Australian rider Tayla Relph and her crew chief Ted Collins are taking on the FIM Women’s Circuit Racing World Championship for the third consecutive year. Teammates on track, what sets them apart from the rest of the grid is that they are also teammates in life, the couple having wed earlier this year.
THE FIRST MEETING
They met in the race paddock as children, both competing in junior ASBK classes. As Tayla puts it: “Don’t ask which of us is faster, because you’ll get two different answers! We knew each other but didn’t talk too much when we were younger, but things changed in 2017 when Ted won the Australian Supersport 600 championship… I saw him in a new light and the rest is history!”
Their bond was such that, when Tayla travelled to Europe to race in the 2024 WorldWCR Championship, Ted was quick to join her on the adventure.
A LEARNING PROCESS…
Collins was a rider in the Australian championship, but soon took to the crew chief role like a duck to water. Collins, who also has a business with Relph, said: “My only track experience was as a racer, but when we came to WorldWCR in 2024 Tayla didn't have a crew chief, so I figured I’d do it! We already had a business together, but this is different. As crew chief, my job is to understand what the rider needs and how they react. I thought I knew how Tayla operated, but it actually took me longer to understand her as a rider than it probably would any other rider.”
Relph added: “During our first year in the Championship, we didn't know how to work together. As my crew chief, Ted essentially has to tell me everything I’m doing wrong and there are not many men that can get away with doing that for an entire weekend in a relationship! I'd say we’ve taken a big step professionally in the last 12 months; we realised that, to make this work, we’ve got to put the relationship side of things aside when we’re at the track.”
Separating work from a personal life is key, especially when the two are closely linked, as Collins explains: “I think we’re pretty good at drawing a line between work and our time at home. I can say what I need to say to Tayla during the day, and we’re then able to leave the track and be ‘normal’ again, even if it's been a tough day. I think we play our roles at the track quite well and at the end of the day, we’ve learned that it’s okay to chill out, relax and have some fun for a while.”
CREATING A MONSTER!
He also explained about some of the advantages they have as a married couple working together: “I think the biggest advantage we have is that, while another rider might not see their team between rounds, we are always together, living the dream together in our van. Whether we’re testing or training, it's always me and Tayla so we're constantly building this big database of information of what works and what doesn't. While some riders will see the team maybe ten times during the season, we’re together and going through the process all the time. When we go to kart tracks for example, we’re a similar speed and can push each other, which is fun for me and very useful for Tayla. We go to the track and put a lap time down and just carry on all day until someone goes home upset! I’ve created a monster. At the start she would say everything with the bike was fine, while now it’s more a case of ‘this isn’t right’ and ‘we need to fix that’… I clearly taught her well!”
Relph added: “It’s a bonus that Ted used to be a professional rider back in Australia. He’s gone through the process and knows what it entails to race full-time, and I think that really helped me. When I was younger, I wouldn't take my training seriously and I never had a crew chief before. It was always just me and dad, whereas Ted had a whole crew of people and understood the training, the nutrition, everything. If it weren't for Ted and everything he’s done, I don't think I would be where I am today.”
MORE THAN A TEAM
Discussing how they work together when at a round or test, Relph said: “Ted puts 110% thought and effort into every change he makes on the bike because he knows that even a small mistake can have massive consequences on track. Sometimes he might be nervous to make a big adjustment to the bike because he's emotionally attached to the result and emotionally attached to the rider in a different way to any other crew chief. But then on the flip side of that, I know he’ll never send me out on track with a bike that's not perfect. After a round, we try to have a whole day where we don’t talk bikes and don’t look at the computer or social media, and that's the way we reconnect as a couple. Some couples couldn’t do what we do, but I think it’s an advantage that Ted used to race, as if I'm down in the dumps or the results aren't coming, he can see it from a husband's perspective, but also from a rider’s perspective.”
Collins added: “But the effort we put in applies to our whole team I think, because we're a small privateer outfit and all our staff are here because they want to be. We're usually the first ones at the track in the morning and the last ones to leave, because we care and are trying to do our best.”
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