Who better to advocate motorists’ rights than a three-time World Rally Car champion? We buckled up and took a hot lap in the high-speed life of NRMA’s newest Director, Coral Taylor
The digital clock standing beside the car counts down to zero and the time-keeper drops his arm. We accelerate from a standing start and the G-forces are so intense it’s like being shoved in the chest. Within seconds we’re doing the kind of speed usually reserved for the right-hand lane of a freeway.
Except we’re not on the freeway. I’m in the co-driver’s seat in a rally car and between jolts from the rutted trail beneath I can vaguely make out that we’re doing almost 120km/h. I struggle to comprehend how quickly we have reached this break-neck speed and when I look up through dusty haze I see a corner just 30m… no… 10m away. With barely a brake applied we’re through the turn and building up speed again.
I’m taking part in what I’ll loosely call a ‘joyride’. I’m wearing a helmet, a flame-retardant suit, and I’m surrounded by a roll cage – yet I’m gripping the door handle as if it will somehow keep me safe.
But really, what do I have to worry about? In the driver’s seat sits Neil Bates, three-time winner of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC). Neil knows this track like the back of his hand. It’s a good thing, too, because I’m strapped to the seat where his co-driver and navigator, Coral Taylor, would normally be.
Coral and Neil have won the ARC three times, which makes Coral one of the most successful women in Australian motorsport. In February 2008, she also became the newest member of NRMA’s board of directors.
My ride over, I clamber out of Coral’s seat, weak at the knees, adrenaline coursing through me. I hand my helmet back to Coral. The Rally of Canberra starts the following day and Neil will need his trusted partner alongside him.
Rally racing is all about stealing hidden seconds around a track and Coral has had many years to hone her expertise. Rally cars have been in her blood since she made her motorsport debut at age 18 in the punishing 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial. She partnered her father in that race and although their Datsun 1600 foundered in Western Australia and was taken out of the running, she claims it was the start of a life-long obsession. She began an association with the Toyota Racing Team 14 years later, when she teamed up with Neil as his co-driver.
It was a match seemingly made in heaven – the pair won the ARC on their first attempt in 1993 and won the following two years as well, becoming the first pairing in Australian rally history to win three consecutive championships. Their partnership is just as strong in 2008, the first year the TRD (Toyota Racing Development) rally team has used the new Super 2000-spec Corolla. It features a naturally aspirated engine and is about 200kg lighter than the turbo-charged Group N Corollas the team has used for the last five years.
So far, so good for the new car. Having won in Canberra, Neil and Coral lead the 2008 ARC going into the South Australian leg.
Rally racing is less about beating your opponents to a corner or overtaking them with straight-line speed than it is about getting the most out of your car in the prevailing conditions and working with your co-driver to beat the clock. As such, the understanding between driver and co-driver is pivotal. In Coral’s case, it has been key to her and Neil’s success.
“The commitment and trust that comes with working with someone so closely can’t be easily replicated,” says Coral. “You have to have absolute trust in your co-driver to the point where you end up on the same wavelength.”
Coral shows me her pace notes, which summarise the trail ahead and which she uses to convey to Neil the grade of turn they are approaching and whether danger is imminent. When you’re travelling at speeds of up to 160km/h along a narrow, pot-holed track, it’s fair to say danger is often imminent. Coral’s pace notes are her manifesto, her statement of intent, her guide. She likens the notes, in more practical terms, to running a video picture of the track in front of Neil.
But Coral’s influence in the TRD team goes well beyond piloting the Toyota rally car along dusty tracks. Ask anyone in the team, whether mechanic or catering staff, and they will tell you it is Coral’s organisational skills and methodical approach to matters that really set her apart. As logistical manager she is intimately involved in the day-to-day running of team TRD, but it’s obvious she does that, and much more, to ensure the team functions as it should.
As for the design, development and testing of the TRD cars, Neil and a small crew look after this at his workshop in Canberra. Much work went into the new S2000 cars during the recent off-season, including an update of the rear suspension.
According to Todd Connolly, motorsport manager for Toyota Australia, Coral and Neil are outstanding advocates not only for Toyota, but car safety in general. “Neil and Coral are able to give back to the community by virtue of their high profile. When you are three times Australian champion and you talk to impressionable youngsters about the benefits of learning advanced driver skills, the message hits home.”
Toyota places great stock in the safety of its cars and Todd explains that the safety systems and racing technology used in the TRD cars informs that used in Toyota’s production cars. “Neil Bates has played a huge role in articulating advice back to Toyota’s engineers. Findings from motorsport definitely go into the research and development process when it comes to the next generation of production cars and vice versa. It’s a two-way flow in that sense.”
As for Coral, inculcating safer driving skills in learner drivers is an issue close to her heart – all the more so because she has watched her daughter, Molly, follow in her footsteps. “When Molly got to driving age, I wanted her to learn all the skills of driving, not just those to help her pass her driving test,” she says.
“My husband and I got Molly involved in motorkhanas, which are motorsport events where you can practice and learn car control at safe speeds and under controlled conditions.”
The training has paid off – at just 20, Molly has already become a successful rally driver in her own right.
Coral hopes to bring similar encouragement and opportunities to young drivers in her role as an NRMA Director. “At its core, the NRMA is about h4elping people and it’s about advocacy regarding important issues like safe driving. That’s where my interests lie and it’s where I see myself bringing some impetus as a member of the board.”
It’s hard to think of a person better placed to inspire and educate young drivers than someone who has parlayed her passion for motoring into a successful career. It’s a role Coral has all the time in the world for.
Open Road e-zine August 2008
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