Taylor has been in the rallying world for 32 years now and her service to Guernsey’s own event is not defined simply by her successful partnership with Kevin Rumens, but also the many hours she puts in behind the scenes running the website and social media.
She has fulfilled that role since last January and made such an impression that she received the ‘spirit of the rally’ award at the prizegiving after the 2025 event.
‘I was rather overwhelmed to be quite honest,’ she said.
‘I didn’t expect anything. I put everything I could into it, but I certainly didn’t expect to receive spirit of the rally, so I was pretty gobsmacked.
‘I thought it was very nice of them all to put my name forward.’
In the month leading up to the rally, she estimates she has been dedicating 10 hours a week towards the website and socials.
Creating a slick website has been hard graft and required approaching it from multiple angles to inform competitors, volunteers and spectators alike.
But when it comes to car preparation with Rumens – partners in life as well as rallying – she is happy enough to take a back seat.
‘I just sit there,’ she admitted.
‘Kevin does all the work preparing the car and everything.
‘I don’t get involved, but we’ve got our service crew, our guys that we’ve had for years who do our servicing.
‘I’ve got too many other things to be doing and I wouldn’t have a clue what I’m doing.’
Together in their Ford Escort MK2, the duo have achieved a second and two thirds in their class at the Guernsey Rally, though their most brag-worthy results came before the local event’s inception.
They finished fifth in-class at Ireland’s prestigious International Rally of the Lakes across both 2009 and 2010, the second year adding an overall top-five in Jersey.
And she will not forget exploring the European circuit with tour operators Rally Travel and meeting some of the greats in the process.
Taylor took up motorsport early on, enjoying a mixture of hill climbs, sprints and sand racing as a young girl.
‘From a teenager, I’ve always had an interest in motorsport.
‘But it wasn’t until I got together with Kevin that I got the opportunity to be racing myself.’
However, when she did start navigating rallies in 1994, it was for John Robert.
It took around seven years for Rumens to yield and take her onboard as co-driver.
‘At first it was like, “No, you’re not going to sit next to me”, but he lost his original navigator and then he said, “OK, we’ll give it a go”. I’ve been navigating for Kevin ever since.’
The motorsport-mad duo both enjoyed a more laid-back experience with Rally Travel holidays.
From 2004 to 2007, they attended World Rally Championship events in Finland, Sweden, Monaco, Germany, Mexico and Ireland, enjoying VIP privileges and the best spectator spots.
But it is hard to top meeting rally idol Ari Vatanen, whose accolades include the 1981 world title, on his native Finnish soil in 2004.
‘That was something very special. I’d actually bought the rally trip for Kevin’s birthday and we got the opportunity to meet Ari.
‘Kevin had a book on him and he actually signed it.’
She also described the following year’s Swedish Rally, held in the snow, as ‘one of the best’.
They also met two-time world champion Marcus Gronholm while staying in the same hotel as Ford’s team at the 2007 Rally Mexico.
Soon they were distinguishing themselves with international-class results of their own, headlined by back-to-back placings at Rally of the Lakes in Killarney.
‘That’s a very good result, saying that it’s an international event. Very challenging stages, very long stages, and it was amazing.’
Those results in an event featuring the particularly iconic Moll’s Gap stage came alongside a class win and lifetime best at the 2010 Jersey Rally.
Over the years, they also competed in the upland region of Epynt, Wales, and other significant UK rallies.
But those long-distance rallying trips did not come cheap – especially the Irish ones.
‘I think 2009 and 2010 were our best years.
‘Trouble is that competing in Ireland is extremely expensive because you’ve got to get the boat over to the UK, get over to Ireland, and it’s a week off work.
‘You’ve got to do your recce and all of that and you have to take a crew with you.
‘We, as competitors, can’t be working on our car so we’re reliant on taking people over to the UK and to Ireland to help us out.
‘Luckily, we’ve been very, very fortunate with the people we’ve taken over – they’ve done us proud.’
Within the immense scale of Taylor’s rallying career, competing on home soil is a very recent development.
But she described the birth of the Guernsey Rally in 2018, albeit with much lower stage mileage than today, as ‘amazing’.
‘I think it’s something where we said, “It’ll never happen” and Karl Marshall was the one who did all the groundwork to do that, and we got it up and running.’
However, even to this day, Taylor is yet to experience a rally as a driver.
‘I would love to have a go. But I just couldn’t afford to.’
She attributes the lack of other female rally drivers in Guernsey to a similar reason.
‘It would be nice, but it’s the cost to actually do it.
‘You’ve got to get your licence, a BARS [British Association of Rally Schools] test to qualify to actually be able to drive.
‘I’ve never looked into it more than that because I can’t afford to do it – and I think I’m getting a bit too old now.’
However, in the passenger seat, her decades of experience remain a great asset.
Navigating has become second nature and she now admits: ‘I don’t tend to look up’.
‘I’ve got my pace-notes in front of me, I’m reading them out, and I go more on the motion of the car.
‘I might glance up every now and then ... to get my bearings as such and then carry on reading.
‘Every navigator makes mistakes. Same as the drivers – everybody will make a mistake, so if I lose a note, I’ll say to Kevin, “Drive as you see until I can pick it back up again”, as there’s no point carrying on reading.’
With their 13th overall in Guernsey last year, she was the first female competitor across the finish line, alongside that achieving a top three in Class C.
But that was followed in October with an off-colour 36th in Jersey.
It was only afterwards that Rumens discovered the source of the problem – one that they have addressed going into this weekend.
‘He didn’t realise until he stripped the engine down after we’d been to Jersey that something wasn’t right, and I think that’s where we were lacking in the speed.
‘I’m hoping with local knowledge, and a refresher on the engine, we can be a bit more competitive.
‘Local knowledge always helps, but there are some very good competitors coming from Jersey, and we’re very reliant on the Jersey competitors coming over.
‘If it was just Guernsey, there wouldn’t be enough people, and we’re very fortunate that Brittany Ferries have put on that extra sailing.’
