MOTORSPORT: Molly Taylor gets Xtreme

Christmas has come early for Molly Taylor in the form of a very special gift from Nico Rosberg.

The former Formula 1 world champion has taken the speedy Aussie rally ace into his team for the upcoming Extreme E off-road series in 2021.

The only downside for Molly Rally is that she will miss Christmas at home as she serves two weeks of quarantine after testing for Rosberg Xtreme Racing over three days in Germany and Spain.

The pre-season test work was essential for the new series, which is an off-road version of Formula E single-seaters, but with two drivers – one male, one female – on tracks in some of the world’s most remote locations.

The series begins in Saudi Arabia in March before moving on to Senegal, Greenland, Brazil and Argentina.

“First impressions of the car are that it’s a lot of fun to drive and we’re happy with the lessons we’ve learned,” said Taylor.

Yet, at first, and despite a horrible year with only two starts in Australia and a failed attempt to join the ProRally series in the USA, Taylor was not convinced that Rosberg was interested in her.

“I didn’t believe his email at first. I thought someone was winding me up,” said Taylor.

“But then he Facetimed me, so it was pretty obvious it wasn’t a prank.”

Taylor’s test program began at the Rosberg Xtreme workshop in Germany, where she also met her teammate, multiple rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson.

Driving began on half-power settings for the battery-powered racer on a muddy short course, before the team travelled to Spain for an all-in test over two days on two different tracks.

“To drive it across two very different track layouts has been very useful and a lot of fun. We seem to be learning a thousand things every kilometre we run.”

The cars themselves are similar to a Dakar buggy and manufactured by Spark Racing Technology using a battery pack from Williams Advanced Engineering, a spin-off from the grand prix team that also supplies Formula E.

The outputs are 400kW and 920Nm, which is good for a 0-100km/h time of 4.5 seconds on gravel or sand and a top speed of 200km/h.

“It’s pretty fun. It’s more car-like than I expected. It’s big and heavy but more responsive than I expected, and that will only get better,” Taylor said.

Taylor got an exemption from coronavirus travel bans to fly to Europe after finishing second in the National Capital Rally in Canberra – the only Australian-title level rally to run in 2020 – in a Subaru STI.

Prior to that she won a state championship event in Tasmania, which also involved a fortnight of quarantine in a caravan in Canberra, in Neal Bates’ backyard under police supervision.

Taylor has rallied in Europe in the past, scoring several significant successes, but never had the budget or connections to break into the top level of the World Rally Championship.

“Extreme E is a bit of a shift in direction for me, but I think the opportunity for the whole series is really, really exciting. It’s one of the best opportunities I’ve had,” she said.

“This is going to have so much influence on motorsport in the future, so being involved at the forefront with a new concept is going to be great. It is awesome to be part of something that’s really ground-breaking.”

Taylor hopes to continue rallying in Australia next year by dovetailing her events with the Extreme E series, but a plan to compete in the US rally championship with the crack Dirtfish team is now extremely unlikely.

“We were planning to do a couple of events with Dirtfish, but COVID put an end to that,” she said.