My memory is of Colin McRae, MBE.
Much has already been said of the shocking and untimely passing of Colin so I shall recount a few moments of his brilliance in my eyes, beginning back at the start of his career in 1987.
My first experience of Colin's extrovert, mind blowing speed was as he raced in to view at the top of the bank at Oliver's Mount (Scarborough). Yanking the handbrake on in the little Vauxhall Nova as he passed under the bridge about 100 metres on the steep downhill from the hairpin right hander at the bottom. Passing by myself and my brothers in a cloud of blue tyre smoke we thought he was never going to make the turn, instead, as Colin did, he made the turn with ease and was off again, charging away at a high rate of knots. Masterful driving in a diminutive car in slippy conditions, he was a man to watch.
Fast forward to 1991, I was in Cropton Forest (North Yorkshire) for the Barkston Forest stages rally. This was Colin's first international rally win in the Rothmans Subaru Legacy. Once again he showed massive talent and the speed shone through. I was working in a Subaru dealership at this time and the profile of what was until then a minor and quite frankly quirky manufacturer of ungainly four wheel drives was changed forever on the antics of this man in a fledgling rally team. Would Subaru have the sales today if not for him?
The third part of this memory was being in (I think) Shephershield Forest in Kielder. Having chased the RAC Rally all over the North of England I arrived at the finish line of the stage just as Colin limped the Impreza out with a holed radiator, engine and the hopes of a potential home rally win gone. Heartbreak for the nation at the time, not a patch on how we feel now.
From there Colin's exploits went into overdrive and the world title was his just once. The efforts on the stages somehow paled compared to how the tie in with Sony's Playstation mean "Colin McRae" became and remain a worldwide household brand name.
Martin Peacock
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Memory added on September 22, 2012
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