From helping launch Formula E to co-founding Team Monaco, entrepreneur Chris Taylor has spent much of his career backing ideas that challenge convention. Ahead of the Principality’s first home race in the UIM E1 World Championship, he tells Monaco Life’s Cassandra Tanti why Monaco’s newest racing team is about much more than winning on the water.

When Prince Albert II changed his schedule to attend Team Monaco’s debut race in Jeddah earlier this year, Chris Taylor admits he became emotional.

“It actually brought a tear to my eye,” he says. “When the Head of State turns up to support your team, it means something. The other teams have actors, celebrities and famous names behind them. We had the Sovereign of Monaco standing there supporting us. That was incredibly special.”

For Taylor, that moment represented far more than the launch of another racing team. It validated an idea that has occupied him for the past two years: that Monaco deserves a team capable of representing the Principality in one of the world’s newest and most ambitious electric racing championships, while championing innovation, sustainability and entrepreneurship at the same time.

That ambition arrives on home waters on 17th and 18th July, as Team Monaco prepares for its first E1 race in the Principality.

A career built on backing disruptive ideas

Chris Taylor is no stranger to spotting industries before they become mainstream. Although many people know him as one of the entrepreneurs behind the global success of Polly Pocket, the British businessman has spent much of the past decade investing in electric motorsport.

After selling the company behind Polly Pocket in 2007, he says retirement lasted only briefly. “I thought I was finally going to enjoy a quiet life,” he laughs. “But it didn’t quite work out that way.”

Instead, he became involved in Formula E during its formative years, helping shape many of the ideas that distinguished the championship from Formula One. Among them were innovations he says were designed to make electric racing more accessible to spectators, including LED communication systems on the cars which he says he developed and patented.

“I was constantly asking why things had to be done the way Formula One did them,” he says. “If Formula One did something one way, I’d ask whether we could do it better.”

That philosophy naturally led him to E1.

A team two years in the making

Taylor first encountered the championship at its launch in Como, where he met kite foiling world champion Maxime Nocher — a 31-year-old Franco-Monegasque athlete who holds 11 world titles in the discipline and who had been sponsored by Princess Charlene for much of his career. Together they saw an opportunity. “We both looked at the project and thought there was something really special about it.”

Nocher’s experience on the water is complemented by his co-pilot Oban Duncan, at 20 the youngest pilot in the championship and the only one who arrived already knowing E1 inside out. “She’s been absolutely fantastic for us,” Taylor says. “She’s helped Max get up to speed with how the championship works. Max has extensive experience with hydrofoils — he used to supply foils to the French Olympic team — but Oban has been invaluable when it comes to race strategy and understanding how E1 weekends unfold.” Taylor smiles at the symmetry of it. “It’s quite an interesting dynamic. We have a very young pilot helping an experienced world champion adapt to the championship.”

Securing the right to race as Team Monaco took almost two years. Approvals had to be obtained, trademarks secured and partnerships established before the team could officially join the championship for its third season. “We simply weren’t ready to join at the very beginning,” Taylor explains. “The other teams already have two seasons of experience behind them, so we’re slightly behind the curve.”

Despite arriving as newcomers, Team Monaco has already shown it can compete with the championship’s established teams, coming within sight of a podium finish in Dubrovnik before an electrical failure forced retirement while running near the front of the field.

Racing for Monaco

For Taylor, representing Monaco carries a significance that extends well beyond motorsport. “I think Monaco brings a real cachet to the championship,” he says. “The series already has world-famous celebrities involved — Will Smith, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Rafa Nadal — but I felt Monaco added something even more special because we’re representing a nation – 40,000 people – not just a celebrity brand.”

Having become a resident of Monaco in 2020, Taylor says he increasingly sees the team as a platform for promoting the Principality internationally. “I wanted to give something back to the community where I now live.”

He recently met with Invest Monaco — the government agency tasked with promoting Monaco to entrepreneurs, investors and businesses worldwide — to explore how Team Monaco can help showcase the Principality as a destination for innovators and technology companies. “It’s an incredibly safe country with excellent schools, fantastic infrastructure and year-round activity,” he says. “I’m very happy to share that message with prospective partners.”

Sustainability beyond the race

Like Formula E before it, E1 is built around clean technology. But Taylor believes the championship has an opportunity to make a tangible contribution to marine conservation. One of Team Monaco’s partners is developing technology capable of analysing water quality during race weekends. “We’ll actually analyse the cooling water from the RaceBird batteries to measure how many microplastics are present at each venue,” Taylor explains. “That gives us immediate environmental data that we can use as part of our wider sustainability programme and help raise awareness of the issues affecting our oceans.”

The initiative aligns closely with the environmental mission of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which Taylor describes as a major inspiration for the team.

Building Monaco’s next generation

Team Monaco’s engineering team first came together while competing in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, where they won as university students. “It’s a wonderful full-circle story,” Taylor says. “They’re incredibly proud to represent Monaco, and they’ll be returning to the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge as mentors for the next generation.” The team also plans to work with schools across the Principality, introducing children to electric marine technology through radio-controlled RaceBird models and engineering workshops. “We want to inspire the next generation — not only to become drivers, but engineers, technicians and innovators.”

The future of electric racing

Taylor readily admits that E1 remains in its infancy. “It would be unrealistic to pretend we’re already Formula One,” he says. “But the potential is enormous.” He also points to a forthcoming documentary series, ‘Champions of Water’, produced by Box to Box Films — the creators of ‘Formula 1: Drive to Survive’ — as something that could dramatically increase the championship’s global reach. “If it has anything like the impact ‘Drive to Survive’ had on Formula One,” he says, “it could make an enormous difference.”

One ambition

As Team Monaco prepares for its first home race, Taylor isn’t making extravagant predictions. “When we first started this project, Max told me we were going to win the championship in our first season,” he laughs. “I told him I’d be delighted if we could achieve a podium.” After coming agonisingly close in Dubrovnik, standing on the podium in Monaco would carry a different significance entirely. “If we could get a podium in Monaco,” he says, “that would be beyond special.”

For the first time, Monaco will have a team of its own to support in the UIM E1 World Championship, and Taylor hopes residents will turn out in force. Spectators can watch the racing free of charge from several points around the circuit, including the Digue Rainier III, Mareterra and along sections of the harbour. “Bring a Monaco flag,” he says with a smile. “We want everyone waving flags and cheering the team on. We want to out-support all the other teams. That’s part of what makes representing Monaco so special.”

See also: 

E1 Team Monaco reaches second final of the season with fifth place in Dubrovnik

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All photos sourced from Team Monaco / E1