The Team
Shakewell Racing started with a Facebook post and a bit of luck — a driver in Sydney looking for a co-driver, an answer from Perth, and a team born across a 4,000 km gap. Here's everyone who makes it run.
Driver · Sydney
Michael Chora
The one holding the wheel — and, by his own admission, the rookie of the operation, learning fast under real pressure. Michael went from tarmac rallying (2025 Targa New Zealand Production 4WD class champion, 6th outright) to a first-ever gravel stage at Bathurst in March 2026, and to an ARC start at Narooma four months later. Between events the cars live in his Sydney workshop, where the fleet is maintained by Ichiban & Shakewell. He documents the honest version of all of it — including the broken bits.
Co-driver · Perth
Rachael Ferrante
The calm half of the car. Rachael brings years of rally navigation experience from the other side of the country — she flies in from Perth for events, straps in, and delivers pace notes, roadbook calls and time control maths with equal composure. She called the notes on Michael's first-ever gravel stage, wrote pace notes with him for the first time at Narooma, and navigated blind roadbook rallies in between. What a co-driver actually does.
The supporting cast
Everyone else it takes
A privateer team is never just two people. There's the camera that comes to everything — Jemma films the lot, which is why every event has a story to tell. There are guest co-drivers when the calendar demands it (Jenny Cole took the hot seat for a blind Mitta Mountain Rally). There's the workshop crew at Ichiban keeping three Subarus alive, and the friends who tow, spanner, spectate and occasionally supply emergency zip ties. No factory truck, no salaries — just people who love rallying making it work.