (including 1984 ) World Champion Niki Lauda , and 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg . Joining them were 1984 Ligier drivers Andrea de Cesaris and François Hesnault and 1981 and 1983 AGP winner Roberto Moreno to face off against local stars Costanzo and 1984 Gold Star champion John Bowe . Moreno would win his 3rd AGP in 4 years from Rosberg, who fought back from
2209-530: Was won by Australia's 1980 Formula One World Champion Alan Jones driving his World Championship winning Williams FW07B - Ford . Second home was fellow F1 driver Bruno Giacomelli driving his Alfa Romeo 179 , with Ligier F1 driver Didier Pironi finishing 3rd, driving an Elfin MR8 Formula 5000 for leading Australian team Ansett Team Elfin . From 1981 until 1984 the races were run under Formula Mondial regulations and Jane succeeded in attracting many of
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