Colin McRae - The story told with photos! (Well kinda)

Hey guys! I fellow rs25 member (autohabit) posted this up on the forums not to long ago and I really enjoyed it. Regardless of whether your a rally fan or not I think you will find yourself getting into this story! enjoy!!!


22nd November 1995 - Exactly 15 years ago today, there was a euphoric scene at the finish of the RAC Rally in Chester, when a certain driver became World Rally Champion.

Here is the story of Colin McRae, and how he went from teenager in a Vauxhall Nova to World Rally Superstar.

I first saw Colin drive a rally car in 1987 when he ran this Group A 1300cc Vauxhall Nova Sport, he was known to finish in the top 10 of international rallies in this car, he did that by carrying more speed through corners than any other driver, Colin always did it his way when it came to attacking a corner, his style was a million miles away from the slow in and fast out technique which most drivers employ. It was obvious even at this stage that Colin had the potential to become a professional rally driver.


The first WRC outing in a 4WD car for Colin came on the 1989 Swedish Rally, at the wheel of a Ford Sierra XR 4x4, considering his lowly seeding of 55, he finished an excellent 15th overall



In the summer of 1989 Colin was invited to compete in the New Zealand Rally by local entrant Gary Smith Motorsport, the car was a Group A RWD Ford Sierra Cosworth. McRae came home in 5th place and netted his first world championship points.



A number of Colin's first competitive outings came in Group A Sierra Cosworths. Here he is during the 1990 Ypres 24 Hours in Belgium



For 1991 Colin signed a contract with Prodrive to run a Group A Subaru Legacy in the British Rally Championship, this was a very successful partnership, gaining them the title in 1991 & 1992. As early on as 1991 McRae led Britain's WRC round only to crash out, much to the dissapointment of all British rally fans!



Stay tuned, there is more to come!

YES!!

Wallace wrote:

YES!!

GO TO BED!

DUDE CHECK YOZUR FUCKING PHONE!

Jimmy, Colin and Alister McRae share a happy moment during the 1991 Scottish Rally

This is a favourite photo of mine, mainly because I was spectating on this stage. The event was the 1991 Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire, this particular stage was held on the Olivers Mount motorcycling road racing circuit, the Mazda in front of Mcrae's Subaru was driven by Dom Buckley junior, who was a friend of Colin, the clutch on the Mazda was just about shot, so Colin had to push the car round the stage to ensure a finish for Buckley, much to the amusement of the crowd.

1992 saw Prodrive give a limited WRC programme to McRae, this netted some very good results considering Colin's inexperience on the events.
The '92 Swedish Rally was a turning point in Colin's career, it marked his first podium finish on a WRC event - 2nd overall. Even more significant was the fact that he finished just 39 seconds behind the winning car, he was right on the money.

Another event in 1992 was the 1000 Lakes Rally, this was Colin's first ever appearance in Finland, he rolled the car on more than one occasion, lost his pace notes in the process and still managed to continue setting top ten stage times, this gave him a following in Finland that would remain for the rest of his career, he arrived back at the finish ramp to a huge round of applause in 8th place.

1992 Ulster Rally - Colin on his way to a second succesive British Championship title, he had little to prove in this championship now, surely he wouldn't end up being confined to the British Championship for the rest of his career like his dad Jimmy (a five time British Champion)

1993 would be a pivotal year.


The '93 Swedish Rally saw another strong result with a 3rd position finish

Next event of 1993 was McRae's debut on the Rally of Portugal, he finished seventh

Colin on the 1993 Tour de Corse in a Prodrive Legacy, Colin described this car in an interview many years later as his favourite Subaru rally car, he said it had just the right amount of technology without spoiling the driver input, these were the very early days of active diffs etc. This was also another new event to Colin, he finished in an impressive fifth place


Not sure what this photographer is taking a photo of

August brought a trip to New Zealand for Colin, one of the few events he was familiar with, having twice competed there before, he took an amazing win, in what was the Legacy's last appearance at top level before the debut of the Impreza, the Subaru bosses were delighted with the result, it also marked the end to a 17 year drought for British rally drivers on the WRC, Roger Clark being the last driver to win an event (1976 RAC)

Stay tuned for even moar!

yo that photographer is dumb