Colin McRae

Colin McRae

Nation:	Scotland
World Rally Championship (WRC)
First rally:	Rally Sweden 1987
Last rally:	Rally Turkey 2006
Co-driver:	Nicky Grist
Team:	Kronos Racing
Vehicle:	Citroën Xsara WRC
Rallies Victories Podiums WP 141 25th 42 464
Championship title:	1995
Points:	612

Colin Steele McRae , MBE (born August 5, 1968 in Lanark , Scotland , † September 15, 2007 there ) was a British motor sportsman.

He became known in particular through his many years of participation in the World Rally Championship and his world champion title in 1995 . His friends and acquaintances liked to call him “Coco” (like a clown) because he was prone to black and humorous jokes. However, his nickname in the international rally scene became "Rollin 'McCrash" after surviving several severe accidents.

Life

Colin McRae was the son of five-time British rally champion Jimmy McRae and the older brother of rally driver Alister McRae . McRae's talent for racing showed up early on. Even before he had his first driver's license in his hands, he had already won the Scottish Motocross Championship for students at the age of 13 . After further successful years in various amateur racing series, he switched to rallying in 1986. Just one year later, he joined the British Junior Rally Team to take part in the official WRC event of the Rally Sweden . In the end, he finished 36th with a Vauxhall Nova. When he won his first rally in 1988, his navigator in the passenger seat was his childhood sweetheart and future wife, Alison Hamilton.

Colin McRae set the first exclamation mark in 1989, when he took an excellent 5th place in a rear-wheel drive Ford Sierra Cosworth at the New Zealand Rally . After further good results made him reach second place in the British Rally Championship in 1990, McRae was signed by David Richards for the Subaru team in 1991, initially for the British championship. In 1991 and 1992 he won the British Rally Championship. After he was allowed to contest the first races in the world championship in 1992 , his big hour struck in 1993 : with his first victory at the world championship run in New Zealand over a 40-mile stage, he achieved his big breakthrough. His career was crowned in 1995 when he was first in the overall ranking and thus world rally champion. He became the youngest driver in motorsport history and the first British rally world champion. In 1996, Eddie Jordan gave him the chance to drive a Formula 1 car - during test drives, he came within two seconds of works driver Martin Brundle . In the same year he was awarded an MBE .

Colin McRae in a Škoda Fabia WRC on a Super Special Stage of the Wales Rally GB 2005

In the following years he was able to achieve more victories, but it was not enough for another world champion title. McRae switched from Subaru to Ford after eight years, but here, too, he was never more than second in the overall standings. In 2003 he switched to Citroën , but after a moderately successful year he decided to leave the world championship. In 2005 he made a guest appearance in a Škoda Fabia WRC at the Wales Rally GB , and in 2006 he took over the wheel of a Citroën Xsara WRC again at the Rally Turkey to replace the injured Sébastien Loeb .

From 2004 Colin McRae worked for Nissan in major long-distance rallies, including the Dakar Rally . With a victory at the Baja Portalegre 2004 in Portugal, he was able to celebrate his first successes here as well. In the same year, he also took part in the Le Mans 24-hour race . With his colleagues Rickard Rydell and Darren Turner , he drove a Ferrari 550 Maranello to 3rd place in the GT class.

In the years that followed, McRae devoted himself increasingly to developing his own vehicles, such as the high-performance rally vehicle Colin McRae R4 , which he presented in 2006. McRae is also the namesake for the successful computer and console game series Colin McRae Rally from Codemasters.

Deadly accident

On September 15, 2007, McRae had a fatal accident when his private helicopter (a Eurocopter AS 350 B2) crashed in strong winds while approaching the helipad on the grounds of his old manor at Jerviswood House near Lanark . He himself was also the pilot of the accident machine. With him were three other people on board who also had a fatal accident: his five-year-old son John Gavin, his six-year-old boyfriend and a childhood friend McRaes. In December 2007 Colin McRae should have competed for Scotland with David Coulthard at the Race of Champions in London . His younger brother, Alister, took his place. A start at the Dakar Rally was planned for the X-Raid team in 2008 and its return to the World Rally Championship was planned for an as yet undetermined date.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch could not determine a technical cause for the crash, but McRae was assigned direct guilt on several points. His private pilot's license had already expired in 2005 and his behavior as a pilot was “irresponsible and thoughtless” , since he had flown too low at the time of the accident.

statistics

Success as a rally driver

• once world rally champion (1995, first Briton)
• three times rally vice world champion (1996, 1997 and 2001)
• 25 World Championship run victories, 42 World Championship run podium places

McRaes co-drivers were:

• 1987 (Vauxhall): Mike Broad and Derek Ringer
• 1988–1996 (Peugeot, Ford and Subaru): Derek Ringer
• 1997-2002 (Subaru and Ford): Nicky Grist
• 2003 (Citroën): Derek Ringer
• 2004–2005 (Nissan): Tina Thörner
• 2005 (Škoda): Nicky Grist

Individual results WRC

year	team	vehicle	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13	14th	15th	16	Points	rank
1987	Colin McRae	Vauxhall Nova	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	United States	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR				-	-
				36											DNF
1988	Peugeot Talbot Sport	Peugeot 205 GTI	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	United States	NZL	ARG	FIN	CIV	ITA	GBR				-	-
															DNF
1989	Colin McRae	Ford Sierra XR	SWE	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	GBR				8th	34
			15th
	Gary Smith Motorsport	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
									5
	RED
															DNF
1990	Shell UK Oil	Ford Sierra RS Cosworth	MON	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	GBR					6th	34
														6th
1991	Subaru Rally Team Europe	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR			-	-
																DNF
1992	Subaru Rally Team Europe	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	NZL	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	CIV	ESP	GBR			34	8th
				2				4th	DNF		8th					6th
1993	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Legacy RS	MON	SWE	POR	KEN	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN	OUT	ITA	ESP	GBR				50	5
				3	7th		5			1		6th			DNF
	Subaru MSG	Subaru Vivio Sedan 4WD
						DNF
1994	Subaru Impreza WRT	Subaru Impreza WRT	MON	POR	KEN	ESP	FRA	GRE	ARG	NZL	FIN	ITA	GBR						49	4th
			10	DNF			DNF	DNF	DNF	1		5	1
1995	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRT	MON	SWE	POR	FRA	NZL	OUT	ESP	GBR									90	1
			DNF	DNF	3	5	1	2	2	1
1996	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRT	SWE	KEN	IDN	GRE	ARG	FIN	OUT	ITA	ESP								92	2
			3	4th	DNF	1	DNF	DNF	4th	1	1
1997	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRT	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	IDN	ITA	OUT	GBR			62	2
			DNF	4th	1	DNF	4th	1	2	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	1	1	1
1998	Subaru World Rally Team	Subaru Impreza WRT	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	ITA	OUT	GBR				45	3
			3	DNF	DNF	1	DNF	1	5	1	5	DNF	3	4th	DNF
1999	Ford Motor Co	Ford Focus RS WRC	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	FRA	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	CHN	ITA	OUT	GBR			23	6th
			DSQ	DNF	1	1	DNF	4th	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF	DNF
2000	Ford Motor Co	Ford Focus RS WRC	MON	SWE	KEN	POR	ESP	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	CYP	FRA	ITA	OUT	GBR			43	4th
			DNF	3	DNF	DNF	1	DNF	1	2	2	2	DNF	6th	DNF	DNF
2001	Ford Motor Co	Ford Focus RS WRC	MON	SWE	POR	ESP	ARG	CYP	GRE	KEN	FIN	NZL	ITA	FRA	OUT	GBR			42	2
			DNF	9	DNF	DNF	1	1	1	DNF	3	2	8th	11	5	DNF
2002	Ford Motor Co	Ford Focus RS WRC	MON	SWE	FRA	ESP	CYP	ARG	GRE	KEN	FIN	DEU	ITA	NZL	OUT	GBR			35	4th
			4th	6th	DNF	6th	6th	3	1	1	DNF	4th	8th	DNF	DNF	5
2003	Citroën Total World Rally Team	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON	SWE	DOOR	NZL	ARG	GRE	CYP	DEU	FIN	OUT	ITA	FRA	ESP	GBR			45	7th
			2	5	4th	DNF	DNF	8th	4th	4th	DNF	4th	6th	5	9	4th
2005	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	NZL	ITA	CYP	DOOR	GRE	ARG	FIN	DEU	GBR	JPN	FRA	ESP	OUT	2	23
														7th				DNF
2006	Kronos Citroën World Rally Team	Citroën Xsara WRC	MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRE	DEU	FIN	JPN	CYP	DOOR	OUT	NZL	GBR	-	-
															DNF

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
2004	Prodrive Racing	Ferrari 550 GTS Maranello	Rickard Rydell	Darren Turner	Rank 9

Web links

Commons : Colin McRae  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• German-language obituary with interesting facts
• Online Condolences to Colin McRae (English)
• Colin McRae at motorsportmemorial.org (English)
• WRC statistics on juwra.com

Individual evidence

1. ^ DiePresse.com, Motorsport: Colin McRae - the "epitome" for rally is dead September 16, 2007
2. ↑ ^{a b} aaib.gov.uk: Report name: Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel, G-CBHL , accessed September 9, 2011