Colin McRae: career, WRC results, death and the tribute convoy

Colin McRae (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007) was a Scottish rally driver from Lanark, Scotland, who won the 1995 World Rally Championship for Subaru, the first British driver to take the title and, at 27, the youngest champion until 2022. He started 146 World Rally Championship events between 1987 and 2006 and won 25 of them, a record for the series when he took the last in 2002. He died, with his five-year-old son Johnny and two family friends, when the helicopter he was flying crashed near his home in Lanark on 15 September 2007.

A year later about 1,100 Subarus drove in convoy from Lanark to Banbury in his memory and set two Guinness World Records, as SkiddMark reported in September 2008.

Early life in Lanark

Colin McRae was born in Lanark on 5 August 1968, the eldest son of Jimmy McRae, five times British Rally Champion, and his wife Margaret. In Motor Sport’s obituary of November 2007, John Davenport wrote that his father “never particularly encouraged him to take up motorsport”, and that his mother worried as he moved up through motorcycle scrambling and trials.

From autotests to a Talbot Sunbeam

Too young for a road licence, he switched from bikes to autotests and won the 1985 West of Scotland Championship at 16. He got his road licence at 17 and started rallying at once, first in a borrowed Avenger 1600, in which he went off and finished 14th, according to the juwra.com World Rally Championship database. Davenport has him acquiring a Group A Talbot Sunbeam Ti as soon as he was 17 and sharing the spanner work with Barry Lockhead. The Sunbeam often led Group A but was fragile, and retirements were frequent (Davenport).

Jimmy McRae, talking to Simon Arron for Motor Sport in February 2018, said Colin “started rallying as soon as he could, aged 17” and had watched from the start: “working at home in the garage on the Cortina, then the Escort and my first Magnum, Colin would always be there, watching what I was doing.” Jimmy co-drove for him once, “on the Galloway Hills Rally in his 1300 Nova.”

The McRae rallying family

His younger brother Alister also became a works rally driver. Between them, Jimmy, Colin and Alister won the British Rally Championship eight times in 14 years (Arron). On the 1992 Scottish Rally, a round of the British series, Colin won, Alister was second and Jimmy fourth, according to juwra.com. Colin married Alison, and they had two children, Hollie and Johnny (AFP’s obituary, September 2007).

British Rally Championship years

He rose through the British championship between 1987 and 1992, winning the title twice with Prodrive’s Subaru team.

Vauxhall Nova and Ford Sierra

In 1987 and 1988 he drove a Vauxhall Nova, won his class twice in the British championship and gained the backing of the British Junior Team for two world championship rallies (Davenport). His first was the 1987 Swedish Rally, where he and Mike Broad finished 36th in the Nova; his first world championship points came with fifth place on Rally New Zealand in 1989 in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth (juwra.com, list of his WRC starts). He won the Scottish Rally Championship in 1988 (Crash.net’s obituary), and on that year’s Scottish Rally he was ninth overall in the Nova, ahead of many more powerful cars (Arron).

In 1989 he drove a Group N Sierra RS Cosworth and finished second in the group to Pentti Airikkala. In 1990 a two-wheel-drive Group A Sierra took him to second in the British championship behind David Llewellyn’s Toyota Celica GT-4. On the 1990 RAC Rally, with backing from Shell, he drove a four-wheel-drive Sierra to sixth overall, ahead of the factory Sierras, and Prodrive’s David Richards signed him (Davenport).

British champion in Prodrive’s Subaru Legacy

In a Prodrive Subaru Legacy he won the first of two British titles in 1991 and the second in 1992, the second with six wins from six events, as Crash.net’s obituary recorded. His first world championship rally of 1992, in Sweden, gave him second place and his first WRC podium (juwra.com); his first in a Legacy had been the 1991 RAC Rally, where he crashed out. On the 1000 Lakes Rally in Finland that year he had three major accidents and still finished eighth, “in a car that looked as if it had been rescued from a scrapyard” (Davenport).

World Rally Championship career

Colin McRae drove full World Rally Championship seasons from 1993 to 2003 for three factory teams, Subaru, Ford and Citroën, and won all 25 of his rallies with the first two.

Subaru World Rally Team

First win in New Zealand

Promoted to the world championship team for 1993 alongside Ari Vatanen, he won Rally New Zealand within six months (Davenport). It was the only world championship win for the Legacy (Crash.net). AFP reported that he celebrated it with a bungee jump over a ravine. That season he also drove a Subaru Vivio on the Safari Rally, retiring with broken suspension, and gave the Impreza 555 its first start under him on the RAC Rally, where it overheated (juwra.com).

The Impreza and a first home win

On the 1994 Acropolis Rally he was excluded in the “windscreen affair”: the screen cracked when his bonnet flew open, and officials ruled it had been changed where it blocked other competitors (juwra.com). He then won New Zealand for the second year running and the RAC Rally, his home event, and finished fourth in the championship.

Runner-up to Mäkinen twice

In 1996 he won the Acropolis, Sanremo and Catalunya rallies and finished second to Tommi Mäkinen and Mitsubishi. In Argentina that year he hit a spectator in the service area, and the FIA fined him £50,000 (juwra.com). That June he was appointed MBE for services to motor rallying (The London Gazette, issue 54427, 14 June 1996). For 1997 Nicky Grist replaced Derek Ringer as his co-driver, and Subaru had the new Impreza WRC97. He won the last three rounds, in Italy, Australia and Britain, and lost the title to Mäkinen by one point (juwra.com; Anthony Peacock in Motor Sport, November 2017). On that 1997 RAC Rally he won 15 of the 26 stages and beat Juha Kankkunen by almost three minutes (Peacock). In 1998, his last year at Subaru, he won in Portugal, Corsica and Greece and finished third. Subaru won the manufacturers’ title in 1995, 1996 and 1997, as the WRC’s own profile of him records.

Ford World Rally Team

Ford’s M-Sport-run team signed him for 1999 to drive its new Focus WRC (Malcolm Wilson of M-Sport, speaking to Speedcafe); juwra.com puts his contract at three million pounds a year, “unheard of in WRC” at the time. He was excluded from the Monte Carlo Rally over an illegal water pump, then gave the Focus its first win on the Safari Rally and won Rally de Portugal next. Jimmy McRae named that Safari as one of the two rallies of Colin’s he rated highest: the Focus was “only about its third event … He didn’t set a single fastest stage time, but settled down to a practical pace and won the event” (Arron). He finished only one of his other 12 starts that year (juwra.com).

In 2000 he won Catalunya and the Acropolis. On the Tour de Corse his Focus hit a rock face, flew over the barrier and landed upside down in a ravine; McRae was trapped with a broken cheekbone until Grist freed him, and he was back at the start of the next round three weeks later (juwra.com). He finished fourth in the championship.

His best year with Ford was 2001: three wins in a row, in Argentina, Cyprus and Greece, and the points lead going into the final round. On Rally GB he crashed on the Rhondda stage after mishearing a corner cut, and finished second in the championship to Richard Burns, his former Subaru team-mate (Davenport; Peacock). “That’s probably been the most disappointing moment I’ve had so far in my career, because it was completely my fault,” he said afterwards (Peacock). In 2002 he won the Acropolis and the Safari, his 25th win, which put him top of the all-time list (Crash.net), and was fourth in the championship.

Citroën and the two-driver rule

Ford let him and Carlos Sainz go for 2003, and both joined Citroën alongside Sébastien Loeb (juwra.com). On the Monte Carlo Rally he was second, between Loeb and Sainz, in a Citroën one-two-three; it was his only podium of the year, and he ended the season seventh. From 2004 the FIA allowed each team only two points-scoring drivers, so one of Citroën’s three had to go, and it was McRae (Davenport). Loeb, in a career retrospective SkiddMark published in September 2013, said of that first season: “At the time, Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae were the benchmarks. Having two World Champions as team-mates was a little bit intimidating.”

Škoda and his last world championship rallies

Škoda gave him two rallies in 2005. He was seventh on Wales Rally GB, an event overshadowed by the death of co-driver Michael Park on the final day, and in Australia he was heading for a podium in the Fabia until a clutch fault stopped him three stages from the finish (Crash.net’s tribute feature, September 2007). His last world championship start was Rally of Turkey in 2006, where Kronos Citroën called him in to replace the injured Loeb; he retired.

How did Colin McRae become world champion?

He won the 1995 title on the RAC Rally, the final round, by beating his Subaru team-mate Carlos Sainz, who had arrived level with him on points. The season started with retirements on the Monte Carlo and Swedish rallies; a third straight win in New Zealand and second place in Australia put him into the championship lead with two rounds left (juwra.com).

Team orders in Catalunya

On Rally Catalunya, Subaru froze the order before the final leg to secure the manufacturers’ points, with Sainz leading and McRae second. McRae ignored it and took the lead, then checked in late at the final time control, under threat of the sack, and handed the win back to Sainz (juwra.com). Davenport wrote that “only extreme action by his Prodrive bosses” stopped him; the two drivers left Spain equal on points.

Deciding the title on the RAC Rally

Jimmy McRae said the team orders, imposed “very much against his will”, made Colin attack his home event “with particular determination”: “Even when he lost significant time with a puncture on one stage, he told me it wouldn’t be a problem – and it wasn’t” (Arron). He set fastest time on 18 of the 28 stages and led a Subaru one-two-three, with Sainz second (Davenport). He beat Sainz by 36 seconds (juwra.com, 1995 RAC Rally results). He was 27 years and 109 days old, the youngest world rally champion until Kalle Rovanperä won the 2022 title at 22 years and one day (Speedcafe, October 2022).

Colin McRae’s WRC results

Colin McRae started 146 world championship rallies, took 25 victories, finished on the podium 42 times and scored 626 championship points; juwra.com counts 477 stage wins and 60 retirements, and the WRC’s own profile gives 474 stage wins. Derek Ringer co-drove 61 of those starts and Nicky Grist 84.

Source: juwra.com driver record and list of starts. He did not start a world championship rally in 2004. Positions are juwra.com’s; drivers on equal points are listed in separate places, so RallyBase has 34th for 1989 and 1990 and 22nd for 2005.

Colin McRae’s 25 World Rally Championship wins

Eight of the wins came with Ringer, all in Subarus, and 17 with Grist. He won the Acropolis Rally five times, more than any other event.

Source: juwra.com list of Colin McRae’s WRC starts.

What cars did Colin McRae drive?

His world championship cars were, in order, a Vauxhall Nova, a Peugeot 205 GTI, Ford Sierras, the Subaru Legacy, Vivio and Impreza, the Ford Focus, the Citroën Xsara and the Škoda Fabia: 66 starts in Subarus, 60 in Fords, 15 in Citroëns, two each in Škodas and Vauxhalls and one in a Peugeot (juwra.com).

Subaru Impreza 555 and Impreza WRC

He won 15 of his rallies in Imprezas: seven in the Group A Impreza 555 and eight in the World Rally Car versions of 1997 and 1998. SkiddMark’s Ben Foulds noted in October 2010 that Subaru’s first Impreza World Rally Car, chassis PRO-WRC-97-001, was driven by McRae. The convoy of 2008 was led away from Banbury by his 1996 Impreza, the car that helped Subaru to its second manufacturers’ title (Rally Sport Magazine, September 2008).

Ford Focus WRC

He drove every version of the Focus WRC from its first season, 1999, to 2002, and won nine rallies in it, the Safari among them in 1999 and again in 2002.

Dakar, Le Mans and the X Games

Without a world championship drive in 2004, McRae turned to the Dakar Rally, the Le Mans 24 Hours and American rallying.

Dakar Rally with Nissan

On his Dakar debut in January 2004 he set two fastest stage times in a Nissan Pickup but finished 20th, after transmission problems stranded him in the desert for two days. He won the Baja Portalegre in October 2004 and started the 2005 Dakar, again with Tina Thörner, “with a win in mind” (Autosport, 31 December 2004). AFP reported that he won the fifth stage in 2005 and rolled the Nissan out of the rally on the sixth. Jimmy McRae said Colin had signed to drive the 2008 Dakar for BMW (Arron).

Le Mans 24 Hours with Prodrive

For the 2004 Le Mans 24 Hours, Prodrive put him in a Ferrari 550 Maranello in the GTS class with Darren Turner and Rickard Rydell. The No. 65 car finished third in class, behind the works Chevrolet Corvettes, on Sunday 13 June 2004, according to the ACO, which organises Le Mans, and ninth overall (AFP).

X Games and the Race of Champions

At the 2006 X Games in the United States he finished second in the rally event in a Subaru Impreza despite rolling it (Crash.net tribute). He raced Michael Schumacher and other champions at the Race of Champions in the Stade de France at the end of 2004 (AFP). He also drove his Mk II Ford Escort in British Rally Championship rounds (Crash.net tribute).

Colin McRae’s driving style

Martin Whitaker, his Ford team boss, said after his death: “He was either going to be blindingly fast or he was going to have a spectacular accident – what ever he did was flat-out.” David Richards of Prodrive: “He had a competitive spirit like I’ve never seen … He was just so competitive, and so extreme in everything he did. And yet also great fun” (Crash.net tribute). His father compared him with Ari Vatanen and Alister with Sainz: “Colin would go flat out from the start” (Arron). Peacock summed up his approach in Motor Sport as “If in doubt, flat out.”

Ken Block, speaking to SkiddMark’s Steve Davies in December 2011, said McRae phoned him in New Zealand while Block was filming his first Gymkhana video: “when I told him about it, he was so stoked to hear about it. Unfortunately he never got to see it because he passed away before it came out.”

The Colin McRae Rally video games

Codemasters’ Colin McRae Rally was released for the PlayStation in Europe on 15 July 1998, with Nicky Grist calling the pace notes (GenerationAmiga’s 2026 retrospective). AFP reported in 2007 that the series had sold more than eight million copies. Crash.net wrote that a generation of fans knew him first as “the man behind the rally games that bear his name.”

How did Colin McRae die?

Colin McRae died in a helicopter accident: his own Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel, registered G-CBHL, crashed in the Mouse Water valley about 1.5 nautical miles north of Lanark, on the afternoon of Saturday 15 September 2007. His son Johnny, aged 5, Johnny’s friend Ben Porcelli, aged 6, and family friend Graeme Duncan, aged 36, also died.

The flight

According to the Air Accidents Investigation Branch’s report, Bulletin 2/2009, McRae had flown his three passengers to a friend’s farm near Larkhall, 8 nautical miles away, and took off for home at about 15:00 UTC (16:00 local time). Witnesses saw the helicopter descend into the valley next to his home, flying faster than expected in a banked, nose-low attitude. It struck trees on the south bank about 150 metres from the pad where he meant to land, and a fire destroyed most of the cabin. McRae had 965 hours of flying experience, 490 of them on the type.

What the AAIB found

The AAIB found the helicopter intact before impact and its engine delivering power. “The cause of the accident was not positively determined,” it wrote; a technical fault could not be ruled out entirely, but it was more likely that the pilot attempted a turning manoeuvre at low height during which the helicopter deviated from his intended path, through handling difficulties, misjudgement, spatial disorientation, distraction or a combination. There were signs he had started a recovery without the height to complete it. McRae’s private pilot’s licence had expired on 14 February 2005 and his AS350B2 type rating on 21 March 2007. The report made four safety recommendations.

The fatal accident inquiry

Sheriff Nikola Stewart heard evidence at Lanark Sheriff Court over 12 days between January and May 2011, and issued her determination on 2 September 2011. She found that it would have been a reasonable precaution not to fly into the valley, where McRae engaged in low-level flying “when it was unnecessary and unsafe for him to do so and whilst carrying passengers on board.” An unknown occurrence made the aircraft leave its intended path; it was in powered flight and he was trying to recover. For a private pilot without the training for it, she wrote, such flying “was imprudent, unreasonable and contrary to the principles of good airmanship.”

Tributes and the McRae Gathering convoy

The McRae Gathering of 30 and 31 August 2008 was a convoy of Subaru owners from Lanark to Banbury that set two Guinness World Records.

The 30-mile convoy and two world records

SkiddMark reported in September 2008 that more than 1,000 Subaru owners and thousands of fans took part. The convoy, at its peak 30 miles long with an estimated 1,100 Subarus, left Lanark on the Saturday morning led by Jimmy McRae, and arrived at Prodrive’s headquarters in Banbury nine hours and 300 miles later. Fans stood on motorway bridges along the route. “Literally every bridge had people waving and cheering us along with many hanging the Saltire from the railings,” said Grant Hendry, who led the convoy. “It turned what was an already memorable event into a truly amazing and emotional occasion.”

On the Sunday the cars regrouped at Prodrive and were led up the M40 by McRae’s 1996 Impreza. At the test track 1,086 Subarus formed a sign almost half a mile long spelling COLIN MCRAE and the Saltire, a new Guinness World Record that beat the previous one by more than 800 cars. Leaving the track, they set a second record, for the largest parade of cars of one make (Crash.net, September 2008). The event raised nearly £40,000 for the McRae charities (CAR magazine, September 2008). SkiddMark’s writers drove a Japanese-specification Impreza to meet the Subaru owners that weekend.

Colin’s Crest

Rally Sweden renamed a crest on the Vargåsen stage, where Colin McRae had made some of his longest jumps, as Colin’s Crest, with an award each year for the longest jump over it. The first winner, in February 2008, was Khalid Al Qassimi of Ford, airborne for 36 metres (Autosport, February 2008).

The Forest Stages and the youngest-champion record

The Colin McRae Forest Stages rally in Perthshire on 27 September 2008 was won by Matthew Wilson in a Ford Focus RS WRC; its fifth stage was cancelled after Jimmy McRae, with Andy Richardson co-driving, went off the road, and both were unhurt (Rally Sport Magazine, September 2008). When Rovanperä took his record as the youngest champion in 2022, the McRae family gave him a pair of Colin’s driving boots from the 1995 season; Hollie McRae said “dad’s record could not have gone to a better person” (DirtFish, October 2022).

Questions

How old was Colin McRae when he won the world championship?

He was 27 years and 109 days old when he won the 1995 title on the RAC Rally. He was the youngest world rally champion until Kalle Rovanperä won in 2022, aged 22 years and one day.

How many rallies did Colin McRae win?

He won 25 World Rally Championship rallies from 146 starts between 1987 and 2006, and the 25th, on the 2002 Safari Rally, put him top of the all-time list at the time. He also won the British Rally Championship in 1991 and 1992.

How old was Colin McRae when he died?

He was 39. He was born on 5 August 1968 and died on 15 September 2007.

Who died with Colin McRae in the helicopter crash?

His son Johnny, aged 5, Johnny’s friend Ben Porcelli, aged 6, and family friend Graeme Duncan, aged 36.

Was Colin McRae licensed to fly the helicopter?

No. The AAIB found his private pilot’s licence had expired on 14 February 2005 and his type rating for the AS350B2 on 21 March 2007.

Who were Colin McRae’s co-drivers?

Derek Ringer sat beside him for 61 world championship starts, including the 1995 title, and Nicky Grist for 84, from 1997. Mike Broad co-drove on his first, the 1987 Swedish Rally.

Is Colin McRae related to Alister McRae?

Yes. Alister is his younger brother, and their father Jimmy McRae won the British Rally Championship five times.

What is Colin’s Crest?

A crest on the Vargåsen stage of Rally Sweden, renamed after McRae in 2008, with a prize each year for the longest jump over it. Khalid Al Qassimi won the first, with 36 metres.

Sources

• John Davenport, “Colin McRae (1968–2007)”, Motor Sport, November 2007, p. 16: early career, British championship seasons, 1995 title, Ford and Citroën years, family.
• Simon Arron, “Lunch with… Jimmy McRae”, Motor Sport, February 2018, p. 74: Jimmy McRae’s recollections, the 1999 Safari and 1995 RAC Rally, the 2008 BMW Dakar deal.
• Anthony Peacock, “Memories of Colin McRae”, Motor Sport, November 2017, p. 26: 1997 RAC Rally, 2001 Rally GB crash and quote, “If in doubt, flat out”.
• juwra.com, “Drivers – Colin McRae” and “Colin’s WRC starts”, updated 24 October 2026: every start, co-driver, car and result; season totals; career statistics.
• Crash.net, “Colin McRae MBE 1968–2007”, 16 September 2007: 1992 British title, the Legacy’s only WRC win, 25th win as a record.
• Crash.net, “Colin McRae MBE: the passing of a legend”, September 2007: quotes from David Richards and Martin Whitaker, 2005 Škoda rallies, X Games 2006, Mk II Escort.
• AFP, “Colin McRae, born to drive, dies alongside son”, via Mail & Guardian, 16 September 2007: family, bungee jump, 1995 margin, 2005 Dakar, Le Mans overall result, Race of Champions, game sales.
• The London Gazette, supplement 54427, 14 June 1996, p. 20: MBE for services to motor rallying.
• Air Accidents Investigation Branch, AAIB Bulletin 2/2009, Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel, G-CBHL, February 2009: the flight, the crash site, findings, licence and type rating.
• Sheriff Nikola C Stewart, determination of the fatal accident inquiry, Lanark, 2 September 2011: dates of birth, time of death, findings.
• juwra.com, 1995 RAC Rally results: McRae’s winning margin over Sainz.
• Speedcafe, “Wilson recounts McRae memories with daughter Hollie”: M-Sport running Ford’s team in 1999.
• Rally Sport Magazine, “Colin McRae Stages Rally a huge success”, September 2008: the 2008 Forest Stages winner and Jimmy McRae’s accident.
• WRC (wrc.com), profile “Colin McRae”: 474 stage wins; Subaru’s manufacturers’ titles of 1995 to 1997.
• Autosport, “McRae targets Dakar victory”, 31 December 2004: 2004 Dakar result, Baja Portalegre win, 2005 entry.
• 24h-lemans.com, “Ten years ago, Colin McRae participated at the 24 Hours of Le Mans”, 2014: 2004 Le Mans car, team-mates and class result.
• Crash.net, “McRae convoy sets new world records”, September 2008 and Rally Sport Magazine, “World records set in McRae celebration”, September 2008: dates and details of the McRae Gathering and its records.
• CAR magazine, “Weird record set in Colin McRae tribute”, September 2008: the convoy and the sum raised.
• Autosport, “Grapevine: Al Qassimi wins Colin’s Crest prize”, February 2008: Colin’s Crest and the first award.
• Speedcafe, “Rovanperä becomes youngest world rally champion”, October 2022: McRae’s age at his title and Rovanperä’s.
• David Evans, “Hollie McRae: Rovanperä the best person to break dad’s record”, DirtFish, 17 October 2022: the boots and Hollie McRae’s quote.
• GenerationAmiga, “Colin McRae Rally retrospective”, 4 July 2026: release date of the first game and Grist’s pace notes.
• SkiddMark: “Colin McRae Tribute” (Steve, September 2008); Ben Foulds, “End of the road for the Turbo-Nutter?” (October 2010); Steve Davies, “The Accidental Hero: an interview with Ken Block” (9 December 2011); Steve Davies, “Sébastien Loeb: the nine-time world rally champion reflects on his career” (27 September 2013).

This article was written in October 2026 to replace SkiddMark’s news report “Colin McRae Tribute” of September 2008, whose account of the McRae Gathering convoy it keeps.