With it coming up to 9 years since the tragic helicopter crash in 2007 that took the life of Colin McRae, his son, and two family friends. We would like to look back and pay tribute to the late rally driver by sharing five extraordinary facts that you might not know.
1. Early Career-Colin started at a young age of 7 riding motorbikes; by the age of 14 he had already won the junior and intermediate championships on his trail bike. In 1985 he swapped to rally racing in a mini copper. His first event was in Kames Stages, Scotland; despite coming off the side of the road McRae still finished in a grand 14th place and first in his class.
2. Starting out- McRae’s proved his talent and secured his first two year contract with Prodrive earning an annual salary of £10,000. Inevitably giving him the chance to rally at a higher level and behind the wheel of the car that became his iconic Subaru.
3. Champion- Let’s not forget that in 1995, Colin McRae became the first and youngest British driver to win the World Rally Championship in his iconic Subaru Impreza. Although it wasn’t an easy win; with a puncture and a damaged front suspension that lost him valuable time. Colin still managed to gain first place and astonishingly become the Scots man to win the 1995 World Rally Championship.
4. A step back-In 2003, Colin took a different route and started designing a new rally car so not to be tied down with contracts; and the designs on the McRaeR4 began. There were a few difficulties with the initial prototype gearbox blowing up in the first test runs. By 2006 the prototype McRae R4 had a specially made and designed transmission unit and participated in a premier show at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The real debut of the McRae R4 came as Colin did donuts around the Goodwood House and raced it in the 2007 Goodwood rally. However this did become his last public appearance.
5. The Car- How about owning the iconic blue and yellow Subaru Impreza WRC? Well you can, Mohrklassik (owners of a German motor company) put the 300 horse power, gold wheeled rally car up for sale earlier this year and it’s expected to reach a sum of roughly £230,000. You could be sitting at the wheel as Colin McRae did in the 1997 Monte Carlo Rally!
