Andrew Cowan's Rally Record
ANDREW COWAN
Date of birth 13 December 1936
World Rally Championship Results
Pos Year Rally Codriver Car
R 1973 Daily Mirror RAC Rally Johnstone Syer Ford Escort RS1600
4 1975 Safari Rally John Mitchell Mitsubishi Colt Lancer
28 1975 Lombard RAC Rally Hamish Cardno Mitsubishi Colt Lancer
3 1976 Safari Rally Johnstone Syer Mitsubishi Lancer
4 1977 Safari Rally Paul White Mitsubishi Colt Lancer
R 1977 Lombard RAC Rally Paul White Chrysler Avenger
R 1978 Safari Rally Johnstone Syer Mercedes 280 E
4 1979 Safari Rally Johnstone Syer Mercedes 280 E
3 1979 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Klaus Kaiser Mercedes 450 SLC 5.0
6 1980 Safari Rally Klaus Kaiser Mercedes 450 SLC 5.0
R 1980 Acropolis Rally Johnstone Syer Ford Escort RS
R 1980 Rally Codasur Klaus Kaiser Mercedes 280 CE
R 1980 Motogard Rally of New Zealand Klaus Kaiser Mercedes 500 SLC
R 1980 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Klaus Kaiser Mercedes 500 SLC
R 1981 Rallye de Portugal Vinho do Porto Peter O'Gorman Ford Escort RS1800
R 1981 Acropolis Rally Johnstone Syer Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo
R 1981 Lombard RAC Rally Derek Tucker Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo
World Rally Championship Classifications
Pos Championship Points
8 1979 World Rally Championship for Drivers 22
36 1980 World Rally Championship for Drivers 6
Other International Rally Results
Pos Year Rally Codriver Car
5 1970 Daily Mirror RAC Rally Hamish Cardno Alpine-Renault A110 1600
21 1971 Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo Johnstone Syer BMC Mini Cooper S 1275
13 1971 Daily Mirror RAC Rally Johnstone Syer Ford Escort TC
R 1972 Daily Mirror RAC Rally Brian Coyle Ford Escort RS1600
R 1977 Total Rally South Africa Gerry Gericke Dodge Colt
1 1977 Rallye Bandama Côte d'Ivoire Johnstone Syer Mitsubishi Colt Lancer
R 1978 Southern Cross Rally Wayne Gregson Volkswagen Golf
Information courtesy Tjeerd van der Zee, 2001-2005.
tjeerd@rallybase.nl
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Southern Cross Rallies won by Andrew Cowan
1969
Saw a general ban on rallying in New South Wales for the year. Rather than abandon the rally the ASCC got permission to run the event in southern Queensland and far northern NSW, starting at Surfers Paradise. Andrew Cowan, back in Australia after his win in the 1968 LSM, took a surprise win in a works ex-LSM Austin 1800, which was a surprise because many people considered the car too slow to win an event like the 'Cross. It goes to show you what a clever driver Andrew Cowan was over the longer rallies. Cowan's nav was Dave Johnson, notching up his second victory. In second place for the third time was Victorian ace Frank Kilfoyle driving the Ford Team's Lotus Cortina. Last years winner Keran left the road on the first night but fought back in his Volvo to finish well up.
1969 Results
1 A.Cowan/D.Johnson Austin 1800
2 F.Kilfoyle/D.Rutherford Cortina GT
3 C.Bond/B.Hope Colt 1500SS
4 B.Ferguson/R.Bonhomme Monaro
5 B.Collier/L.Adcock Renault
1972
This was yet another important year for the Southern Cross because it saw the official entry for the first time of the mighty Nissan Works Team, with their chief driver the original flying Finn Rauno Aaltonen and the car was a 240Z. Fresh from victory in the East African Safari they hoped to do well with the safari spec car, but some minor navigation problems and a broken differential kept them down to second place. The winner for the second time was Andrew Cowan in a works Mitsubishi Galant, this time with John Bryson navigating. This was the beginning of Cowan's fantastic run of success in the rally which carried through unbroken till 1976. Doug Chivas took third in the other Galant, with Edgar Hermann in Forth in his Works Datsun. Previous winner Barry Ferguson rolled out of the rally on the second night in his works Galant Coupe.
1972 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Galant
2 R.Aaltonen/S.Halloran Datsun 240Z
3 D.Chivas/P.Meyer Galant
4 E.Herrmann/M.Mitchell Datsun 180B
5 A.Jackson/P.Godden Datsun 1600
1973
The year of the Big Wet as far as the Cross was concerned, terrible weather before and during the rally decimated the field with only 9 cars completing the whole route. Mitsubishi's new Lancer revelled in the conditions taking the first four places outright while the Datsun team floundered in the mud behind them. Cowan and Bryon led all the way for another great win with Barry Ferguson and Wayne Gregson in second. Star of the event in many peoples eyes was Colin Bond, who started the event as last car in the field yet pulled up to 5th outright by the end of the first night and eventually finished in that position. The best placed Datsun was the 180B SSS of Frank Kilfoyle after English star Tony Fall rolled his 240Z near Ebor on the second night.
1973 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Lancer
2 B.Ferguson/W.Gregson Lancer
3 D.Chivas/P.Meyer Lancer
4 J.Singh/G.Connelly Lancer
5 C.Bond/G.Shepheard Lancer
1974
In many ways 1974 was a repeat of the previous year, with the same rain, same tough event and same winner. But this year only 3 crews completed the whole course and only 7 finished the rally. Datsun pinned their hopes on Swede Harry Kallstrom in a new 710 coupe but the former European champion retired on the second night with broken front suspension. Cowan and Bryson were then able to take a fairly easy victory. Second place went to Singh and Connelly after the luckless Barry Ferguson suffered electrical failure on the very last special stage. For the first time a Japanese crew finished highly placed, Tatsuo Yaginuma and Harua Okada taking third place in a Toyota Trueno. Hero of the rally was you Australian Driver George Fury in a semi works Datsun who finished Fourth after early challenging for second spot.
1974 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Lancer
2 J.Singh/G.Connelly Lancer
3 T.Yaginuma/H.Okado Toyota Trueno
4 G.Fury/M.Suffern Datsun 710
5 Y.Iwashita/N.Yasuoka Datsun
1975
In a concerted bid to win the rally away from Mitsubishi the Nissan team returned at full strength for the 1975 event. They had a team of three 710's for Aaltonen, Kallstrom and Fury. By the end of the second night all three had retired with engine failure, once again leaving the rally to the front running Lancers. Cowan, now with Fred Gocentas Navigating, notched up his fifth win. Young Canberra driver Greg Carr upheld Datsun's Honour by bringing his Gerry Ball Datsun 180B SSS into third. The works Escort RS1800 of Bob Watson retired while holding forth place on the last night but the similar car of Bruce Hodgson/Chris Heaney battled on to take fifth place. The works Lancer of Finn, Hannu Mikkola lasted until halfway through the night before rolling out of the rally.
1975 Results
1 A.Cowan/F.Gocentas Lancer
2 B.Ferguson/L.Adcock Lancer
3 G.Carr/W.Gregson Datsun 180B
4 D.Stewart/J.Dawson-Damer Lancer
5 K.Shinozuka/G.Connolly Lancer
1976
Added excitement was thrown into the rally when Ford decided to enter two of their all-conquering RS1800 Escorts for Timo Makinen and Roger Clark to challenge the top running Lancers of Cowan and Ferguson and the Datsuns of Aaltonen, Kallstrom, Fury, Carr and Walfridsson. The Ford challenge came to nothing for neither driver was able to batch Cowan on stage times overall and both cars suffered rear axle problems. Carr retired on the first night after leaving the road and Aaltonen went out with engine mounting failure. Fury led the rally until well into the last night when he eventually succumbed to Cowan's pressure and later retired with a broken diff, joining Kallstrom out with gearbox failure.
1976 Results
1 A.Cowan/J.Bryson Lancer
2 B.Ferguson/N.Faulkner Lancer
3 S.Mehta/A.Mortimer Datsun 710
4 D.Stewart/J.Dawson-Damer Lancer
5 K.Shinozuka/G.Connolly Lancer
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