McRae, Colin

▪ 2008

Colin Steele McRae  Scottish race car driver

born Aug. 5, 1968, Lanark, Scot.

died Sept. 15, 2007, near Jerviswood, South Lanarkshire, Scot.

won the world rally championship (WRC) in 1995; he was the youngest driver and the first from the U.K. to take the WRC season title. The son of five-time British rally champion Jimmy McRae, he began driving competitively in 1985 and won his first rally in 1988. McRae, a fierce and fearless competitor, won a then-record 25 WRC races between 1987 and 2004, becoming British rally champion twice (1991 and 1992) and narrowly finishing as the WRC season runner-up three times (1996, 1997, and 2001). After retiring from the WRC circuit, he participated in the Paris–Dakar Rally twice (2004 and 2005) and the 2004 Le Mans 24-Hour Race, among other events. McRae was made MBE in 1996. Two years later he was the inspiration for the popular video game Colin McRae Rally. He was killed, along with his young son and two other passengers, when the helicopter that he was piloting crashed.

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