Categories
Motorsports Toyota

Neal Bates and Coral Taylor end 13 year drought

Neal Bates & Coral Taylor - 2008 Australian Rally Champions

Australian rally stalwarts Neal Bates and Coral Taylor won their fourth national title by claiming the 2008 Australian Rally Championship over the weekend. Confirmation of their title came after some cautious driving in difficult conditions during the Coffs Coast Rally. Bates and Taylor guided their Team TRD Corolla to eighth position in Saturday’s Heat 1 , and in doing so secured enough points to win the title with a day to spare.

The win ends a 13 year drought for the long time rally partnership. “I am absolutely over the moon,” Bates said. “It has been 13 years between championships and overall it was a very tense day as we were listening out for every noise and squeak, but the S2000 Corolla has been faultless all year and it was again today.

“Probably 80 per cent of the work in rallying is done before you get to an event so it is a big thanks to our incredibly smart bunch of guys in Canberra that have made this championship happen.”

Coral Taylor was both relieved and satisfied with their fourth Australian Rally Championship. “It is pretty amazing,” Taylor said. “I am not really sure where the last 13 years has gone since our last title but it is wonderful to win it again.”

Categories
Toyota

Toyota try to hang with the cool kids … and FAIL!

Further proof that Toyota as a brand has about as much appeal as a three day old tea-bag can be found by viewing the above YouTube clip. Sure, the blogosphere is talking about the ad, but it’s more a case of “if you can’t say anything nice then…”

Maybe Toyota is aiming for a LOLcat internet phenomenon, either way, this ad does nothing to make the Corolla a desirable brand. If Toyota wants cred, they could do a lot worse than having a chat with Colin Osborne.

(Thanks to Ben for the link.)