- Finland, 1992,
a rookie driver whips his Subaru Legacy RS
down a tight forest road
when he clipped some bushes with his rear tire at speed,
sending his car into the air.
It rolls over and over seven times before it lands
between the trees.
The windshield is smashed out.
The roof is caved in.
The car is in rough shape, but it's still running.
The driver drops it into gear and rips out of the woods,
rejoining the race like nothing even happened.
Who is this maniac?
How did he become the biggest name in rally racing
and why did his driving style make him so iconic.
Buckle up buttercups.
This is gonna be a bumpy ride.
Remember, when in doubt, go flat out.
This is everything you need to know to get Up To Speed
on Colin McRae.
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- Colin Steele McRae,
yes, his middle name is Steele. Sick.
He was born in Lanark, Scotland.
His dad, Jimmy was a plumber by day,
but a hot shot rally racer on the weekend,
which is also technically days.
After two years proving his skills on the mucky stages
of the British Rally Championship,
Jimmy landed a factory drive
with GM Europe's box hall rally team.
Pretty crazy for a guy
with zero prior professional experience.
This was 1978, all right.
Colin was 10, and naturally you stoked that his dad
quit laying pipe sling dirt full-time.
Literally went from being a plumber
to being a race car driver.
That's an overnight level up if I've ever seen one.
Colin watched his hero rip around rally stages
and he couldn't wait to get out there himself.
So at the tender age of 11, Colin started riding motocross,
but his mom thought motorcycles were too dangerous
so she did what any concerned mother would do,
she suggested drifting cars through the woods
at top speeds instead.
That's cool mom.
"Colin, you can't do the motocross.
It's too dangerous.
You got to do rally.
Your dad does rally.
Hang up those motorcycle gloves
and take these car driving gloves.
I knitted them for ya out of sheep's wool."
So Colin now spent his weekends on the UK rally circuit
with his dear old dad,
learning everything that he could.
This was exciting as hell
not only because he was turning wrenches
on big deal factory rally cars,
but he was watching his dad
totally annihilate the competition.
Jimmy McRae won three British Rally Championships
with his son by his side.
Colin didn't just watch his father achieve his dreams,
he helped make those dreams a reality.
As Colin himself later said,
"Any young person would give their right arm
to be a part of something like that."
Which is perfect, flawless Scottish accent.
At 17 years old, young Colin entered his first rally
in a borrowed car when his parents were out of town
and he didn't tell them.
That's what I call some risky business.
Some kids throw parties when their parents got out of town,
not Colin McRae, he did rally.
He finished 14th overall, which is not bad,
but he knew that he could do better, 13 spots better.
And when his parents came back,
they were actually stoked in and helped him buy
his very own rally car at Talbot Sunbeam.
It's basically a rear wheel drive Chrysler hatchback.
Well, I can tell you that you guys are drooling to death.
If you get too dehydrated from drooling, call an ambulance.
The Sunbeam was not fast by any means,
but as Colin's dad said to him like a million times,
it was important to learn the fundamentals of rally
and something that wouldn't bite your fricking head off.
Colin basically had to floor this thing all the time.
Maybe this is where Colin's famous motto comes from,
"When in doubt, go flat out."
Those six words in action are the whole reason
that anybody knows the name Colin McRae.
He's the most famous rally driver of all time,
but that's not because he won a crazy number of titles.
He only pulled down one world rally championship
in his career.
So why is this episode about him
and not nine time WRC championship, Sebastian Loeb?
Why doesn't Sebastian Loeb have a fricking video game?
Well, there's more to it than numbers.
Colin was bold.
He was brave.
Probably a little crazy.
His aggressive all or nothing driving style
made him a legend.
When he was behind the wheel,
he was at maximum attack at all times.
It was breathtaking to watch.
If in doubt, go flat out is never boring.
And a co-driver by the name of Nicky Grist once said,
"The scare factor for each driver varied slightly.
Colin's scare factor was probably a bit higher than most."
Colin McRae was just 18 when he entered
his first World Rally Championship event,
the snowy Swedish international rally,
and he placed 36th overall.
At this point in his life, he was trying to go flat out,
but his skills weren't quite there yet, he was a young guy.
Colin had a fierce unwavering belief in himself.
He even told his wife that he'd be
a World Rally champion someday when they were first dating,
which was at this time.
And as we know, he made that happen.
By 1988, our hero was regularly winning small club rallies.
It was time to up the ante.
That year, Jimmy McRae won his fifth and final
British Rally Championship.
Then he made a decision to pull back
from chasing his own rally dreams
to help his son achieve his.
With his dad's help, Colin landed in the driver's seat
of one of the best rally cars of the era,
the Ford Sierra Cosworth.
Sierra.
By now he'd settled into his signature style,
full set, full time, full belly deli baby.
Colin slid further, jumped higher,
and just plain went faster than everybody else.
That also meant more crashes than everybody else.
Ford was reluctant to sign them to their factory teams
since he wrecked so many cars,
but Colin was a hell of a driver to watch.
He got a lot of press coverage and his raw talent
was I mean, it was undeniable.
This caught the attention of some of the smaller outfits.
He was a bright, determined mechanically savvy young dude
who drove like dementors were chasing him.
He'd be a great asset to say I don't know,
a brand new rally team looking to make a splash.
Subaru jumped into rally in 1990
with the help of a now legendary British rally group
called Prodrive.
And Prodrive decided to take a chance on the crazy Scottsman
on the smaller stage of the British Rally Championship
to you know, (beep) around and find out,
and find out they did.
Colin McRae won the 1991 British Rally Championship
for Subaru and Prodrive.
He was a beast behind the wheel of the all wheel drive
290 horsepower Subaru Legacy RS.
Colin finally found a team who believed in him
and he gave them something to believe in in return.
That's called reciprocity and it feels great.
Prodrive were cautiously stoked with Colin
so they threw him at a few WRC events in '92.
Put yourself in Colin's shoes here, okay.
They're probably plaid.
You're young driver with everything to prove.
You've gotta be feeling the pressure
like a haggis that's been cooking for too long.
They're obviously trying you out for a full-time move
to WRC, something Colin's dad dreamed up
but never achieved.
Now, there were two ways to go about this next step.
Play it safe and hope for a good finish, or...
(crashing sounds)
I guess he went for the second option.
That's a clip from Rally Finland in '92.
It's insane that no one was hurt in that wreck
but what I'm about to tell you is even more insane.
Rally Finland is basically the world's most dangerous
rolley coaster. Okay?
It's got ultra slippery pea gravel, many huge jumps,
and it's really fast.
Before the rally, Colin's boss, this dude David Richards
told him specifically,
"This one was about gaining experience,
basically chill out and don't wreck the car."
But as we've established,
Colin really doesn't have a whole lot of chill.
He demonstrated this by rolling his car on a test run
before the rally even began.
Damage was minor and the car was good as new overnight
so that's cool.
But Richards was straight up irked.
Once again, he goes to Colin and he says,
"Hey man, how about we chill a little bit?
Let's not roll the car again. Okay?"
And Colin was like,
"What is this word that you're saying to me, chill?"
And he rolled the car over again
on the first day of competition,
and this time he really rolled it.
We're talking about a barrel roll seven times over
in the fricking woods.
The battered Suby landed on its wheels so Colin kept going
crazy.
And if you think that's the last time this maniac rolled
his apparently bulletproof Subaru
at this one specific rally, I've got news for you pal.
Boom, third roll over but guess what?
The car was still drivable.
Colin drove that car to an eighth place finish
and won the fastest rookie award.
And as you can imagine, Richards was righteously peeved,
but he was also impressed by the incredible tenacity
of this Scottish lad.
And when he saw that more people were cheering
for this reckless rookie than the guy
who actually won the rally,
he knew he had to move Colin into WRC full time.
The guy was a star.
This is the day Colin McRae, the legend was born.
All the legend needed now was the legendary steed.
And despite its performance,
the unkillable Legacy RS wasn't said steed.
This was said steed.
In 1993, Subaru released the Impreza to the rallying world,
all dressed up in it's blue and yellow 555 livery,
and those sick gold wheel,
Subaru's new 320 horsepower all wheel drive WRC car
was an instant icon.
Now that Colin had United with his legendary steed,
the quest was on.
It was only a matter of time
before the World Rally Championship trophy was his,
two years to be specific.
Colin McRae took the World Rally Championship in 1995
behind the wheel of the iconic Impreza,
but he almost didn't.
1995 was kind of a weird year for the WRC.
Toyota was caught cheating
with some trick turbo restrictor plate
so officials kicked them out of the competition
for the rest of the season for being so naughty.
This pretty much guaranteed Subaru the manufacturer's title
and widdle the driver's championship down to Colin
and his new teammate, 2-time world champ,
Carlos Sainz Sr., father of Jr.
So the two Subaru drivers battled it out
to see which European gentlemen would get to eat
piping hot chilly out of the WRC cup.
The winner would be decided in the final bout of the year,
England's RAC rally.
The ever confident Colin McRae told his dad,
"As long as the car stays together, I'm gonna win."
We have few minor setbacks,
blown tire on day two gave Carlos a two minute lead,
but Colin was beyond determined.
This was his home turf,
hoards of his fans were there waving Scottish flags,
playing bagpipes, eating haggis, and throwing up haggis.
Nothing would stop Colin,
not even a bad batch of haggis.
He pushes Impreza to the ragged edge
to stay in the fight,
but you can only ride the edge for so long
before something gives.
This time, it was the car's front right suspension.
It was bent pretty badly.
For another driver, this could have been the end,
but not for Colin.
He wanted to rally.
Bunch of fans ran out from the sidelines and lifted the car
so that he could beat the bent parts back into shape
with a log.
I also call it a nature hammer.
On the last day of the rally,
Mr. McRae was absolutely on fire.
At his best, this guy could bend the laws of physics
like, you know, avatar or something.
Colin built a commanding lead over his teammate
who realized he probably wasn't gonna pull off
third championship that year.
And guess what? He was right.
Colin Steele McRae won the 1995 World Rally Championship
on his home course with his family and friends
cheering him on from the sidelines
along with some 2 million rally fans.
A number so insane, we verified it three times.
The 27-year-old Scottsman won all but 10 of the rallies
28 stages and beat his teammate by whopping 36 seconds,
becoming the youngest WRC champ ever,
a record that is yet to be broken.
And all of a sudden Colin McRae
was an international sensation, an instant celebrity.
Despite rally being in my opinion,
obviously one of the coolest motor sports,
there is nothing like this had really happened
in the sport before.
And nothing really has sense.
I mean, even 10-year-olds from Kentucky
and Grave Digger T-shirts knew Colin McRae.
The '96 and '97 WRC seasons were amazing to watch.
Colin's new rival and friend, Tommi Makinen
in his also iconic Marlboro sponsored
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.
This guys basically left everybody else in the dust
or snow or gravel or asphalt.
In the end, Tommi's consistency won out
over Colin's sketchsistecy,
and he took the championship both years
with Colin just behind him.
Then he took 1998 and '99 too.
But Tommi Makinen doesn't have his own video games.
I mean he does,
but it's like so bad that the Crappy Games Wiki
called it an insult to one of the greatest
rally car drivers of all time.
Nobody would say that about Colin's game.
Maybe you've heard of a little rally racing sim called Dirt.
Maybe you've heard that Nolan and I
are in Dirt 5.
Before it was called Dirt, it was called Colin McRae Rally
and Colin actually helped developed it.
He said he wouldn't drop his name on a corny racing game
and insisted it to be as realistic as possible.
Now, whatever his technical input was, it worked.
Dirt 5 is the 14th edition of the series.
And whenever I'm having a bad day,
I remind myself I'm one degree away from Colin McRae
as far away from Kevin Bacon as possible.
He's been weird to me.
The back in the real dirt in the past,
Colin was frustrated that he hadn't snagged
another championship.
Subaru had given Colin the wings he needed to fly,
and he was eternally grateful for that,
but Ford hit him up with an offer that would make him
the highest paid rally driver in the world.
(indistinct)
I can't blame Colin for jumping to the blue oval in 1999.
I mean this company built the Escort RS 1600,
the Coupe BRS 200 and the Sierra Cosworth
were some of the raddest rally cars ever.
Surely, Ford could help Colin snatch a second title.
Well, Colin's new ride, the 300 horsepower
all wheel drive Focus RS
was not one of the baddest rally cars ever.
It was quick and it looked pretty cool
in that classic martini livery, but it was super unreliable.
Like finished three out of 14 rallies, unreliable.
Colin won two of those three rallies
when the car didn't break.
So you can imagine how frustrated he was.
I'd say something about the importance
of reliable cars here, but I don't own any, never have.
Ford did work many of the kinks out of the Focus in 2000
and Colin was on track to maybe win that second title,
but a terrifying high-speed wreck
at the course's second rally dash those hopes
knocking him out for the rest of the season.
Colin came within two points of winning
a second championship in 2001.
That year, the Focus was finally in fighting shape
and Colin was back in the (beep) zone baby,
but it all came crashing down, literally.
When he pushed a little bit too hard
for the W at the RAC rally,
Colin rolled his car out of competition
and another young UK driver in the blue and yellow Subaru
took the cup, Richard Burns.
Colin being Colin, I'm sure he was happy for him,
but he had to be pissed at himself.
All he needed to take the championship
was a fourth place finish.
Between this and his big wreck the year before,
Colin had to have been rethinking his full zen driving style
for maybe a second,
because a few years later,
his most iconic rally moment happened
in a place he never imagined it would,
the Los Angeles Home Depot Center Arena.
A 22-year-old Travis Pastrana was neck and neck with Colin
in his No Fear Impreza,
vying for the gold in the final stage
of the 2007 X Games Rally,
tensions were high and both drivers were going on all out,
leading up to this heat.
We all know what happens when Colin ends up
in a situation like this.
He pushes like crazy.
Quickly gaining a lead on young Pastrany.
Then a few turns before the finish line,
he hit a jump off the center and rolled the Subaru,
devastating but it landed on its wheels,
and Colin stomped on the gas.
The crowd went crazy.
The TV announcers had to hold back the F words.
And from the course, Travis Pastrana's beautiful jaw
dropped into the dirt.
Colin finished a half second behind the kid he inspired.
He didn't take the gold medal, but on that day,
Colin cast his legend as rally's eternal golden boy
on every continent.
This is Colin McRae the world remembers.
He was a wild unrelenting force of nature
behind the wheel.
A driver seemingly capable of bending the laws of physics
in erratic unforgettable burst.
He's as inspiring as he was inspired.
And he introduced a generation to the excitement
of rally racing.
Later that same year, Colin McRae died tragically
in a helicopter crash,
along with his five-year-old son and two family friends.
He's 39 years old and in talks with Subaru
about a return to WRC next year.
And while he only took the world rally championship one time
he made a greater impact on the sport
than anyone else ever has.
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