Coral Pamela Taylor (born 1961) is an Australian rally co-driver. Taylor comes from a strong rallying family, she is the daughter of veteran rally driver Norm Fritter, married to former Australian Championship driver Mark Taylor and mother to emerging driver

Molly Taylor Molly Anne Taylor (born 6 May 1988) is an Australian Rallying, rally car driver. She is the 2016 Australian Rally Champion, the first and only woman to win the Australian Rally Championship and the youngest regardless of gender, and the 2021 Ex ...

. She began her motorsport career at the age of 18, when she co-drove for her father, Norm Fritter, in the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial, sparking a passion that lives to this day. She won her first rally as co-driver for Peter Glennie in 1986, and in 1993 she teamed up with

Neal Bates Neal Anthony Bates (born 19 March 1965) is an Australian rally and racing car driver. Throughout his career Bates has been associated with Toyota in the Australian Rally Championship and for 19 years his Neal Bates Motorsport outfit ran Toyota's ...

and

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

, and began to rewrite the local rally records. The two won the

Australian Rally Championship The Motorsport Australia Rally Championship, also commonly known as the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), is Australia's premier gravel rally competition. A multi-event national championship has been held each year since 1968, excepting 202 ...

the first year (1993), then backed that up with wins in the following two years as well, becoming the first team to ever win 3 consecutive championships outright (Ross dunkerton drew for first in 1977, breaking his hat-trick). In 1995, as well as winning their 3rd ARC championship, Neal and Coral also finished 1st outright in the

Targa Tasmania Targa Tasmania is a tarmac-based rally event held on the island state of Tasmania, Australia, annually since 1992. The event takes its name from the Targa Florio, a former motoring event held on the island of Sicily. The competition concept is ...

tarmac rally. In the next six years there were numerous rally wins, and five second and one 3rd place in the ARC Championship. Also in this period was 3 consecutive 1st-in-class in the

(1999–2001) in a Lexus IS200. 1997 saw a change of equipment, when they switched from the Toyota Celica GT4 to the Toyota Corolla WRC (3rd that year) In 2001, after winning their fifth 2nd place, due to new rules and regulations concerning vehicles, they were forced to take a year off while a new car was built by the team (Their Toyota Corolla WRC car no longer met regulations). They returned in 2003 in a new Corolla Group N Prototype, and finished 6th in the 2004 and 2005 championships, before returning to the podium with another 2nd in 2006. 2007 saw them in another new car, this time a Corolla Super 2000, and they become the first pair to win stages and finish on the podium in a S2000 spec car, and they finished 2nd in the championship for the 7th time, bringing their total to 11 podium finishes in 15 years Taylor has acted as co-driver for

for 18 years, covering much of his rally career, and in several appearances on the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is an international rallying series owned and governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA. Inaugurated in 1973, it is the oldest FIA world championship after Formula One. E ...

during the 1990s in

Toyota Celica GT-Four The Toyota Celica GT-Four is a high performance model of the Toyota Celica, Celica Liftback that was produced from 1986 to 1999, with a Turbocharger, turbocharged ''Toyota S engine#3S-GTE, 3S-GTE'' engine, and full-time Four-wheel drive, AWD. I ...

s and Toyota Corolla WRCs. She won the

with

in 1993, 1994 and 1995, placed second in the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007 championships, and Third in 1997. In November 2008 Taylor and Bates won their fourth Australian Championships. Taylor returned to national-level rallying in 2023, co-driving with Harry Bates, Neil’s son. They won the 2023 Australian Rally Championship, Taylor’s fifth ARC championship as a co-driver. The pairing will also contest the 2024 championship with the Toyota factory team.

References

External links

Caltex Havoline sponsorship site for the pair

Page at the Australian Rally Championship

Coral Taylor Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Coral Female rally drivers Australian rally co-drivers 1961 births Living people World Rally Championship co-drivers Australian female racing drivers Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian sportswomen