The world of motorsports is still reeling from the news that former WRC legend Colin McRae has perished in a tragic accident at the weekend.
The 39-year old former World Rally Champion died in a helicopter crash on Saturday evening near the McRae family home in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The aircraft was a Eurocopter Squirrel registered to McRae, an experienced helicopter pilot, who had a landing pad at his home. His son Johnny (5) and two family friends are among those who perished in the accident.
McRae was born into a family with a strong motorsport heritage. His father, Jimmy McRae, won the British Rally Championship five times, Colin’s younger brother Alister, won the same championship in 1995. Colin’s career started competing in trials biking at age 12. In 1985 at age 17, he switched to four wheels and raced in his first rally in Scotland, where he finished 14th. His wife Alison was even his co-driver early in his career.
He took the British Rallying Championship in 1991 and 1992 while racing for Prodrive Subaru. In 1993 he took his first WRC win in a Subaru Legacy. It was in 1994 that he found himself behind the wheel of a car that was to become as popular on the rallying scene as he, the Subaru Impreza. In that year he piloted the Impreza to wins in New Zealand and Great Britain. In 1995 he reached what is arguably the zenith of his career, becoming WRC champion. The next two years saw him runner-up in the driver’s championship and after placing third in 1998, switched to Ford – who introduced their new Focus WRC for the 1999 season.
“We won 17 world championship events together. Nobody ever wanted to be up against him. We used to drive to the max and push everything to the absolute limit. But when it came to socializing we had great fun as well. He was such a great character and will be sorely missed”, said McRae’s long time co-driver Nicky Grist.
Besides his then record of 25 WRC wins, other notable aspects of his career include driving a season for Citroen in 2003, appearances in the Dakar Rally and Le Mans 24 Hours, and one-off drives for Skoda and Kronos Citroen in 2005 and 2006.
“He was fearless, flamboyant, blindingly quick in the car. He was very down to earth, matter of fact that he was so good. He had all the good Scottish traits”, commented close friend and Formula One driver, David Coulthard.
Queen Elizabeth II awarded McRae an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in 1996 and since 2004 McRae has been developing his own car, the McRae R4, which he was to race later this year.
Gaming fans will remember McRae through the five games released with the rally legends name on it. The latest game, Colin McRae: Dirt is already available on PC and Xbox 360 and is due to be released on PS3 soon.
More famous for his fabulous driving on world rally stages than blogging on his website nobody says it than the rallying legend himself:
“I’m not really a fan of computers. Yes, I can play ‘DIRT’ on my Xbox 360 and I can just about access the Internet, but as for the rest of it, much of it is a complete mystery to me. When it comes to computers and electronics, give me 300 bhp, a winding road and no brakes, and then you’ve got my attention! That’s easy compared to working a computer.”
All here at CARtoday .com extend their sympathies to McRae’s wife Alison, his daughter Hollie, the rest of the McRae family and the family of the other crash victims at this time.