TODAY, in 2007, I took a phone call from a photographer friend of mine to say he’d just been sent out on a job. “I don’t think this is good news,” he said. How true he was.
The circumstances and aftermath of the helicopter accident that took four lives that day in Lanark (including that of son Johnny) are well documented elsewhere.
Ten years on, today is more about the memories of what had gone before, and, what might have been for Colin McRae. He tested an F1 car, drove at Le Mans, and, could make motorbikes fly. But it was behind the wheel of a rally car that Colin found success, and, legendary, even iconic status when you consider his fame through the video game that carried his name. That meant many Americans considered him something of a Lara Croft-like character - until he turned up for real and captivated everyone at the X Games.
From Scottish champion, at just 20, driving all sorts of exotica, to world champion with Subaru, his rise to the top was quite meteoric, While he was learning his trade, he lost a contract with Ford after turning several cars into scrap, although he did finish sixth on the 1990 RAC Rally, in a 4x4 Cosworth, so unrecognisable from its original form it was nicknamed ‘The Shed.’
The backward step taken by Ford (although they would come to the front of the queue again by the end of the decade), allowed Subaru to offer the Scot a drive. And the rest was history. A first WRC win in New Zealand in 1993, a first RAC win in 1994, and a world title the following year with co-driver and fellow Scot, Derek Ringer. But, as you might expect travelling at that speed, Colin’s career was not without incident.
He suffered a massive crash on the 2005 ParisDakar that left him momentarily blinded, another that saw him fracture his eye socket, and, one where he broke his finger - which he threatened to have amputated so he could drive in the next event.
Personally, I was lucky to ride shotgun several times with Colin. After a couple of blasts through the trees – although one run on the tarmac lanes of Ulster remains particularly vivid – the world always seemed a much slower place afterwards.
As a journalist (who was almost his team manager once) I was fortunate that I could pick up the phone and access a true, global superstar (and fellow Coltness Car Club member), much to the frustration of numerous PR managers who didn’t like anyone getting more out of Colin than just the party line.
But it was the winning line that really mattered, crossed more than once in tandem with Nicky Grist, another co-driver, who enjoyed success next to the flying Scot. And the Welshman has pondered where McRae might have been today.
“It would have involved cars, for sure,” Nicky conceded. “Maybe as a team manager, or developing his own cars - remember the R4 he built - but probably as an ambassador for rallying,” said Grist, who knew McRae as team-mate and rival.
“Colin could be unbelievably quick. In New Zealand, and I was with Juha Kankkunen, we thought we’d set an incredible time - then found Colin was a minute quicker! We were utterly gobsmacked. But that was how good he could be. And all the time he made it look like slow motion.
"However, it’s hard to believe it is ten year since his passing. He was a hero to fans, a proper legend in his own lifetime.
“But those of us who knew him well miss him, and how he just loved fun.”
Colin’s mantra was “you’re here for a good time, not a long time.” Actually, they were great times, just not long enough.
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