The 1978 Australian Rally Championship was a series of six rallying events held across Australia. It was the eleventh season in the history of the competition.
Greg Carr and navigator Fred Gocentas in the Ford Escort RS1800 won the 1978 Championship, finally breaking the dominance of the Datsuns for the past three years.
The eleventh Australian Rally Championship was held over six events across Australia, the season consisting of two events for New South Wales and one event each for Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia.[1] The 1978 season was again a closely fought battle which resulted in a tie at the finish of the last event of the season between the Datsun of Dunkerton and the Escort of Carr. However the championship was awarded to Carr on a countback as he had three wins to Dunkerton's one.
The six events of the 1978 season were as follows.
| Round | Rally | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rally of the West (WA) | |
| 2 | Lutwyche Village Rally (QLD) | |
| 3 | Donlee Rally (NSW) | |
| 4 | Bega Valley Rally (NSW) | |
| 5 | Endrust Forest Rally (SA) | |
| 6 | Marchal Rally (VIC) | |
| Position | Driver | Navigator | Car | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Carr | Fred Gocentas | Ford Escort RS1800 | 40 |
| 2 | Ross Dunkerton | Jeff Beaumont | Datsun 710 Coupe | 42 |
| 3 | Colin Bond | John Dawson-Damer | Ford Escort RS2000 | 54 |
| 4 | Geoff Portman | Ross Runnalls | Datsun 1600 | 60 |
| 5 | Murray Coote | Brain Marsden | Datsun 120Y | 61 |
| 6 | Ed Mulligan | M. Rebecchi | Datsun 1600 | 74 |
Final pointscore for 1978 is as follows.[2]
| Position | Driver | Car | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greg Carr | Ford Escort RS1800 | |
| 2 | Ross Dunkerton | Datsun 710 Coupe | |
| 3 | Colin Bond | ||
| 4 | George Fury | ||
| 5 | Clive Slater | ||
| 6 | Geoff Portman | Datsun 1600 | |
| Position | Navigator | Car | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Dawson-Damer | Ford Escort RS2000 | |
| 2 | Fred Gocentas | Ford Escort RS1800 | |
| 3 | Jeff Beaumont | Datsun 710 Coupe | |
| 4 | Monty Suffern | ||
| 5 | Steve Halloran | ||
| 6 | Ross Runnalls | ||