For any current-day Canberra viewers (like me), the tarmac stages and the undeveloped streetscapes are actually the now-retirement belt (!) suburbs of Farrer, Gowrie, and Macarthur. Specifically:
>> Fadden stage , circa 5km: from a "control" point on the downhill stretch of the 4-lane Erindale Drive extension between Sulwood intersection (now roundabout) and Sternberg intersection (now roundabout), sprint 200m and turn left Sternberg, instantly tightening left again into Bugden Av, for about 900m, then take a right onto Partridge and promptly turn right Airey as a downhill loop, left turn back onto Partridge, all the way up the hill again and then right turn back onto Bugden, look for Appel very soon on your left, and take that climbing turn for a glorious, twisting 1.5km loop taking you back to a T-intersection with Bugden near the start of the stage, turn left and head back along Bugden the way you had come a few minutes before, but this time go past Partridge look for (1st) Chataway on the right, and complete a loop that returns to (turn right) Bugden, and into control.

>> Macarthur stage , circa 2.4km: From Coyne St control (between intersections with Carson and Jackie Howe, and alongside what is now Canberra bus stop number 1150, and actually on the "wrong" side of Coyne St), your RS1800 Escort sprints 150m eastward, then dives left (through the median strip) into Carson, continue Carson until turn left into Jackie Howe Cr, and after about 400m, turn left into Merriman and climb the hill up to meet the top of Jackie Howe Cr, turn left and follow Jackie Howe as it eventually descends to the intersection with Coyne, and the finish line is just before that intersection. This is almost a lap of a circuit which apparently approximates one of the configurations of the old "Macarthur Park" racetrack that was not long before still operating, prior to the new roads for the subdivision being put through the area. (The full lap would merely require completing the left turn back onto Coyne and sprinting 400m to the control point you started from.)

Jackie Howe Cr has the appearance of following much of the old racetrack - necessarily because of the contours of the hillside. The last official races at Macarthur Park Racetrack seem to have been in 1980, and the race program featured "superkarts" and motorcycles.

These specific roads are correct for what were called the "Fadden" and "Macarthur" stages. Bugden-Coyne forms a spine, not only for taking forward and recursive loops up and down the face of the hill, but for transporting between the 2 stages; and also (via Sternberg) conveniently connecting teams and spectators with the popular Erindale Shops and carpark. Indeed, the Appel spectator point was a walk of only 1.5km from the Erindale Centre.

***Of course most of this is now 50km/h speed limit, so the fun is CERTAINLY NOT RACING - it's just knowing you are driving an historic ARC special stage that was driven by legendary drivers in factory Ford Escort and Datsun Stanza rally teams:)***

By the way, back then - c.1980 - Tuggeranong was just a tiny northern knub of the megalopolis we now have. Back then, it was just Kambah and Wanniassa!

What passed for the Tuggeranong shopping mall was the Erindale Centre in Wanniassa; and this little shopping centre - with its large open carpark - was no doubt a hub of activity for Castrol Rally spectators, officials, and service teams because it is barely 1km from the start of the special stages. Why not grab a hamburger at Erindale before you explore these historic special stages! 🍔🍟🥤

1981 was a very brief window of time that allowed new, improved, and still deserted tar access roads (Sternberg, Bugden and Coyne) to what had long been a rough-and-ready minor race track called "Macarthur Park" - which had (I believe) recently been "absorbed" into new subdivision roads like Coyne, Jackie Howe, Merriman, and Carson.

It's been an interesting couple of days going down this rabbit hole to work out where Greg Carr's sensational wheel-lifting footage (11:33 onwards) was actually filmed at Appel Cr 😊.

Great old footage

Awesome

oh sweet

👍👍👍