Colin McRae
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Colin McRae MBE (born in Lanark, Scotland, 5 August 1968) is, together with Sébastien Loeb, the second most successful World Rally Championship driver of all time (in the currency of individual rally wins), second only to Carlos Sainz. 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, or Member of the British Empire in 1996.
Curriculum Vitæ
Colin began his rally career in 1986, piloting a Talbot Sunbeam. His first WRC exposure was in the 1987 Swedish Rally behind the wheel of a Vauxhall Nova, and again in 1989, driving a Ford Sierra XR 4x4 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.He 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 has 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. 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.
As of 2004, he has participated in more than 120 WRC events. He has been teammates of such drivers as Carlos Sainz, Richard Burns and Ari Vatanen, among others. 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 death of fellow British competitor, Markko Martin's co-driver, Michael 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, agonisingly dashed by clutch woes three stages from the finish. 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, the team for whom he was likely to drive for 2006, along with perennial co-driver Nicky Grist.
McRae can call on familial links to rallying: father Jimmy and younger brother Alister are both multiple-time British Rally Champions, the latter currently in the World Production Car Rally Championship, which operates alongside the better known World Rally Championship, in which Colin has driven.
While his future is the subject of heated discussions and rumours, his influence on the popularity of WRC and rally racing is unquestionable.
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 later in the year 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.
External links
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