IT’S hard to believe, considering his fame, that the late Colin McRae won only a single World Rally Championship in his eleven seasons.
That was in 1995 at the wheel of the legendary Subaru Impreza 555 Group A.
But some of McRae’s most memorable driving came from the four seasons (’99-’02) he spent in a Ford Focus.
Now, a Ford Focus WRC campaigned by Colin McRae – and renowned co-driver Nicky Grist – in his first year with the team is up for sale in the United Kingdom, and expected to sell for between A$200,000 and A$250,000.
Chassis #68335, as you might expect, had a hard life on the receiving end of McRae’s ‘if in doubt, flat out’ driving style. It achieved its best WRC result at the 1999 Rally Tour De Corse in France where it finished fourth. It was also raced by McRae at Rally Catalunya in Spain, Acropolis Rally of Greece and Rally China, but retired from all three.
McRae’s teammate Thomas Radstrom took to the helm of #68335 at the 1999 WRC rounds in New Zealand and Australia, managing a seventh place finish here in Oz.
In 2000 the Focus was upgraded and driven at two rounds by Petter Solberg, before eventually finding its way into the hands of privateers and raced in national events across Great Britain and Europe right up until last year, when it competed at the Rallye National de la Lys in France.
The car itself was built by M-Sport and features a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder ‘Zetec-E’ twin-cam engine. When it debuted, the C170 platform boasted a 10 percent stiffer body-shell over the Escort RS Cosworth it superseded.
The current owner purchased Focus #68335 in 2007, and is selling it in the UK with conditional road registration and its original FIA Gold Book, otherwise known as a WRC Technical Passport. Its bodywork has been stripped back to bare white for the sale, ready to be stickered up in a livery of the purchaser’s choosing – most likely the Martini colours it raced in for its maiden season.
Below is some of the most incredible on-board footage ever recorded that just happens to be of McRae driving his 2001 Ford Focus at mind-bending speeds during Wales Rally GB. Now seems like the perfect time to watch it again.
Then there was the time the Flying Scotsman used his Focus WRC car to teach us how to drive like him in an instruction DVD called Pedal to the Metal.
The car will be sold by Silverstone Auctions at the Race Retro Competition Car Sale in Coventry, UK, on the 23rd February.
