Taken from www.sidc.co.uk
Taken from our friends at SIDC:
The sad news of the passing of Rally legend Colin McRae has sent shockwaves around the world and nowhere more so than within the Subaru community. The name Colin McRae, despite his other ventures, is and always will be synonymous with the Subaru Marque. Few would argue, were it not for him and his epic win in the 1995 World Championship the name and popularity of Subaru would be what it is today. Despite being born into a family with some considerable notoriety in the world of Rallying, Colin made his motorsport debut in the relatively little-known sport of Observed Motorcycle Trials, but even then despite his tender years, he showed the determination and desire for victory that were to become his trademarks by becoming Scottish Junior Trials Champion. Having achieved the top of his level on two wheels, with the family history it was only natural that Colin followed in the shoes of father, Jimmy – 5 times British Rally Champion and moved to four wheel motorsport. However, this wasn’t to be a straight jump for Colin. He wasn’t handed Rally drives on a plate as so often happens when there is family history in a sport. Initially he trained as a plumber in the family business to fund his passion. Colin’s work, passion and desire for victory finally came to fruition in 1988 when he won the Tweedies Rally close to Dumfries. His co-driver at this event was his childhood sweetheart and later his wife, Alison Hamilton. From that initial win Colin went from strength to strength culminating, as we all know, in that famous World Championship victory in 1995 for Subaru. Colin not only became the first ever British World Champion, but also the youngest ever World Champion. Following that famous victory, Colin went on to finish as World Rally Championship runner-up in 1996 and 1997, but was never to repeat his success of 1995. Despite failing to repeat his victory, the humble and down-to-earth nature of Colin, accompanied by his flamboyant style of driving saw the motorsport world take him to their hearts. Someone mentions Rallying and the first name to come to mind is Colin McRae. Ask a Subaru enthusiast about L555 BAT and they are are sure to tell you all about it! The passing of Colin is, right now, unbelievable. It’s something that is going to take time to come to terms with, but we must also remember his son, Johnny who idolised his father and also the two other victims of this tragic accident – Johnny’s long time friend Ben Porcelli and Colin’s friend from his school days, Graeme Duncan. It is only natural, as a Subaru-focused community, we grieve for Colin and think of Alison at this time, but there are two other families grieving as a result of this tragic accident and we must remember and recognise them too. If they were friends of Colin then they were friends of us.
(music: coldplay - the scientist)
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