Colin McRae (5th August 1968 - 15th September 2007)

(Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver, 1995 World Rally Champion, 5th August 1968 - 15th September 2007)

The rallying community stands in silent respect on the 15th of September 2007 as it honors a driver, a champion, but above all, a man. Colin McRae, the Scottish World Rally driver that helped to put Subaru on the world stage together with the likes of Citroen, Sunbeam and Lotus, died in a helicopter accident, 1 mile off Lanarkshire, his hometown.

McRae began his rally career in 1986, piloting a Talbot Sunbeam. A regular competitor on Scottish Rally Championship events, he was soon making a name for himself with his speed and exciting style of driving. His driving style drew many comparisons to Ari Vatanen, the famous Finnish rally driver who McRae had always idolised. He soon progressed to a Vauxhall Nova, and then onto a Ford Sierra XR 4x4. His first WRC exposure was in the 1987 Swedish Rally behind the wheel of his Nova, and again in 1989, driving the Sierra and finishing 15th overall. Later in '89, he finished 5th overall at Rally New Zealand in a rear wheel drive Sierra Cosworth. 1991 saw McRae join Prodrive Subaru for the British Rally Championship. He was twice the British champion in 1991 and 1992, soon graduating to 'works' status for the factory team. (extract from wikipedia.org)

I don't profess to know much about Colin McRae, but I do know that he was a fantastic driver who did set a precedence for his successor now at Ford WRC - Marcus Gronholm. He was the driver who singe-handedly rose Subaru up high enough to compete with the likes of established rally car teams such as Citroen, Mitsuibishi and of course Ford. I haven't seen many of Colin's races but I have seen him take to the track at Brand's Hatch, UK, against the likes of Johnny Herbert of Formula Ford and Jeremy Clarkson of well, Top Gear fame. The race was nothing short of spectacular. Even though Clarkson had set off a good one minute earlier, the rally driver managed to catch up to him AND win him, not to mention the Formula 1 car driven by Herbert, which obviously won.

Colin McRae will go down in history with the likes of Ari Vatanen, Stig Blomqvist, Juha Kankkunen, Tommi Makinen and more recently Sebastien Loeb and Petter Solberg as one of the greatest rally drivers who ever were. These are the people who set the stage for good, solid, exciting rallying and will undoubtedly be remembered for many years to come.