This 2,000 mile event was considered to be one of the best BP’s yet with director Frank Kilfoyle combining driving and navigation challenges, with a good and varied selection of roads and tracks. The weather gods decided to come out and play making this event a very wet one.

Colin Bond and Brian Hope

Harry Firth had taken up the role of managing the new Holden Dealer team and decided to enter both a Monaro and a Torana into the 1970 BP Rally.

The Monaro was the most powerful car in modern Trials with a believed 360bhp from the GTS 350 Chev motor. Bond and Roberts had won the most recent Bathurst 500 sharing a 350 Monaro so were clearly at home as Team Mates.

Tony Roberts and Mike Osborne

Water played a major part in the rally with muddy Kamarooka Forest and a maze of muddy tracks around Annuello. Worst followed near Kulkyne with unmapped tracks causing most competitors problems.

Stage end at Mildura saw Tony Roberts’ Torana leading from Colin Bond’s Monaro. The next Division ran down towards Hattah via a couple of long, sandy traps. Right near the end of the rally, Bob Watson in a Rehault Gordini managed to pass Bond in the Monaro into second place. The Monaro was struggling in the sandy conditions likely due to being much heavier, although much more powerful than the Renault.

Holden Torana wins BP Rally 1970

The 1970 BP Rally provided the Holden Dealer Team with early success with Tony Roberts and Mike Osborne in the Torana taking a convincing win and Colin Bond and Brian Hope in the 350 Monaro, finishing third. This gave Holden the Manufacturers Award win, narrowly beating the high number of Datsun’s.