Jane Gunningham

 

Jane Gunningham was one of Britain’s leading female rally drivers in the 1990s.

She competed to British Championship level between 1992 and 1997, mainly in a Subaru Impreza and a Peugeot 306. As well as home events, she occasionally drove in Europe and the Middle East.

Born in 1974, she started rallying early, at 18. She trained at the prestigious John Haugland rally school in Norway, and was highly-regarded by her mentor. 

Her first car was a slightly unusual one; a Mazda 323. It was her main car in 1992 and 1993 and it did not bring her a great deal of success. The 1992 Vauxhall Astra Stages ended in retirement, then failed to finish her first three events of 1993, including a roll on the first stage of the Granite City Rally in Scotland. Her best event was the Midland Rally in Welshpool. She was 25th overall and sixth in class. Gaining more confidence towards the end of the year, she was 28th in the Premier Stages, from 72 finishers.

A season divided between the BTRDA in the UK and the Middle East championship followed in 1994. Jane joined up with the experienced Pauline Gullick to rally another Mazda 323 in the Qatar and Jordan Rallies. She was 19th in Jordan but her finishing position in Qatar is not recorded.

A 1600cc Peugeot 205 was waiting for her back in the UK. The clutch had failed on the season-opening Wyedean Stages, but otherwise it was a reliable car on gravel. Her best overall BTRDA result was a 31st place in the Castrol Crystal Forest Rally, but she also finished second in class on the Woodpecker Stages. Her 53rd overall sounds less impressive, but there were 141 finishers in the event. 

Away from the BTRDA series, she entered the Masters of Morden Mini Tempest Stages, finishing a career-best seventh. Her co-driver was Julia Rabbett, who would sit beside her for her first RAC Rally later in the year. She was 68th, gaining many places on the final day and making up for some early time penalties.

The British Rally Championship was the logical next step in her career. After a pre-season 21st place in the 1995 Kall Kwik Stages, she switched from a 205 to a 306 and took on her first BRC event, the Rally of Wales. She was 32nd, thirteenth in class, not helped by penalties. After the retirement of the highly-regarded Stephanie Simmonite, she took the lead of the Ladies’ points table.

Sadly, this was to be her last finish of the year, handing the Ladies’ title to Stephanie Simmonite. She retired from the other four BRC rallies, crashing out of two and suffering mechanical failures on the others.

She had more success in the 1996 British championship, ending the season 19th overall in the 306 after three points finishes. The best of these came from a 20th place on the Ulster Rally, just behind her old mentor John Haugland. She was also 22nd on the Manx Rally. 

Away from the BRC, she and her regular navigator Joyce Champion travelled to Belgium for the Ypres 24 Hours. Driving the 306, Jane was 57th and eleventh in class.

Her 1997 season began with a one-off run in a SEAT Ibiza for the Scottish Rally, but she crashed out on the third stage. The rest of the year was spent in a Group N Subaru Impreza, mostly in BRC rallies and co-driven by Stella Boyles. Once more, the Ulster Rally was her best event and she was 19th, sixth in class. This was followed by a 20th place on the Woodpecker Rally. 

Her only other WRC entry, in the 1997 RAC Rally, ended in retirement following an accident on the final day. This would prove to be her final event.

She now lives in Scotland.

Emma McKinstry

Kenny and Emma McKinstry

Emma McKinstry is a second-generation Northern Irish driver, a daughter of Kenny McKinstry. She is the only female McKinstry to compete seriously in motorsport, although her sister, Susan, has navigated for their father.

Her usual car is a Subaru Impreza, and her favoured surface seems to be Tarmac. She has driven in a variety of Irish and UK events, including the WRC Rally Ireland.

Her earliest rallying experience was co-driving for her father in the 2002 Lurgan Park Rally. The car was a Subaru Impreza WRC, and they were second overall.

Before the Impreza, the first car she drove herself in competition was a Peugeot 106. She used this car in both stage rallies and club hillclimbs. Her first major event, the International Ulster Rally, ended in retirement, but she was not put off, and returned the following year, to finish 24^th, and third in class. She also finished the Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally, in 58^th place.

For 2005, she had a new car, a Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI. She handled the hike in power well, and captured her first top-twenty finish, an eighteenth place in the Kirkistown Eurocables Stages. Later in the season, she was 20^th in the Galloway Hills event, and in between, she drove in her first Rally of Ireland. She acquitted herself well against an international field of drivers, and was 24^th overall, out of 43 entries.

2006 was Emma’s busiest rallying year yet. Encouraged by her Rally of Ireland finish, and with some god sponsors behind her, she entered the British National Championship, and crossed over to mainland Britain for the first time. In Scotland in March, she was fourteenth in the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally, and fifteenth in the Ulster International Rally. Her usual car this year was the Mitsubishi, but the Ulster rally was her first outing in a Subaru Impreza, meaning that she joined a very elite group of female drivers who have rallied WRC cars in anger. Back in the Lancer, she was eleventh in the Park Systems National Stages, and tenth in the Moonraker Forestry Rally, another visit to the Republic of Ireland, a first top ten, and proof that she could cut in on gravel as well as tarmac. She had started the year with her second Rally of Ireland, and was 21^st overall, in the Lancer.

She adopted the Impreza, run by McKinstry Motorsport, full-time in 2007. Her competition programme took in rallies in both parts of Ireland. She achieved three top-ten finishes, all on gravel this year: ninth in the Limerick Forestry Rally, sixth in the Cork Forestry Rally, and sixth in the Killarney Forestry Rally. She was just outside the top ten in the Lurgan Park Rally, in eleventh. Her third Rally of Ireland, running this year as a World Championship round, gave her a 35^th place.

Gravel was her preferred surface in 2008, and the top ten finishes continued. She was sixth in the Limerick Forestry Rally. Sadly, mechanical problems put her out of the Ulster Rally. The Impreza, in the hands of works Subaru WRC drivers, has always been more of a gravel car.

2009 was mainly spent on tarmac again. Her best result was sixth again, achieved at both Kirkistown and Bishopscourt. This year, she was Northern Ireland’s top female driver.

It was a much quieter year for Emma in 2010, with not much in the way of modern stage rallying. She did get out in historic competition, however, driving a Sunbeam Avenger. This was her first experience of driving a historic rally car, although she had navigated for her father in a MkII Escort previously. She entered the Circuit of Ireland, an event she had previously taken part in in modern machinery.

In 2011, she won the McKinstry Motorsport Rally Time Trial, driving an Impreza. This was her first outright win. Her season in the Northern Irish championship had several other highlights, including a fourth place in the Kirkistown Stages, seventh in the New Year and Lurgan Park rallies, and eighth in the Bishopscourt Stages.

In 2012, she was ninth in the McKinstry Time Trial, in an Impreza. This was another rather quiet season, with a ninth spot in the Hankook Down Rally as a highlight.

She was quite successful in 2013, with a fourth, fifth and ninth overall in Irish rallies. The ninth place came in the Ulster Rally, her highest finish in this particular event. For the Turkey Run Tarmac Stages, she stepped away from the Impreza, and drove a Proton Compact instead, but did not finish.

Her best 2014 finish was fourth, in the Winter Stages Rally. She was also sixth in the McGrady Insurance Bishopscourt Stages, and seventh in the Lurgan Park Rally, all in the Impreza. This was enough for tenth place in the Northern Irish championship, and another Northern Ireland Ladies’ award.

Emma continued to rally in 2015, although she was not officially contesting any championships. Her best result was fourth, in the New Year Stages Rally, a regular part of her rallying calendar. She was also seventh in the Kirkistown Stages Rally.

She rallied two different Imprezas in 2016. Starting with her previous '01 model, she was fifth in the Pacenotes Rally Magazine Stages Rally, the first round of the Northern Irish championship. In the summer, she rallied her father's '08 Impreza WRC, and was immediately third in the Tyrone Stages, another asphalt rally. She also won her class. In October, she had another outing in the '08 car, and was thirteenth in the Down Rally. 

2018 consisted of just the one rally for Emma. She was fourteenth in the Down Rally, driving the '08 Impreza.

Her comeback in 2020 was in a new car: a Ford Fiesta R5. Her two outings gave her two top-ten finishes. The first was a fifth place in the Bishopscourt Stages and the second was a seventh in the Kirkistown Stages. Both of these were relatively large events with 50-plus finishers.

She entered the 2021 Ulster Rally in the Fiesta, finishing 33rd. A couple of 2022 outings in the same car netted her a ninth place in the Race&Rally Stages and twelfth in the Kirkistown Stages. The Kirkistown Stages was also her best event in 2023, when she was 14th. 

She was still rallying the Fiesta in 2024, winning her class and the ladies' prize in the Northern Irish championship. Her best event finish was sixth, in the Tyrone Stages Rally. She did two more rallies in 2025, the Kings Down Rally and the Race&Rally Stages.

(Image copyright William Neill)

Molly Taylor

Molly Taylor in 2013

Molly is an Australian driver from an established rallying family: her father is Mark Taylor, a driver, and her mother is Coral Taylor, a co-driver with four Australian championships to her name. Despite her background, Molly’s initial sporting passion was for horses, and as a teenager, she competed in cross-country. She only took up motorsport at 17, after working at her father’s rally driving school and then finishing well in some motorkhana events. Her first competition car was a Holden Gemini.

She began her stage rallying career in 2006, supported by the Australian motorsport authority’s Women’s Driver Development programme. Straight away, she won the Rallye Des Femmes in Canberra, a women-only event, five minutes ahead of her nearest competitor. In her first season, she won the NSW 2WD and 2-litre titles.

Having proved her worth at state-level competition, she set the bar higher in 2007, and entered the Australian championship. This turned into two top-ten finishes in major Australian rallies in 2007, and an outright win in the F1600 class of the Australian championship, driving a Holden Gemini.

She repeated her achievement in 2008, driving a Mitsubishi Mirage. Her first big result was ninth, in the Coates Rally Queensland., followed by eleventh in the Canberra Rally.  She was 19th in the South Australia Rally, despite a spin and a puncture. During the Great Lakes Rally, she secured enough points to claim the S1600 championship on the first day, despite rolling the car and crashing out later. She then retired from the Melbourne Rally. 

Away from the official Australian championship, she scored her first win on the Myall Lakes Rally, in the multi-club class. Late in the European season, in September, she travelled to the UK for the Yorkshire International Rally, driving a Suzuki Swift. She was 28th overall, and seventh in class.

A move to England full-time followed in 2009, in order to further her rally career. Her British co-driver was Jemma Bellingham. She narrowly missed winning the Suzuki Swift Sport Cup after a fuel pump failure on the Yorkshire Rally. She was runner-up and British Ladies’ Champion as a consolation. Her best finish was 20th on the Pirelli Rally, which second of her two Swift Cup wins. The first came during the Bulldog Rally of North Wales, in which she was 24th. Her other events were the Jim Clark, Manx and Ulster Rallies. She crashed out in the Isle of Man, but finished the other two.

The following year, it was time for a new car. She exchanged the Swift for a Citroen C2, and contested the C2 Trophy in the UK. She also had a new co-driver: Phil Clarke sat alongside her for most of the year, apart from two rallies, where she was navigated by her mother, Coral. This year, Molly did not fare quite as well in her class, but her overall results were better, and more consistent. Her best overall finished were two fourteenth places, in the Manx and Trackrod Rallies, and she stayed in the top twenty for every rally she finished. Her best class finish was third, again, in the Trackrod Rally. Her performances were enough for her to defend her Ladies’ title.

She won a place in the WRC Academy for 2011, the replacement for the Junior WRC. Competing in six World Championship rallies across Europe in a Ford Fiesta,  her best result was fifth in class, achieved in the Alsace Rally France and Wales Rally GB. Academy drivers were not part of the main classification. She was eighth in Portugal, , did not finish in Italy, was ninth in Finland and fourteenth in Germany. This left her eleventh in the Academy standings.  Away from the WRC Academy, she did most of the British championship, in the Fiesta. Her best result was fourteenth, in the Pirelli Rally, but she retired from her other three British events: the Sunseeker, Bulldog and Scottish Rallies. Mid-season, she travelled to Estonia for the Rally of Estonia, and was 71st overall, eighth in class.

In 2012, she was active across Europe, and competed in two WRC events at the end of her season: Wales Rally GB, where she was 20th, and Finland, which she did not finish. Her car was a Citroen DS3 R3T. For her first rally of the year, the Bulldog, she used the Fiesta, but retired. Her first event in the Citroen was the Ypres Rally, where she was 35th. Her next outing in it was the Casentino International Rally in Italy, running as the course car. Molly was now working with an Italian sports management company, and spending quite a lot of time there. Her next rally was also in Italy, the Coppa Città di Lucca. She was 23rd, alongside Sebastian Marshall, who was her regular co-driver this season.

In 2013, she continued with the Citroen DS3, based in Italy and mostly following the ERC circuit. Her year started in the Portuguese Azores islands,  with a class win in the Açores City Rally Show, and 21st overall. Unfortunately, she retired from the Açores Rally proper, after an accident. Her next ERC Rally, the Tour de Corse, gave her another class win, which counted towards the championship this time. She was fourteenth overall and first lady driver, in front of the experienced Ekaterina Stratieva. A second visit to the Ypres Rally ended in retirement, but a first trip to Romania, for the Sibiu Rally Romania, gave her 25th, and seventh in class. This was another Ladies’ win over Stratieva. The Barum Czech Rally Zlín ended similarly: 26th and sixth in class. In addition to this, Molly was running in the Citroen Racing Trophy class, and was second in that. A third in the Citroen racing Trophy followed in Poland, in the Rajd Polski, in which she was 23rd. She was also 23rd in the Croatia Rally. A non-ERC outing in the Ronde della Val d'Orcia in Italy followed, and she achieved her best overall finish of the year: twelfth, with a class win. Her last event was the Wales Rally GB, in which she was 23rd again, fourth in class. She ended the year as the European Ladies’ Rally Champion, replacing Ekaterina Stratieva.

Australian rallying had not been completely forgotten. Mid-season, she travelled back to her home country for the Scouts Rally. Driving the Ford Fiesta, she was eighth in one heat, with a class win, and 20th in another.

Away from the rally stages, she is involved with the FIA’s Women in Motorsport Commission, which supports female involvement in motorsport, having been supported by its Australian equivalent.

In 2014, Molly contested the Junior World Rally Championship in the Citroen, intending to enter six rounds. Having let her regular co-driver Sebastian Marshall go, due to commercial pressures, she initially competed alongside her mother, Coral. They only did one rally together, the Rally of Portugal, in April. Molly was 37th, eighth in the JWRC, and eighth in the WRC3 standings. Her next event was the Rally of Poland in June. The gap between her rally outings did not help her preparedness, and Coral was also unable to co-drive for her daughter. Seb Marshall returned, and they got to the finish in 45th, despite serious clutch problems and a resulting time penalty on the penultimate day. 

They did better in Finland, finishing 35th overall, but third in the JWRC, and fourth in WRC3, despite a series of punctures. Unfortunately, funding issues meant that Molly was sidelined until Wales Rally GB in November. She had planned to drive in the Rallye Deutschland and Rallye Alsace, but her funding ran out. She did secure some more later in the season, and got her best overall finish of the year in Wales: 32nd. She was fourth in the JWRC and WRC3. At the end of the year, she was sixth in both WRC3, and the JWRC.   

In 2015, she returned to Australia, and rallied a Renault Clio in her domestic championship. She began well, with a third and a fourth in the Quit Forest Rally heats, and was normally a top-ten finisher throughout the year, and earned seven class wins. She was second in the championship. Her only international outing was the Rally of Australia, in which she was seventeenth.

Molly moved into rally raids in 2016. She won one of the prize drives in the Sealine Qatar Desert Challenge offered in the FIA Women in Motorsport Desert Challenge, held at the end of 2015. However, she was back in Australia for the rally season there. Despite not winning an event outright, she was the Australian rally champion, as she had been the highest-placed Australian registered for the championship in two events: the SA Lightforce Rally, in which she was second, and the WRC Rally of Australia, in which she was thirteenth. Her second place in the Lightforce event followed a string of top-five finishes in Australian rallies, and another runner-up spot in the non-championship Tin Bin Dash Rallysprint. Her car was a Subaru Impreza, mostly supported by Subaru Australia.

At the very end of 2016, she had a go at co-driving, assisting a token male driver in the Rallye des Femmes, a women's rally held near Canberra.

In the Impreza, she put together a string of three outright wins in 2017. She was victorious in both heats of the Make Smoking History Forest Rally, and in the Les Walkden Mountain Stages.

2018 was a less successful year with no wins, but she still picked up three podiums in the Adelaide Hills and Tasmania Rallies. She had another try at the National section of Rally Australia, but crashed out and suffered a fire in the Impreza.

She did not manage a rally win in 2019 but her Impreza WRX was the car to beat in its class, and she picked up podiums at Rally Tasmania, the Adelaide Hills Rally and the National Capital Rally. Her new challenge was circuit racing, having been invited to take part in the Australian TCR series. Her first race at at Sydney Motorsport Park in the Kelly Racing Subaru was her first time on-track for almost ten years and she was fourteenth. Sadly, the championship proved very challenging for Molly for a number of reasons, including a fuel pressure problem that put her out of one race before the start.  She was 19th overall after five of seven rounds.

Rallying was limited in 2020 by the coronavirus crisis, but Molly made her limited programme in the WRX count. She won Rally Tasmania outright by over a minute, before finishing second in the Netier National Capital Rally.

She was also announced as a driver for the Rosberg Extreme E team. Extreme E is an off-road, electric, eco-conscious series which started in 2021. Mixed teams of two drivers contested each round, with Molly partnering Johan Kristofferson. She started strongly with a win in Saudi and quickly established herself as part of the team to beat; a roll during the Arctic X Prix was their only real low point. Wins in Senegal and Sardinia meant that they did not even have to win the final round in the UK to walk away with the first championship.

Molly's schedule took in some traditional stage rallies as well. She did three WRC rounds for the M-Sport Poland team, driving a Rally3-spec Ford Fiesta. She was 20th in Finland, reunited with Seb Marshall, but did not finish the Acropolis Rally due to engine trouble, or the Rally of Estonia due to a crash. Another outing in a Subaru Impreza in Queensland, Australia led to another non-finish.

Her first event of 2022 was the Dakar, held in Saudi. This was once more a good location for her to begin with and she posted some good times in her Can Am SSV, but a series of mechanical and navigational issues later on dropped her and co-driver Dale Moscatt to 15th in class.

In between her first and second attempts at the Dakar, Molly had a relatively quiet year. She announced that she would not be defending her Extreme E title, but ended up stepping in to the JBXE team for the first round in Saudi, alongside Kevin Hansen. They were ninth. At the end of the season, she joined Veloce in a one-off deal for the Energy X Prix in Uruguay. Again with Kevin Hansen, she steered the Veloce Odyssey to its best results of the year: a pole position and a semi-final win. They were fifth overall.

Her second Dakar was very challenging once more, from a navigational and mechanical point of view and against dramatic weather. Molly and American co-driver Andrew Short were 47th overall in their Can-Am prototype, twelfth in the Modified Production SSV class.

She was reatined as a full-time driver for Veloce in the 2023 Extreme E championship, teaming up with Kevin Hansen again. They were narrowly beaten to second place by the Acciona Sainz pairing of Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekstrom, who were more consistent podium finishers despite their two wins to Veloce's three. 

Back at home, she did four rounds of the Australian Rally Championship in a Subaru WRX. The best event for her was the first heat of the Adelaide Hills Rally, where she was sixth and won her class. She was also seventh in the Rally of Canberra. 

2024 was the final season of Extreme E and the championship was shortened to four races only. Molly and Kevin, driving for Veloce, were the last champions, finishing third twice in Saudi and winning both Scottish rounds.

She also did some more Australian rallies in the Subaru. Her best finishes were two fourth places, in the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland and the Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally. She won her class in both of these events. Several other top-tens meant she finished the season tenth in the Australian championship.

Extreme E made one last comeback in 2025 for its Final Lap in Saudi. Molly joined the Jameel Motorsport team with Kevin Hansen. She missed the first final after an accident in her qualifying heat, but was able to come back for the second set of races, in which she and Kevin were second.

The same team transferred to the hydrogen-powered Extreme H, held as a World Cup in 2025. They won both the aggregated pool championship and the grand final.

(Image from www.mollytaylor.com.au)