The people’s champion
Nat Daniels
He wasn’t just a champion, he was a people’s hero. In the world of motorsport, Colin McRae was an icon, a source of inspiration, often frustration, but always outlandish entertainment.
At a time when Britain has no rally driver at the forefront of the sport, the death of McRae strikes a savage blow at the heart of consciousness for supporters throughout the land. It seems like only yesterday that McRae, the Scotsman, was jousting with Richard Burns, the Englishman, for the sport’s ultimate prize.
McRae, typically, went off the road in the deciding Rally GB and Burns subsequently cruised to his one and only world championship triumph. But that was McRae, and that was Burns. Their contrasting styles rendered their rivalry all the more compelling.
But soon Burns was taken ill and was unable to recover. Now McRae, too, has gone. Burns will always be revered as the consummate professional, an outstanding driver who reached the pinnacle of his sport. His diligence, consistency and strategy ultimately paid dividends. But that was never McRae’s style. He was the charger, the risk taker. How sad that he should have survived numerous skirmishes and one horrendous crash in Corsica, in 2000, only to perish in a helicopter.
Speed and competition were in McRae’s genes. His father, Jimmy, was five-times British rally champion. Just like his father, the young Colin was fascinated by all things fast and mechanical. The moment Jimmy turned his back, Colin would be on one of his motorbikes, but then Jimmy always knew. Colin first held the wheel of a motorcar when he sat on his grandfather’s lap and drove into an imaginary distance but once he was on two wheels, for real, there would be no holding him back. He moved to cars and again, his momentum was unstoppable.
With friends, he would drive a Mini around the old mineshafts at Riggside near the family home in Lanark. But soon he turned to competition, but this time at the wheel of an Avenger as he entered his first rally, the Cames Stages. The car was borrowed from a friend but the kick convinced him this was his calling. Even though he went off and got stuck in a peat bog, that day, September 14, 1985, confirmed Colin McRae would be a rally driver. But how good? His father was convinced his son would go on to be better than he was.
McRae bought a Sunbeam for £850 and embarked on his career proper. He cut his teeth in the Scottish and British series and made his breakthrough with three wins in the second half of 1988. In 1989, he made his world championship debut in a Ford Sierra. Later that year, he encountered his first RAC rally. He didn’t finish the event and there were to be many more DNFs in his career, but then that was McRae. And that was why he built up such an enormous and adoring fan club on both sides of the border and eventually around the world.
Derek Ringer became his regular co-driver and together they went all the way to the world title, but not without a few bumps and bruises along the way. The big breakthrough came in 1991 when he was signed up by Prodrive and the Subaru rally team. He would have a full British championship drive and the occasional world championship opportunity – and his first salary, £10,000.
He became the youngest British champion that year. He defended the title in 1992 and the following year had his first full world championship programme. He achieved his maiden win in New Zealand and then his first in the RAC. No British driver had won his home event since Roger Clark in 1976. McRae went on to win a further two home events but the highlight of his career came in 1995 in a tense and often fractious duel with his Subaru teammate, Spain’s Carlos Sainz. McRae clinched the crown on home ground.
He came close again and never closer than in 2001, driving for Ford and partnered by Nicky Grist. But then, the old McRae impulse to push and go for the spectacular undid him and Burns became champion. McRae was always irritated by the “McCrash” tag, and his fans would never have wanted him any other way. Outside the car, he was often accused of being moody and dour but then, take him away from the glare of the spotlight into his own environment with family and friends, and he was a different person.
He also had a sharp sense of humour. He enjoyed winding up Burns, phoning him up when he had one or two beers, and telling him he knew the Englishman loved him really. McRae said recently: “We had a strong rivalry but there was a lot of respect. My belief was that you started with the speed and found your limit. With experience, you can use that natural ability more effectively.”
McRae finished his career with Citroen and never quite gave up his hope of returning to the top flight. At the age of 39, he had still had an insatiable appetite for speed and challenge. He was preparing for another attempt at the Dakkar Rally in the New Year. His absence from that event will be a poignant reminder of what sport has lost.
