Colin McRae
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Colin McRae MBE (born in Lanark, Scotland, 5 August 1968), son of successful Scottish rally driver Jimmy McRae, is the third most successful World Rally Championship driver of all time (in the currency of individual rally wins), third only to Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb.
He won the world driver's title in 1995, was championship runner-up in 1996, 1997 and 2001, and third in 1998. He helped Subaru to the World manufacturers' title in 1995, 1996 and 1997, and Citroën in 2003. He was awarded the title of MBE (Member of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996.
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[edit] Biography
Colin 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 Colin 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 RWD Sierra Cosworth. 1991 saw Colin join the Prodrive Subaru team for the British Rally Championship. He was twice the British Rally Champion in 1991 and 1992, soon graduating to 'works' status at Subaru. He helped the Subaru Impreza to become a famous and much wanted car.
[edit] WRC
McRae won his first WRC rally in 1993, piloting the Prodrive-built Subaru Legacy in the Rally New Zealand, before aiding Subaru to a three-year sweep of titles, including one for himself in 1995 after a thrilling final round duel on his home event, with team-mate and double world champion Sainz. He later also won the 1998 Race of Champions.
After several years of varying success, Colin switched to the Ford team in 1999, behind the wheel of the new Focus rally car. This move was rewarded with two quickfire wins for the infant Focus WRC, on the Safari Rally Kenya and Portuguese rallies. However he was to struggle with reliability woes for much of the rest of that season, although later he did narrowly miss out on a second driver's title with the M-Sport operation in 2001.
With victory on the Safari Rally in 2002, McRae became the most successful World Rally Championship driver of all time, although Spaniard Carlos Sainz and Frenchman Sebastian Loeb have since overtaken him.
In 2003, McRae decided to part ways with Ford and sign with the promising Citroën team. However, the Scotsman could only muster seventh in the title race, with no rally victories. When hopes for a second stint at Subaru evaporated — with the Japanese marque signing young talent Mikko Hirvonen to partner 2003 World Champion Petter Solberg — he was subsequently left on the sidelines for 2004.
As of 2004, he had participated in more than 120 WRC events, and been team mates of drivers inclduing Carlos Sainz, Richard Burns and Ari Vatanen.
[edit] 2004+ - Away from WRC
Although not officially retired, McRae opted to take some time off from WRC and pursue other interests during his 'gap year', such as piloting a Nissan truck in the Paris Dakar Rally. He also contested the Le Mans 24 Hours.
After a year-long absence from the sport in 2004, McRae made his return in a works Škoda Fabia WRC on the following season's Wales Rally GB, albeit on a strictly one-off basis. He netted seventh place in a car widely believed uncompetitive in WRC circles. However, his hard-fought result was overshadowed by the tragic death of fellow British competitor, Markko Martin's co-driver, Michael "Beef" Park - the sport's first such death in more than a decade. Then came his remarkable bid for second place on his return in Australia, dashed by clutch woes three stages from the finish.
On Saturday, August 5, 2006, Colin and co-driver Nicky Grist competed for Subaru in the first live televised American rally in Los Angeles as part of the X-Games. With 2 turns to go, Colin flipped the car. The car rolled back over and he finished the race, finishing second.
In October 2006, it was furthermore announced that the pairing would serve as replacement for defending champion (and 2003 team-mate) Sébastien Loeb in the Kronos Citroen team for the Rally of Turkey, in light of the Frenchman breaking his arm in a bicycle accident [1]. A final-stage alternator problem consigned them to a final placing outside the top ten. McRae's hopes for participation in the outstanding events in the 2006 calendar, such as the following Rally Australia, hinge strictly on the length of Loeb's recuperation (if, indeed, Kronos choose to request further service the Scotsman at all). It has since been announced that McRae will not drive for Kronos Citroen in the Rally Australia.
Meanwhile, McRae is believed to be on the lookout for the chance of a full-time return to the sport for 2007, following the Škoda works team's withdrawal from the WRC for the 2006 season. While his future is the subject of heated discussions and rumours, his influence on the popularity of WRC and rallying is unquestionable.
[edit] Colin McRae Rally
The other key McRae association is that of the world of computer games. Codemasters first released its Colin McRae Rally title in 1998, while version 2 was released in the year 2000 on Sony's PlayStation and PC. A third version found a wide audience on the PC and Xbox. Versions 04 and 2005 arrived in 2004, bringing an extremely enticing rally driving experience to gamers on all platforms, the latter also being ported to Sony's PSP and Nokia's N-Gage.
Colin McRae Off-Road™ is today revealed as the title for the next generation of the genre leading, 8-million+ selling rally racing series. Codemasters also confirms the game will launch for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC simultaneously in 2007. A special edition for mobile phones will also be available from Codemasters Mobile.
[edit] Personal life
McRae moved to the principality of Monaco in 1995, partly through his friendship with David Coulthard [2]. However, as his young family has grown up, he has spent more time back at his home in Lanarkshire - accepting the higher costs of living in Scotland [3]. McRae is married to Alison [4], and has two children: Hollie and Johnny [5].
[edit] References
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/world_rally/5404040.stm
- ^ http://www.mclaren.com/features/qanda/colin_mcrae.php
- ^ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-McRae-Autobiography-Britains-Exciting/dp/0091883962
- ^ http://www.carpages.co.uk/nissan/nissan-dakar-rally-08-01-05.asp
- ^ http://www.skoda-auto.com/global/sport/news/2005_51_colin.htm?importerISO=
