The Australian Cannonball Cup was a car race held in 1984 on public roads between Melbourne and Perth, Australia.
Although the event was originally promoted as timed race with very few rules similar to the American Cannonball Run, after significant negative publicity the organizers insisted the event was a navigation and endurance rally and instituted a disqualification rule if drivers were caught by police for a driving offence. The entry fee was $550 per team, and first prize was $10,000. 76 teams had entered but a significant number pulled out prior to the start, leaving 33 teams to compete. The race started on Friday, at a private farm in Diggers Rest on the outskirts of Melbourne. Teams could choose any route but had to pass through two checkpoints. The first checkpoint was at Berri, South Australia and the second at Albany, Western Australia. The race was closely followed by police in all three states that it passed through. Many drivers were booked or arrested. Vehicles were checked for roadworthiness, some on more than one occasion, and at least one vehicle was ordered off the road in Western Australia. On Sunday 4 November the first team arrived at the finish in Fremantle, Western Australia, in 32 hours and 22 minutes.
Some weeks after the race the organizers disqualified the winning car due to the drivers having been caught by police for a driving offence. The second placed team was then awarded the win. No other disqualifications were announced, despite a significant number of other teams having been caught by police.
The race organizer suffered financial problems and no prize money was paid out. A second event was planned for 1985 but never ran.
Results
Position Entrant Race Time DQCharles Kovacs, Len Walsh32h 22m 5s 1John Hassard, Ian Bray, John Crowle33h 4m 16s 2Murray Buchan, Darryl Penley33h 5m 0s 3Andrew Csaszar, Russell Morton33h 11m 17s 4Graham Collins, Robert Harvey, Don Ogilvie33h 33m 44s 5Warrick Jacobson, Ron Flanigan33h 57m 13s 6Ron Reid, Robert Pollit, Chris Ohlin34h 6m 57s 7Peter Martin, Lindsay Williams, Robert Shanahan34h 15m 25s 8Wayne Haw, Allan Fielding, Jeff Haire34h 36m 59s 9Carlo Aloi, Ted Camilleri34h 46m 26s 10Phil Hansen, Scott Sieger35h 9m 34s 11Leigh Cohen, Graham Callaghan35h 23m 32s 12Neville French, Jim Fernance, Simon Fraser35h 36m 31s 13Barbara Langshaw, Mark Kent35h 57m 41s 14Jerry Reinisch, Jerry Revay, Lucas Hagan36h 1m 32s 15Ken Hourigan, Philip Hourigan36h 2m 38s 16Peter Pearce, Geoff ?, Gary Colton36h 19m 49s 17Jock Calder, Jim Rosenthal, Rob Tolano36h 22m 23s 18Robert Paterno, Alfio Paterno36h 59m 44s 19Geoff Muclahy, Paul Mulcahy, Bill Mulcahy36h 59m 57s 20Indo Saarelaht, Heino Saarelaht, Kurt Seeberg37h 33m 19s 21Steven Swan, Noel Dey38h 33m 27s 22Gerald Brown, Les Dean38h 33m 28s 23Peter Dale, Andrew Fraser, Gerard Ellis39h 21m 49s 24Andre Razums, Lance Dickinson, Steven Mears39h 33m 33s 25Joe Cincotta, Tim Nolan40h 17m 45s 26John Gregory, Axel Tworowsky40h 57m 44s DNFWalter (Butch) Hollier, Greg Bailey DNFRick Illes, Robert Altarac DNFAlan Squires, Rick Wilcox DNFGraham Stevenson, Chris Colangelo DNFDavid Westbury, David Krant, Darren Mcmullen DNFRay Ellis, James Maude
References
Australian Cannonball Official Time Sheet
Further reading Australian Cannonball Cup media reports
External links Unofficial 1984 Australian Cannonball Cup website