These days, aside from irregular drives in Rally Raid events, McRae contests events in the UK in his pride and joy – a Mk 2 Escort that is, more than likely, the best Escort ever built.
McRae’s car is an ever evolving machine, but in a nutshell features a 330bhp Millington engine, independent rear suspension, a six-speed paddle-change gearbox and plenty of carbon fibre.
Not surprisingly, the car goes like sand off a shovel, as McRae explained recently after a run in the Manx Rally.
“It was still damp on Saturday morning, but the stages were drying. The best stage for me was Tholt-y-Will. It’s a very fast stage, mostly 5th and 6th gear, with only a couple of hairpins,” McRae said on his website.
“That meant we didn’t lose out as much to the 4WD machines. They really score on the twisty stages where exit speed from corners is much greater than a 2WD car. So we were only 1.2 seconds behind Kenny McKinstry in the WRC Impreza - the Escort was working well in there!
“If that was my best stage, Campbell’s (his co-driver) was possibly stage 12, although he got a bit nervous when I started looking for 7th gear. The Escort is geared for 139 mph in 6th and it was on the rev limiter at times, but it only has 6 gears - I could really have done with a 7th gear!” McRae said.
As you can see, it’s a fair piece of kit!
RallySport Magazine photographer, Mark Simpson, managed to get some fantastic technical shots of McRae’s mega Escort before the start. However, according to Mark, that wasn’t without its problems.
“I didn’t get any inside shots because Colin was messing about with his beloved in car camera for three hours (yes really!!),” Mark said.
“Everytime I went back to get the shots he was in the car messing with wires and getting typical Colin grumpy! Still, it was awesome to watch.”
Here then, are Mark’s shots of Colin McRae’s pride and joy. Enjoy!
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
