Could you dead-reckon your way through 1,500 miles of the Mojave Desert? Most of us GPS-reliant normies would respond with a resounding “Hell no.”
However harrowing that sandy, windy, boulder-laden terrain may be, the competitors in the annual Rebelle Rally are here to show how it’s done the old-fashioned way.
This all-woman, eight-day race features 100 competitors, with a designated driver and navigator comprising each team. Some racers are professional drivers and navigators, while others are stay-at-home moms, lawyers, even rocket scientists.
“Competing with and against these women is amazing, because they all come from different backgrounds,” Rebelle Rally driver Verena Mei tells us. “Anyone can compete in the rally!” Take for instance Mei’s teammate Tana White, an occupational therapist and mom of twin boys who manages a home health and hospice delivery system by day.
But once a year, White puts on her navigator cap for the Rebelle Rally. “Suffice it to say, navigating isn’t something I do daily.”
In their second year working together as a team, Mei and White represented Kia at October’s Rebelle Rally, driving a modified version of the 2023 Sportage X-Pro. Although Mei has enjoyed a long career in motorsports—with Formula Drift and Rally America competitions under her belt—2021 was her first time piloting in the Rebelle. “It was a major tick off of my bucket list.”
Navigator White has competed in the rally since its inception in 2015, and this year marks her fifth race. In 2016, she signed up for an hour-long analog navigation class and learned how to use such old-school tools as topographic maps, rulers, and compasses—all required to plot through the course. “I signed up for the class in June and competed in my first race that same October,” she says.
With more preparation this time around, the duo hopes to beat their 2021 score of second place. In last year’s rally, getting stuck in a gigantic sand dune in Glamis—a Southern California town famous for its sand-drifted landscape—cost Mei and White the points that would have pushed them into first. This year’s training focused on ways to overcome obstacles like those and examining their previous missteps, and the duo is confident in their preparation.
“There were a lot of unknowns last year,” Mei admits. “Starting to get to know each other as well as the car, we can anticipate each other’s needs this time around.”
Mei and White also worked with Kia’s engineers to outfit a modified 2023 Sportage X-Pro—a smaller, more nimble vehicle than their previous Kia Sorento—testing it at the proving grounds and giving it a spin in the dunes ahead of the race. (In 2021, the Sorento showed up at their hotel the day before the rally, leaving them virtually no time to get a feel for the vehicle before having to floor it.)
“The biggest thing I kept in mind for training this year was to learn the functionalities and capabilities of the vehicle inside and out,” Mei says.“You really have to become friends with the car.”
Their modified 2023 Sportage X-Pro arrived with enhanced safety and performance features for the treacherous contours, including an underbody with skidplates to protect the car from rocky damage, as well as 17-inch Black Rhino wheels wrapped in BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A K02 tires.
Additionally, the modified car has tow-pointed, Baja Forged front- and rear bumpers (Mei and White lost their bumper last year) and a custom roof rack to hold the roadside tools they need to complete the course. “We come up on ditches, rocks, use traction boards to get over things,” White says. “Asking for assistance comes with penalties, so we need to be as self-sufficient as possible.”
While winning would be a major feather in their rally cap, completing the race is a prize unto itself. More than anything, the sense of accomplishment and camaraderie with the other competitors is what the journey is all about.
“As women, we don’t often see ourselves as stars in motorsports,” White says. “This rally really highlights what women are good at, being organized, detail-oriented. It takes those skills to excel in this type of competition.”
Editor’s note: Mei and White completed the 2022 race in fifth place. Kia is immensely proud of their performance.
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This post is a sponsored collaboration between Kia and G/O Media Studios.