1. Colin McRae was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title.
57 Facts About Colin McRae
1. 2.
At 27, McRae was the youngest-ever World Champion, a record that stood until 2022.
3.
Colin McRae was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to motorsport in 1996.
4.
In 2007, Colin McRae was killed when the helicopter he was piloting crashed near his home.
5.
Colin McRae was born in Lanark, Scotland, to Jimmy and Margaret Colin McRae.
6.
Jimmy Colin McRae was the five-time winner of the British Rally Championship.
7.
Colin McRae was the eldest of three brothers; his middle brother, Alister Colin McRae, is a rally car driver.
8.
Colin McRae's maternal uncle Hugh "Shug" Steele was a former rally driver.
9.
Colin McRae worked at Archie's Autos then at his father's plumbing and heating business as a technician.
10.
Colin McRae was married to Alison, whom he met aged 19 when she acted as his co-driver, and had two children, Hollie and Johnny.
11.
Colin McRae moved to the principality of Monaco in 1995, partly through his friendship with David Coulthard.
12.
In 1996, Colin McRae was appointed a Member of the British Empire for services to motorsports in the Birthday Honours list.
13.
Colin McRae began his competitive career in motorsport riding trial bikes at an early age, despite being more interested in four-wheeled machines rather than two-wheel bikes.
14.
Colin McRae became the Scottish schoolboy motocross champion at the age of thirteen.
15.
At the age of sixteen, through the Coltness Car Club, Colin McRae found autotesting, obtained a Mini Cooper and started competing.
16.
Colin McRae finished the event thirteenth; first in his class although he had run most of the event in a higher position.
17.
In 1986, driving a Talbot Sunbeam, Colin McRae entered the Scottish Rally Championship with Ian Grindrod, his father's co-driver, as his co-driver, and soon made a name for himself with his speed and exciting style of driving.
18.
Colin McRae's driving style drew many comparisons to Finnish ex-World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen, whom McRae had always idolised.
19.
In 1990 Colin McRae achieved sixth place in that year's RAC Rally, despite several accidents.
20.
Colin McRae was British Rally Champion in both 1991 and 1992, soon graduating to the Subaru factory team at World Rally Championship level.
21.
In 1992, Colin McRae made his debut in the British Touring Car Championship, with a one-off appearance for the Prodrive-run BMW factory team at the Knockhill round, where he collided with Matt Neal.
22.
Race officials found Colin McRae to have caused an avoidable collision and subsequently disqualified him.
23.
On his promotion for 1993, Colin McRae initially drove the Prodrive-built Group A Subaru Legacy alongside Finns Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola and Markku Alen.
24.
Colin McRae then won his first WRC rally in the car at that year's Rally New Zealand.
25.
Colin McRae helped Subaru complete their run of three consecutive manufacturers' titles during this time.
26.
The deal saw Colin McRae earning six million pounds over two years, which at the time made him the highest-earning rally driver in history.
27.
Colin McRae immediately had two consecutive wins at the Safari Rally and Rally Portugal.
28.
Colin McRae went on to be victorious on the asphalt turns of Catalunya and the gravel of Greece, and post 4th in the 2000 overall standings.
29.
Midway through the 2000 season, the lacking reliability of the Focus led to Colin McRae threatening to leave the team if the problems continued.
30.
For 2003, Colin McRae signed for Citroen, a team of winning pedigree due to its successes of the previous year with young Frenchman Sebastien Loeb but otherwise undertaking its first complete campaign at World Rally Championship level.
31.
Colin McRae was unable to find a team, and for the first time in over ten years he would not be competing in the World Rally Championship.
32.
Colin McRae competed in racing series other than the World Rally Championship.
33.
Colin McRae rejoined Prodrive for the 2004 24 Hours of Le Mans where he took third place in the GTS class, and ninth position overall in a Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello partnering Darren Turner and Rickard Rydell.
34.
Le Mans winner Allan McNish commented that "Colin McRae has adapted far better than people expected" to endurance sportscar racing.
35.
Colin McRae made his debut on the Dakar Rally with Nissan in January 2004, and scored two stage wins.
36.
Colin McRae returned to the Dakar in 2005 and was fastest on two of the first three stages in Morocco, before crashing out of the rally towards the end of stage six.
37.
In 2004 and 2005, Colin McRae represented Great Britain in the Race of Champions Nations Cup alongside Formula One driver and fellow Scot, David Coulthard.
38.
In 2005, Colin McRae competed in the Baja 500 Portalegre, winning the competition.
39.
Colin McRae then returned to the series for one-off drives for Skoda on the 2005 Rally GB and Rally Australia, respectively finishing seventh and retiring due to a clutch problem on the final leg of the rally, the latter ending prospects of Skoda's best finish.
40.
On 5 August 2006, Colin McRae competed for Subaru in the first live televised American rally in Los Angeles as part of the X-Games.
41.
Colin McRae rolled the car on the penultimate corner after landing awkwardly from a jump, which damaged the front bumper and left front tyre.
42.
Colin McRae was dropped by Citroen for the upcoming Rally Australia and replaced by Xavier Pons.
43.
Robert Reid was contacted by Colin McRae to be his co-driver and the pair were due to test together, but Colin McRae died before the test could take place.
44.
Colin McRae died on 15 September 2007 whilst piloting his private helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel, which crashed one mile north of Lanark, Scotland, close to the Colin McRae family home.
45.
Colin McRae did not have permission to take Porcelli on the helicopter.
46.
The song " The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding, a favourite song of Colin McRae's, was played when the family entered the chapel.
47.
Colin and Johnny McRae were cremated in the same coffin.
48.
The announcement of Colin McRae's death took place during qualifying for the 2007 Belgian Grand Prix with ITV commentator James Allen informing viewers of the news.
49.
Formula One driver David Coulthard, a friend of Colin McRae, who was due to represent Scotland along with him in the Race of Champions at Wembley Stadium on 16 December, described him as "an understated yet fantastically talented individual", and announced that he would race the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix with a helmet livery similar to Colin McRae's as a tribute.
50.
Valentino Rossi, who was taught the basics of driving a rally car by Colin McRae, said he was shocked and saddened by Colin McRae's death.
51.
Sheriff Nikola Stewart stated, after the 16-day inquiry, that Colin McRae had been engaged in "unnecessary and unsafe" low-level flying at the time of the crash, and that as a private pilot Colin McRae was unqualified and untrained to fly at such a level.
52.
Colin McRae's flying licence was found to have expired in 2005, and his "valid type rating" for the helicopter had expired in March 2007.
53.
In November 2008 Colin McRae was posthumously inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.
54.
In 2015,20 years from when Colin McRae won the 1995 WRC Championship, an exhibition of memorabilia, including cars, was displayed at a service park at 2015 Rally GB.
55.
Kenyan race car driver Colin McRae Kimathi is named after him.
56.
Colin McRae: Dirt was the title for the next instalment of the series, which launched in 2007 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
57.
In 2003, Colin McRae started designing a rally car named the Colin McRae R4, which he debuted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2007.