LIVE
Welcome to the Motorsport Brief, an ep in response to a few requests from you on social
media to get a young driver on who is literally flying under the radar.
Good day, everyone. Rusty here in the garage. Taylor Gill will join us shortly, and if
you're saying, who's that? Check out the Junior World Rally Championship. This young
guy is leading with one round to go, and it's a good story, so we thought we'd get
him on to have a chat about it. Have you caught our latest feature, Ep? It's very
funny, and not just for motorcycle racing fans. Mr. Superbike, Robbie Phyllis, joined
us for two hours. We, in fact, went to a workshop in Albury around some cool old
race bikes that he's campaigned over the years, breaking 49 bones, brain
hemorrhages, and more than 200 crashes that he had during his career, but
winning against some great names in the formative years of the Australian
Superbike Championship and making it to the world stage, but kind of before
WSBK really took off. Those wins in Europe, but legendary tracks like Spar
saw him earn plenty of respect. He was a great mate of the late Peter Brock
too, and Johnny Harvey used to run strategy for him at two-wheel endurance
classics. I hadn't heard that before, and he shares a yarn about Larry
Perkins throwing his leg over a Suzuki Katana and cutting some laps. We
also talk about the absolute chaos that he caused in Japan over the years
and helping to develop a cutting-edge bike for Daytona. Search for Robbie
Phyllis in our library when you have some time. I'm in the home studio for
this one. My guest is overseas where he's been doing the hard yards
clearly with the ambition of trying to make it to the top of the WRC,
the World Rally Championship. I visited him on the central coast of
New South Wales some years ago, and you could tell even then how much
love he had for it, a genuine deep family passion. But stitching the
program like this together is a huge undertaking, but I love seeing
people making it happen who walk the talk. Taylor, welcome. It's great to
get you on the pod. Yeah, thanks Rusty. It's great to be on it.
Hey, my brain is fried. Was that pre-COVID before you went overseas?
When was that catch-up that we did? Just about pre-COVID. Must have
been getting towards the end of 2019 when I was pushing towards
Rally Australia. It was supposed to be my first rally in that year, so
right at the end of the year, and obviously it was cancelled with the
bushfires. But yeah, you and I did a sort of half-day media training,
and I still carry a lot of those things today, so it was really good.
Full credit to you, mate. You've taken it and well and truly built on it,
and you're doing some great things. Carding background for you.
There are title wins there, but probably worth telling people listening
and maybe even hearing and meeting you for the first time that rallying
really is in your family, isn't it? Yeah, it is. I mean, my dad always
rallied at a sort of club level, you know, back in the 90s and early
2000s before I was sort of born, but also he lived for a period of time
in a little town called Pukakaui in New Zealand, which is where the,
I guess, late great possum born was from, so yeah, there's a bit of a tie
in there, and then hence my middle name is actually possum after
the great man himself. So yeah, it's certainly in the blood,
that's for sure. Your dad, I think, has jumped on Facebook
today and had a bit of fun because did his drive to win come the day
after his dad, quote, unquote, a washed up has been, who never was,
took 25 seconds out of him on a 21 kilometre stage in the same car
on the same day, true or false?
I mean, I wish I could say it's false, but it is a true effect.
Yeah, it's a, I try to sort of hide that a little bit, but that's
his big claim to fame. So yeah, he's always reminding me of that.
We'll circle back to some of those Facebook comments very shortly.
Was there just in the merge, if you like, from your carding
background and then kind of into rally, the natural step is things
like autocross and rally sprints and so on. Am I right?
Was there some sort of dispensation for you as a young teenager
to get the tick on a license to be able to do that kind of stuff?
Yeah, so it was pretty straightforward with doing
carnacrosses, autocrosses, rally sprints, basically.
But the rule, at least as it was back then in New South Wales,
was that you had to have your P plates to start rally, because
you need the license to drive on the road.
Actually, fortunately, we got dispensation that I was able to
start rallying on a learner's permit.
So we had to jump through a few hoops.
Obviously, you know, it was a bit of back and forth with
with Motorsport Australia.
And then, yeah, in the end, they granted us the dispensation,
which unfortunately, we didn't get to use that much because of Covid.
But still, I got to do two Australia rallies with learner
plates on the car.
So yeah, that makes for some cool photos, that's sure.
It was worth telling people a little bit about some of the results
for you in that period, right?
So and you can tell me if I don't have the dates or ages right here.
I think at age 13, you win the New South Wales
Junior State Carnacross Series, 14 approximately,
youngest person to win a round of the New South Wales
State Rally Sprint Series.
And then you become the youngest person to win production cup
in the history of the Australian Rally Championship.
Was there ever a plan B or this is all you ever wanted to do?
It's pretty much all I've ever wanted to do.
So yeah, certainly, I mean, since I started racing go-carts
at the age of seven, it's always been pushing towards this.
And of course, you know, people have asked along the way,
you know, what's what's your plan B or what would you do otherwise?
And I mean, I'm sure I could go back to I was working
as an apprentice mechanic for a few years in Australia a couple of years ago.
So I mean, I'm sure I could go back to that.
But it's really I would much, much rather be driving cars as a profession.
So yeah, it's certainly been everything's been pushing towards that.
That's not a wasted skill, though, I would imagine that apprenticeship.
But no matter how far you got through it, given what you do
and given some of the remote places when things can go wrong,
you do have to be pretty resourceful, pretty handy in that regard, don't you?
Yeah, exactly. It's been a massive help.
And I think it just helps with the understanding of how the cars
working and what's happening underneath you,
especially when we do these really rough rallies like, you know,
Grease is probably the roughest one we go to.
And it's quite often that things are breaking or, you know, parts start to fail
and that sort of thing because the nature of the rally is just so rough.
So it also just gives me the confidence that, you know,
when I lift the car up and take the wheel off,
I sort of know what I'm looking at and, you know, what's what's happening there.
So yeah, it has been helpful in that way.
So you get this opportunity with motor support Australia as a as a wild card
or as as our representative for rally star.
And this is the FIA's rally development initiative.
Tell people a little bit more about it
and how important that that moment was for you to be selected.
Yeah, massively.
I mean, that was absolutely pivotal, pivotal for for my career.
You know, if I didn't have the rally star opportunity,
then I would have basically no chance of making a career in Europe
and to be over here rallying.
But yeah, basically, I saw the program, you know, online
and thought, OK, this looks this looks quite cool.
And how do we sort of get involved?
And then one day I basically got a phone call asking, OK,
we want to put you forward to be the wild card to go to the Asia Pacific Final
because they ran basically a final selection in every continent, more or less.
So yeah, I had to do a few little interviews
and that sort of thing with some, you know, people around,
I guess, a bit of a board that were picking the wild card.
And then, yeah, eventually I got selected.
And there was quite a few Australians that went over to the final in the,
it was in India, actually, this Asia Pacific Final.
And it was basically a three day shootout.
We drove cross-carts from Thierrynaville's company.
Yeah, three days we did fitness testing.
I we did a beat test running on the racetrack in 40 degrees.
It was absolute hell.
But that was what we had to do.
We did, you know, reaction tests, we did interviews,
all this all the standard sort of things you would do.
And of course, the driving as well.
And then, yeah, basically at the at the end of the three days,
I was picked as the Asia Pacific Final winner.
And, yeah, joined the program along with the European winner
and Africa and so on and so on.
So, yeah, there was a pool of about 7,000 people
that had sort of applied to be in the program
and go to the finals and that sort of thing.
And in the end, they put six, and now we're basically down to three.
That program gives you a, it's a word we often dive for, I know,
but it gives you a pathway, doesn't it?
That's actually the great thing about what the FIA
slash the World Rally Championship are doing here
is that it integrates you into the system.
It helps with training and starts that process
to see if you can cut the mustard.
Yeah, exactly.
It gives you the perfect stepping stone
to kind of launch into the world championship.
And it's done really the right way
because all the drivers that have been picked
have been picked there
because we don't have the big financial backing
to just pay to go overseas.
We have to really work and earn our stripes
and earn our place there.
And, you know, if we want to be winning,
we have to be working hard to make it happen.
So it's been really great for that
because, you know, I can put down all the success I have now
or a lot of the success down to the program
and how it's taught us how hard we have to work
at all the specific things
that people don't often think about
when it comes to rallying.
How has it changed you in terms of being an athlete
and maybe it may be working
with different co-drivers over time?
Maybe there's been some finesse around the system
that you use, for example, and so on.
Yeah, we've had lots of great coaches,
especially when we started with the program.
We did the first season in 2023.
It was basically, it was called a training season.
So the goal was to do these six rallies and learn.
It wasn't about, you know, winning.
It wasn't about setting the fastest stage.
And I was, of course, that's all important
and it still matters.
But it was like we all made lots of mistakes
across all the rallies.
And it was about picking those mistakes out,
learning from them so that when we went to the World Championship,
we weren't making all these silly mistakes,
amateur mistakes on the run
when you're trying to prove yourself in the WRC.
So yeah, it's been really great.
We worked with a few different guys
who have helped a lot on the driving side
because obviously that's most important.
And then, yeah, also we've worked with some great co-drivers
who have helped not only myself,
but Dan's progression as well
who's been co-driving for me for a few years now.
And yeah, just everyone as a unit
has always been pulling in the right direction.
The commercial side then becomes super important
to stay there, to keep this going.
You're wearing, for those listening,
to the pod that aren't watching the video at the moment.
I mean, you've got backing from Shannon's
who supported us on the podcast over time.
But there are others as well.
How have you gone learning that side?
And do you feel like you're better in that domain now?
Yeah, certainly better than when I started, that's for sure.
But it's still not easy.
And of course, getting the sponsors,
getting the partners on board is a crucial part of the job,
I suppose.
Of course, I'd prefer to be driving the cars every day
and not have to think about that.
But that's part of it.
And also, it is enjoyable when, especially now this year,
we've got lots of guys on board,
lots of people supporting like Shannon's who you mentioned.
And also, Richie Dalton and Shamrock Forlage
have been a big supporter of me over the last few years.
And yeah, lots of others.
So yeah, it's really great.
We also have this TaylorGill supporters club
that we started last year,
which has been really great for, I guess,
general fans to support as well.
So yeah, it's a key part of my career
and staying over here, like I say.
People can go to your website, your socials,
and find out more about that supporters club.
Get on board and support him.
Taylor, can we get you to stick around
just for a little bit longer?
Yes, of course.
Cool. Part two of our conversation
with the Junior World Rally Championship Leader
continues right after this.
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For this edition of the MotorSport Brief,
we're spending a bit of time with Taylor Gill.
Thank you to the fans as well.
A few of you messaged in some questions,
and it's really because of you reminding me
that Taylor is boxing away at the world level here,
that we should be making a bit more noise on his progress.
So let's get back to the chat on this.
You are talking to us from Finland.
Rally Heaven, are you enjoying that?
Do you get homesick?
Are you firmly entrenched there now?
Yeah, I really love it here.
Both Dan and myself,
live here in the same apartment,
so it's really like a rally hub here.
We have a whiteboard in the living room
where we write down all rallying stuff,
everything we need to remember,
and all the info for the upcoming events,
and so on and so on.
So it's really good, and it really feels like home.
Obviously, I love going back to Australia.
I've been back for the last couple of summers,
and I'm going back also in a couple of weeks,
for a couple of weeks.
So yeah, of course I enjoy going home,
but in a weird way,
when I fly to Australia,
in a weird way, when I fly back to Finland,
it feels like flying home,
because ultimately this is where my life is based,
is where I have an apartment, I have a car, I have a job,
I have everything is here.
So yeah, I really, really love it.
A little bit cold in the wintertime,
but we can push past that.
We'll talk more about the opportunity
when you come back shortly.
Can we just focus on the Junior World Rally Championship here?
The specification of the cars that you run,
how you feel now that you've had a couple of years at that,
and it feels like you're really starting to come in
to your own here, Taylor.
Yeah, definitely.
And I would say we're starting to feel pretty comfortable,
I guess, within the Championship.
You know, of course, we're leading the Championship
now going to the last round,
and it's been a really great season,
and a consistent season from our side.
So yeah, two first places, and then two second places.
So it's been really, really nice that way,
and we feel now really comfortable with the car.
We know the surroundings.
We know the Championship.
We know the way you have to play it,
and we have quite a good, broad understanding of everything
that's involved with trying to win the Championship.
So yeah, we've been trying to put all that net to practice this season.
It is a compact or a condensed season.
You talked about Greece there before,
but I mean, experience at Sweden, Portugal, Finland,
of course, where you are.
I mean, the most satisfying thing
must be the fact that you have to be consistent.
Basically, that is so imperative, isn't it?
Yeah, exactly.
And consistent across a range of rallies,
because all the rallies are just so totally different to each other.
Of course, Sweden on snow is massively unique.
It's certainly its own rally.
And then, okay, Portugal and Greece
are both kind of technical gravel rallies,
but Greece is just so much rougher than Portugal.
Portugal is still like 80% of it is a performance-based event.
Greece is pretty much just survival from the start to finish.
I mean, you do maybe 10% or 20% of the rally
at proper driving, speed, pushing, and really committing.
Everything else is just trying to get around the rocks
and that sort of thing.
And then, obviously, Finland is pure speed,
and then we finish in Central Europe, which is on tarmac.
So it's really diverse.
Tell us about that one round to go.
It's happening on the weekend after the Bathurst 1000.
I think if I've got the calendar dates right,
just preview the European rally for us.
And how are you going to go about this?
Yeah, basically, it's a rally to the new event
into the World Rally Championship.
It's only been run twice before.
So there's not so many resources about the rally.
But from what I could see, I mean,
I've done a little bit of research already
and the roads look really nice.
It's basically the rally split with stages
in the Czech Republic, stages in Austria,
and stages in Germany.
So that gives its own diversity within the one event,
because obviously, that's three different countries have
three slightly different landscapes
and slightly different stages.
So yeah, it'll be a tricky rally and known for being sort of,
I guess it's in the autumn time.
So it can be quite wet, quite muddy,
lots of cuts and mud and grass.
And Lee is getting pulled onto the road.
So yeah, when you come, like we are normally
cast 50 on the road or something like that
can be just full mud, basically.
So yeah, it's a tarmac rally,
but sometimes you don't feel like there's much tarmac underneath you.
So yeah, it'll be a tricky rally.
And we have, I believe, a 14 point lead
in the championship or 16 point lead.
But the more important lead is when you consider
the drop rounds, basically we have a five point lead.
And then the last round is double points.
Plus you get a point per stage win.
So it's quite a complicated system and it's still very open.
I think there's maybe five drivers
that are mathematically in contention,
but of course we have the best chance because we're leading.
And then the Swedish kid who we've been fighting all year
is Rob Hinders.
So it'll be a big partner, sure.
Go well, go well with that.
Now you alluded to Richie Dalton before, Shamrock.
You get the chance to try in the weeks slash months ahead.
Your hand at something a bit more powerful.
Back home in New South Wales, tell people about that.
Have you driven this car before and what we can expect?
Yeah, it's a big thanks to Richie.
He's given me the opportunity and the keys to his Yaris AP4
to do the Naruma Forest Rally.
So yeah, that'll be a really, really cool opportunity.
I've driven the car twice actually.
I drove it once right before I went to Europe
just at the Speedway track in Begar.
And that was the car was still owned by the Bates boys.
So basically Neil gave me the opportunity to drive the car
because I'd never driven a left-hand drive car.
And I was going to be going to Europe
and obviously everything's left-hand drive over there.
So he gave me the opportunity to do a few solo laps there
and just get a feel for it.
And then, yeah, late last year, also Richie ran me in
and said, hey, I'm going testing in Canberra next week
and come down and you can do a few laps in the car.
So I did about 30 k's there as well.
So I have a little bit of experience with the car.
But yeah, when we get there and go flat out first stage
of the rally, then I'm sure it'll be quite the learning curve.
Do you think you could twist Richie's arm for an appearance
maybe at the final round of the ARC and Tassie?
No, that'd be good.
But I think he's also got his eyes on it.
It'd be cool.
Right, what's the next step for you in 2026 and even beyond?
Obviously, your immediate focus is what you just talked about
there before around European rally
and endeavoring to seal this championship.
What's the next immediate goal?
Yeah, basically, of course, trying to win the championship
and then the next step from that is trying to be in the WRC2
category with the rally two car.
That's what we're sort of pushing towards
and it's quite a pivotal time basically
because the prize for winning the junior championship
I would get six rallies then with M Sport
with the rally two Fiesta next year in the world championship.
If I don't win the championship, then I don't get the prize
and then I'm more or less left with nothing.
So yeah, I guess it all comes down to this one rally.
Of course, there's a few options
and we're trying to have some conversations
and build some other options on the table
but the full focus is on trying to win the championship
and get this program and then a sport.
Okay, before we let you go,
and we hope this all lines up nicely for you there, mate.
Can we bounce through a couple of questions
that have popped through on social media if you don't mind?
One from Matthew Sosomenko who says,
for any aspiring person that wants to go to the next level of sport,
what tips or strategies would you suggest to make that happen?
I mean, the obvious answer is just driving.
I mean, you just, it's so crucial
and I think people probably still underestimate
how important seat time is.
I mean, this year I calculated the other day
that I've spent I think maybe 42 days of the year.
I've driven a rally car on 42 days of the year.
That's awesome when you consider
how short the championship is.
That's good.
Yeah, exactly.
And you compare that with, say,
if you're doing the Australian Championship,
you might on the driver's car for 15 days of the year,
20 days of the year or something like that.
So also I looked last year,
I did six rallies in Europe
and we're fighting against guys
that were doing 10, 11, 12 events this year.
I'm on track to do 10 rallies in a year
and all of a sudden now we're leading the championship.
So it shows just how crucial it is.
So yeah, it's still an underestimated thing, I would say.
Michael Ryan, how important does he think
that working at rally school, that extra seat time,
given you were just alluding to that at what you're doing in 25,
that extra seat time with rally school,
has that helped a little?
Yeah, it has helped a little bit.
Thanks for that one, Mick.
But yeah, actually, I would say the bigger help comes from
having to teach the driving and put the driving into words
is probably because then it makes me think,
especially when I was younger,
it made me think a lot more about the driving
instead of kind of just doing it naturally.
I was also then thinking a bit more about my techniques
and that sort of thing.
So it has been helpful, that's for sure.
Now, Matt Sydenham has asked a couple of questions in here.
Specifically, can you win the 2025 FIA Junior World Rally Championship
and where do you competitively see yourself in five years' time?
Can we win the championship?
Yes, absolutely.
That's obviously the plan.
In five years' time, I would like to say that we're in the top category,
whatever that looks like,
because it's a bit of an unknown at the moment
with the rally one car shifting out at the end of 26.
But yeah, basically, in five years' time,
I'd like to say that we're in the world championship
in the top level and there permanently.
The great man, Brendan Reeves, has chimed in.
How hard was it trying to get started in the sport
when kind of COVID was around
and impacting all of us events being cancelled and so on?
And then the extension to that question from him,
how much has simwork helped you for rallying?
Yeah, I mean, the first part of the question,
it was quite tricky, especially basically 2020
was supposed to be my first season of rallying.
And we had plenty of rallies planned.
We wanted to do New South Wales Championship events
and one or two national rounds and that sort of thing.
And it just kept getting walked away under us.
And it was really difficult for me as well
because I was getting so excited to finally start rallying
and we'd enter events and then that's it gone.
And then I'd enter the next one and that's it gone.
So it was tricky that period.
We missed a lot of seat time from 2020 to 2021.
I only did five rallies basically.
So in a period where I probably could have done 10
at least across the two years.
So yeah, that was not easy.
I guess the second part of the question, the sim racing,
I mean, maybe it's a little bit controversial,
but to be honest, I've never really used sim racing.
I don't have a simulator here with me in Finland.
I played a lot when I was younger,
but it was just for fun with mates,
spend more time crashing into each other,
playing rally cross than actually trying to try a rally.
So yeah, I mean, it's been there for me,
but it's never something that I've relied on.
Pure miles is the little seat time,
as you said before, is so valuable.
Philip Walters to finish here,
what's more demanding, the physical or mental side of rallying,
in your opinion?
Oh, it's a good question.
It depends a little bit on the rally,
but mental, I would say, is far more demanding.
Of course, some rallies like Greece, it's 40 degrees,
super long days.
So that's physically, it's very, very tough,
but I mean, you can be as tough as you like physically.
If you're not tough mentally,
that'll still knock you down sort of thing.
So yeah, I mean, it's such a,
everyone knows that motorsport is a lot in the head,
and I feel like rallying is massively like that as well.
So yeah, there's always a lot going on.
So yeah, for me, ultimately,
my final answer would be that mentally it's more demanding.
Are you sort of self-taught and self-hardened in that regard then,
or has there been through the rally star program,
people that have given you a bit of guidance
around mental toughness and so on?
Not necessarily through the rally star program,
but I've been working now about 18 months
for the sports psychologist who's local in Newcastle,
and that helped massively.
Probably I underestimated as how much of a help
that was gonna be, and it was sort of prompted by,
I guess, one mistake or one thing that was happening
with me mentally that I couldn't send to an overcome,
and it became a theme and a theme,
and then so I started to work with a sports psychologist,
and we sort of solved that, but then naturally,
it's also just built me to be mentally tougher.
And yeah, I feel like now it's probably quite a strength,
my mental rock on the events
and then how I can cope with the events.
So yeah, hopefully that plays into our favor as well
in the last round.
Great stuff, mate.
This has been a fabulous introduction for people
to who you are, and I think what's very clear here
is that you are not afraid,
whether it's that kind of mental fitness,
let's call it that, and seeking guidance or advice on that,
or there's lots of good people,
both I would imagine.
I mean, you look at the names
that have come through the Junior World Rally Championship.
I mean, you talked about Thierry there before.
I mean, Elf and Evans, there's some great names
that have come through that, and you've got some good people
in your corner back in Australia, haven't you?
Yeah, exactly.
I'm really fortunate to have great people around me,
both in Australia and now in Finland and Europe as well.
And I mean, for me, that's absolutely paramount,
and I've probably seen that become more important
in the last sort of year or two
when I'm competing against lots of different guys
in the Junior Championship.
And of course, without naming names,
some of them I'd probably say don't have
maybe such great guidance around them,
and you could really see the effects of that.
So yeah, for me, it's super important to have good people
that I can really trust and trust they're important,
trust their advice around me,
because ultimately, it also takes less of the kind of
spiraling thoughts out of my head.
So yeah, it's really, really good.
Awesome stuff.
Great to get you on for a conversation today.
Go well with the decider,
and thank you for being an inspiration
for younger competitors
that perhaps want to do what you're doing
and showing them the importance
of being the complete package.
Go well.
Yeah, thanks mate.
Appreciate it.
If you're into rallying,
we had Scott Pederon for a feature episode recently.
He talks about driving an Erebus supercar as well
and the history of the Peder's suspension business
in a milestone year for the company.
You might also like to hear the story
of the ARC promoter, Adrian Coppin.
He's a good storyteller.
In terms of short casts,
Ava and Agnostiata stopped by the studio in recent months,
one of the Aussies in the F1 Academy.
So that got me thinking after Taylor Gill today,
is there someone like Ava or Taylor
that you think we should speak to on the pod?
Could be on the engineering or team side of motorsport?
Another emerging story, perhaps.
Let me know.
Australian rally championship is back in action this weekend
with the Gippsland rally in Victoria.
Can they catch Hayden Padden?
F1 returns next week from the summer break
with the Dutch Grand Prix and Sandboard.
First of the supercars in Duro's is next month
at the bend in South Australia with the 500
and then it is all about the buildup to Mathis.
That is it for today.
We'll catch you next time.
Bye for now.
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