Colin McRae, Britain’s first world rally champion who died in a helicopter crash yesterday, will be remembered as one of the most spectacular drivers this country has produced. The appalling news of McRae’s death comes less than two years after the death of Richard Burns, Britain’s second world rally champion and one of McRae’s great rivals, after a long battle against cancer.

The 40-year-old McRae won the World Rally Championship in 1995, was runner-up in 1996, 1997, and 2001, and third in 1998. It was in many ways ironic that McRae’s driving style, the reason for his immense and enduring popularity with motorsport lovers the world over, appeared to be so at odds with his personality.

Mainly, of course, because it wasn’t – the truth was that for all he rather enjoyed playing up the apparent contrast between his flamboyance in a car and a buttoned-up, almost taciturn public persona, once away from the cameras and microphone, McRae was a natural risk-taker, and as such, an extrovert in attitude to life in every respect.

The son of a famous rallying father, McRae reckoned he first sat behind a wheel at the age of two, although his first experience of serious competition was on motorbikes, winning a number of junior and intermediate trials competitions. He made his rallying debut in 1985, combining his driving with working in the family heating and plumbing business, but his natural speed, astonishing car control and readiness to drive on the edge ensured he quickly began to make a name for himself amongst regular rally-goers.

His first World Rally Championship drive came in Sweden, home to so many great racers, in 1987, where despite several off-road excursions he finished 36th overall and third in class. His first victory came closer to home, in the Tweedies Rally in 1988, when he was co-driven by childhood sweetheart and wife to be, Alison Hamilton.

While he continued to impress as a privateer, McRae’s biggest break came when he teamed up with David Richards, the 1981 World Champion co-driver and already a man beginning to make his way in the business of motorsport.

It was Richards who persuaded Subaru that building a car capable of winning the World Rally Championship could transform a marque previously associated with gentleman farmers into an edgy best seller, and in McRae, he had the driver to win the title.

That the dream could become reality first became genuinely apparent in Sweden, in 1992, when, but for a puncture on the final day, the odds are McRae would have won the rally in the Nordic heartland. In finishing second however, he finished ahead of Stig Blomqvist and Markku Alen.

His first WRC win came the following year, in New Zealand, and though there was always the chance of a crash, it was rapidly becoming clear that no driver was as exciting, and more to the point, as quick, as McRae at his best. In 1995 he became Britain’s first World Rally Champion, sealing his victory in typical style with a final round win in his home event, beating teammate and double world champion Carlos Sainz in front of hundreds of thousands of ecstatic British motorsport fans.

To finish runner-up in the next two years was to some a disappointment, and given he won more WRC events than any other driver in 1997, to McRae himself. All the more so because he could argue that the failure to secure the championships were down to mechanical and technical issues, rather than his own driving.

In 1999 he switched to Ford, but consistent success continued to elude him, though his win in the Safari Rally of 2002, his 25th in the WRC, confirmed his place as one of the most successful drivers in the history of the sport. A short-lived switch to Citroen followed, but after an enforced sabbatical in 2004 his appearance in a Skoda Fabia ensured another huge turnout for the 2005 Wales Rally. A seventh placed finish showed he had lost none of his ability.

By now the longevity of his fame as a driver had been secured, and for reasons other pure ability. For all that he always claimed not to be much of a fan of computers, in 1998 he leant his name to a rallying game which rapidly became one of the best sellers, and in various formats, continues to be to this day.

Already a wealthy man, in 1995 he became an official resident of Monaco, partly on the advice of his friend David Coulthard, but soon moved back to Scotland to ensure his young family grew up near his old home.

McRae was once asked why Scotland produced so many great drivers. He replied: “Maybe there’s something in the water! Seriously, though, I don’t think there’s any real reason for it, it’s not as if there’s an abundance of fantastic tracks for Scots to race on. I think its a reflection of the fact that the Scots are, by and large, a very determined group of people. Determination is a quality that motorsport demands in abundance, so maybe that serves us well and drives us on.”

McRae was determined, certainly, but he was also immensely naturally talented. In that respect, he may be bracketed with the driver who most regard as the greatest of them all, his fellow Scot, Jim Clark. He, too, died far too soon.

Rally Champ

- The Scotsman was the the son of fi ve-time British rally champion, Jimmy

- He rode motorbikes as a teenager and took part in his fi rst rally in 1985

- McRae made his debut in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in Sweden in 1987, fi nishing 36th overall

- He was the Scottish rally champion in 1988 and the British champion in 1991 and 1992

- He won his fi rst WRC race in 1993

- In 1995 he became Britain’s fi rst world rally champion

- He was made an MBE in 1996 for services to motor sport. He won 25 WRC rallies, with 42 podium fi nishes

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