- 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. (upbeat music) - [Voiceover] Inside
your car, there's a creep unlike anything you ever heard before. But be warned, it can be quite temperamental. Always run an intercooler. Do not use low octane dyno juice. And the most important thing, beware the creep that
lurks within the boost. Donut Media presents the new hair raising Boost Creep shirts available
right now at donutmedia.com for just 29.98. Really, that cheap huh? It's
so much cheaper than $30. - 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. Thank you so much for watching this video and everything else on donut. Hit that subscribe button, make sure you don't miss anything. We got a bunch of marks
for dropping new stuff just about every week. Go to donutmedia.com, check that out. Follow me on social media @jamespumphrey, follow Donut @donutmedia. I love you.
