When Molly left the Australian Rally Championship in 2009 and jetted off to Europe it was spurred on by an ambition to progress her rally career to the highest levels.
And in the intervening years she’s progressed through the British Rally Championship where she competed in both a Suzuki Swift Sport and a Citroen C2, before scoring a fully funded scholarship drive in the WRC Academy in a Ford Fiesta R2, and more recently in the European Championship in a Citroen DS3.
It has given Molly an incredible insight into rallying throughout Europe and makes her opinions on the current direction of the ECB ARC hugely valuable.
So what does she think of the move away from the four-wheel drive stalwarts from Mitsubishi and Subaru, and towards a market orientated two-wheel drive platform.
“It’s been really interesting to see the changes from a far, but even better to be here and to see them first hand,” said Molly.
“I think it makes perfect sense for the ARC to move towards two-wheel drive. It’s already happening in Europe, I think it’s the way most forms of rallying will be heading over the next couple of years.”
And from her experience in Europe can she see the two-wheel drive decision catching on?
“Absolutely! Rallying is not an easy or cheap sport to get into, so by making the cars easier to maintain and cheaper to run you’re allowing more people to get involved. Plus with Group N you only had two choices of car, where as with two-wheel drive there are so many more options,” Molly added.
But what can Australia learn from the drivers and teams in Europe who have embraced two-wheel drive?
“I’m really surprised the Citroen’s haven’t arrived,” she said, referring to Citroen’s front-wheel drive DS3, a car Molly has first hand experience driving in the European Championship.
“A lot of people have asked me about the Citroen this weekend. It’s a fantastic car and it absolutely dominated the British Rally Championship last year. I can’t see why no one has gotten a hold of one, it’d be the perfect car for the ARC.”
“If you look at the (Renault) Clio Scott Pedder is driving it’s a proven, competitive car. In Europe the Clio is a car with great power, but against the Citroen which has more torque it sometimes struggles.”
“In a front-wheel drive car it’s the slow corners that cost you time, with the Citroen you have the torque to pull you out of the slow corners, that’s why they are so popular and why they’ve been the car of choice in the last 12 to 18 months,” continued Molly.
Apart from her appearance at Scouts Rally SA Molly Taylor and British co-driver Seb Marshall are due to reappear later in the year at the World Championship Round in Coffs Harbour when they will re-team with Innate Motorsport.
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