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Charity Donates Money For Specialist Medical Equipment

The Colin McRae Vision Charity has presented a cheque for £35,000 to purchase the specialist medical equipment for a new paediatric intensive care ambulance for which funds are currently being raised by the Yorkhill Children’s Foundation.

The money will allow the fit out of the ambulance with state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, which could help save the lives of 300 of children a year.

Accepting the donation from Alison McRae on behalf of Yorkhill Children’s Foundation was Dr Andrew McIntyre, who launched the appeal after identifying the potential life saving benefits of a designated intensive care ambulance capable of providing vital emergency cover within a two hour range of the hospital.

He said: “This is an incredibly generous donation from The Colin McRae Vision Charity and puts us a step closer to reaching our target of £120,000. The new ambulance will allow us to treat patients as soon as we arrive on the scene, which really can make the difference between life and death.

Alison McRae said that she was delighted that The Colin McRae Vision Charity had been able to contribute to such an important appeal. The ‘Vision’ was established with the main focus being on providing support for children’s health and education initiatives.

Alison said: “This donation is the first of many we plan to make and it is particularly important that it is going towards such a worthwhile project. Colin’s fans have been amazing in their fundraising efforts, for example the McRae Gathering organised a convoy of Subaru Owners to drive from Lanark to Banbury, raising more than £53,000 through sales of stickers, posters and memorabilia.

“I am very honoured to be presenting this cheque today on their behalf.”

Colin McRae Is Voted Greatest Motorsport Hero

Rally legend Colin McRae has been voted as the all-time greatest motorsport hero by readers of weekly newspaper Motorsport News.

McRae, who won the World Rally Championship for Subaru in 1995, topped the poll ahead of Formula One aces Ayrton Senna and Jim Clark.

Scottish charger McRae, from Lanark, won the hearts of rally fans with his attacking driving style during the 1990s. He drove for the Subaru, Ford, Citroën and Skoda factory teams and won 25 world championship events in his career. He was killed in a helicopter accident in September 2007.

McRae’s father, Jim, told Motorsport News that he was honoured that Colin had topped the poll: “I don’t think he realised how many followers he had. Colin was very respected and had big support. It really is great news and takes your breath away when you realise the names who were behind him in the poll.”

Motorsport News organised a similar poll ten years ago, and that time McRae finished fourth behind Senna, Clark and Nigel Mansell.

This year’s top 100 features some surprise names from across all disciplines of motorsport. George Polley, a hot rod racer from Cambridgeshire, is 13th on the list, ahead of Formula One champions Lewis Hamilton (25th) and Jenson Button (43rd).

Yorkshire-based potato farmer Steve Bannister, a club rally competitor for more than 30 years, finished 56th, eclipsing former F1 world champion Kimi Räikkönen (72nd), who has recently switched to the World Rally Championship with Citroën.

The run-down of the top 100 motorsport heroes, as voted by readers of Motorsport News, is featured in the current issue, dated December 16/23 2009 and priced £2.50.

McRae Sr salutes fans

Colin’s father thanks gathering for raising charity cash.

Jimmy McRae has expressed his thanks to more than 1000 Subaru owners for helping to raise £53,000for Colin McRae Vision, the charity established in memory of his son.

McRae Sr was the guest of honour at Chester racecourse last Sunday, the venue where Colin McRae secured the World Rally Championship back in 1995, to accept a cheque for money raised during the McRae Gathering last August.

The gathering was a 2 day tribute arranged by a team of volunteers. It started with a convoy from McRae’s hometown, Lanark, to the now defunct Subaru World Rally teams headquarters in Banbury. It ended with 1086 Subarus parked up to spell “Colin McRae” and form a giant Scottish Saltire, which established a new Guinness World record for the largest ever car mosaic. Money raised will be donated to various sporting causes for youngsters and initiatives to help disadvantaged youths.

“What a fantastic job you have done,” McRae Sr told an estimated 600 strong crowd some of whom had travelled from Ireland and Portugal. “It’s quite incredible, even Colin would have been gob-smacked. I would like to say a big thank you from the McRae family.”

The cheque was presented to McRae Sr in front of a replica of the podium used for the Network Q RAC Rally in November 1995. The ceremony cultivated with McRae Sr starting up the Subaru Impreza his son used to clinch the 1995 world title, L555 BAT. He then drove across a tarmac parking area behind pipe major Martin Hewins, who performed the same role for Colin McRae during his stint in the WRC. The scenes reduced a number of onlookers to tears.

McRae Sr said he had been apprehensive before he arrived in Chester, “When i was last here 14 years ago it was one of the happiest days of my life even though i had been biting my nails and worrying for so long. It was obviously a completely different set of emotions today but at least some good has come from what was raised today. Its been quite incredible, a great idea and a great way to finish off this special occasion.”

He added that he and his family still struggle to comprehend the level of Colin McRae’s popularity. “ I don’t even think Colin quite realised, the following he had.” said McRae Sr

A spokesman for the organisers said there was no plans to repeat the McRae gathering in future years. “We’d never not want people to meet up and remember Colin but there won’t be anything like this again “ the spokesperson said. “Handing over this cheque has brought some closure to what we set out to do and we’re very proud of what has been achieved.”

McRae Sr added that children overseas could benefit from fundraising initiatives in the future. Along with Colin McRae’s former business partner Campbell Roy McRae is considering making contributions to schools located close to the route of WRC events abroad.

Star McRae Stages entry was one-off

October’s Colin McRae Forest Stages is likely to feature several star names, although the proliferation of former world champions on the entry is unlikely to be repeated.

That’s according to Jimmy McRae, who concedes there was a keenness not to detract from the memories of last year’s events when eight world title winners took part. “There’s no way we can replicate what we did before so we’re going to look at something a wee bit different although I’m not quite sure what said McRae Sr who confirmed he is planning to take part, possibly at wheel of the course opening zero-car.

American Ken Block has outlined his desire to return to the event on October 3 rd Russell Brookes and Julia Kankkunen have also expressed an interest in competing.

Colin McRae’s world title winning Subaru Impreza (L555 BAT) will go on display at Glasgow new Riverside Museum, which is due to open in the summer of 2011.

Fans Reaction

Darren Clay (Telford): “I met Colin in 1992 when i was helping as a timing control and he was good enough to speak to me then. He was a top guy.”

Rob Hesketh (Worsley near Manchester): “I bought my series Subaru on the Thursday before Colin was killed, I’ve given to my daughter Katie since because she is also a massive fan.”

Richard Margery (Sandhurst Kent): “This was part two of the gathering so I had to be here. Colin put that extra bit of effort on every corner, especially when he knew there were spectators watching.”

Ben Marks (Nottingham): “It was very emotional seeing (L555 BAT) being driven by Jimmy, I wasn’t at Chester in 1995 but I am so pleased I came today.”

Nick Nieroda (Conway): I wanted to show my appreciation to the McRae family by coming here.

Article written in the Motorsport News 12 th August 2009

McRae’s world-title winning car to be displayed in Riverside Museum

Scotland’s late world rally champion to be honoured.
By PHIL MILLER (Arts correspondent) THE HERALD

He did what few Scottish sportsmen have done in their field – achieved world champion status.

Now the accomplishments of the late rally driver Colin McRae are to be honoured by the inclusion of one of his cars at the new£74m transport museum in Glasgow.

The blue and gold Subaru Impreza in which McRae became the youngest World Rally Champion, at the age of 27, is to be at the heart of a display focusing on the achievements of the driver, who died in a helicopter crash near Lanark in 2007.

The vehicle was one of the most powerful rally cars ever made when it propelled the Scot to the title in 1995 and now it is to be one of the prize exhibits at the Zaha Hadid designed museum.

The car is to be the first of a series of loans from McRae Motorsports to the Riverside Museum, which will regularly update and change the display in his honour with new and different exhibits.

Jimmy McRae, father of the late champion, who was himself a five-time British Rally Champion, said: “We hope that the display will inspire a new generation of drivers and also capture a little of the excitement and flair that Colin brought to the sport.”

He added, “This was something that we had talked about even before Colin’s accident, and we are pleased to be part of the museum and do what we can to help. Colin was so popular we hope that this will help attract people to the museum; we are hoping that we will also show the Subaru with which he won the British Championships in 1991 and 1992 as well, sometime in the future. The Impreza was a smaller, more compact car than before, it had 350 brake horse power, and that with Colin’s talent, led him to the championship that year. We are pleased that people are going to see it.”

Lord Smith of Kelvin, the chairman of the Riverside Museum Appeal said “I am honoured to welcome Colin McRae’s Subaru car to the new display within the Riverside Museum. I am proud that the McRae family chose to be associated with the museum and through this partnership we can together celebrate one of Scotland’s greatest sporting heroes. I have no doubt that by celebrating Colin’s remarkable achievements we will help inspire the next generation of sporting giants.”

McRae was competing on motorbikes by the age of seven but it was an early fascination with cars that led to a career in motorsport, leading eventually to 25 race wins in his World Rally championship career, in which he was known for the verve and aggression of his driving style. McRae also gave his name to the best selling Play station computer game, Colin McRae Rally.

Born in Lanark, McRae came from a racing family: his brother Alister, is also a former British Rally Champion. H raced in his first rally in 1985, but trained as a plumber while he built his racing career, which became successful when he became British Rally Champion in 1991 and 1992 as well as lifting the World title in 1995, McRae was a runner-up in 1996, 1997 and 2001.

Of the £74m needed to build the Riverside Museum Glasgow City Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund have committed £69m and an appeal is currently trying to raise the final £5m.

The Museum is due to open in the spring of 2011.

OTHER EXHIBITS ON SHOW

The Tall Ship Glenlee will be berthed outside.
It will have 7500 square metres of public space.
It will show 3000 objects, compared with the 1300 currently on show in the Transport Museum Kelvin grove.
One of those will be the recently acquired South African locomotive, Glasgow Museum's largest object.
There will be three ‘recreated ‘streets of old Glasgow. The streets will incorporate two smaller Subways and access to the shops for the first time.
The street will cover the periods 1890-1930, 1930-1960, and 1960-1980.
Museum visitors will be able to enter two Subway cars, four trams, four locomotive footplates and two buses.

Vision Roadshow at Glorious Goodwood

The Vision Roadshow visited the world famous Goodwood Festival of Speed on what turned out to be a glorious weekend. The event attracted 150,000 motorsport fans over three days. If you have never experienced this motorsport extravaganza then we suggest you add the date to your list of must see seven wonders of the motorsporting world. It is truly the best event of its kind.

Regular visitors to our website will know by now that at the Vision things don’t stand still. We are constantly looking for new ways to promote our cause and Goodwood was no exception. We launched several new branded products like mugs, umbrellas, beanie hats and a fantastic new lightweight waterproof jacket. As if that wasn’t enough, we had a world premiere of a stage from the new Colin McRae Dirt 2 game. We teamed up with Codemasters, the makers of the game and D-Box, manufacture’s of a fantastic motion gaming seat that brings the gaming experience to life. In celebration of Goodwood Festival of Speed we created 2 new cocktails for visitors to enjoy. The first was “The Real McRae” and the second was its slightly stronger brother “The Flat Out”. Both delicious and made from a secret recipe!

Fans are always keen to see any one of Colin’s cars close up. The organisers asked us to bring one of the better know cars along so it was the fabulous Rothmans liveried Subaru Legacy we rolled out for the job. Now we believe in under promising and over delivering when it comes to our supports, so we enlisted the driving skills of one Alistair McRae and he treated fans to the sight and sound of the big car blasting up the hill climb course on Friday morning.

The McRae Vision stand was busy from 7:30 in the morning until 7:30 at night. We had lot’s of visitors during the three days amongst them was the unstoppable Stig Blomqvist and current WRC star Danny Sordo. However it was Vision ambassador and current leader of the IRC Kris Meeke who got the crowds excited when he took up the Colin McRae Dirt 2 challenge. We had been running a competition on the simulator with the top three times each day received a gift from the retail unit. Competition was hot between hardened games and drivers. Kris took the wheel, after a familiarity run set fastest time of the day. He was raving about how good the game and seat are, he said “The driving experience is very close to the real thing”. Next day he returned and he brought along some competition in the form of World Champion, Sebastien Loeb. It was amazing to watch how quickly Sebastien memorised the stage on the first run prompted by Kris. He went on to beat Kris’s time by 3 seconds. Kris quickly responded taking the same out of Sebastien’s time to the delight of the crowd. Both drivers had been out with each other on the gravel stage at Goodwood, Sebastien was very impressed and has tipped Kris as a future world champion. High praise indeed for Colin’s protégé. The Vision gifted Sebastien with a very smart pair of Colin McRae driving shoes. Kris has several pairs and said they are amazingly comfortable. The Swiss based company Cype SA developed the footwear with Colin for both competition and fashion. The Vision is delighted to continue a close working and personal relationship created over the years with the company and its owners. Cype SA McRae products are marketed worldwide through Colin McRae Sport and will soon be available from our own on-line shop.

It was another successful outing for the Vision Roadshow, thanks to the many fans and friends that continue to support us so enthusiastically. Our thanks go in no small measure to the good people at the Goodwood Festival of Speed for allowing us to attend and all the assistance they provided. Also to Codemasters for the fantastic Colin McRae Dirt 2 game, all the enthusiastic support and manpower they provided over the weekend. Finally to D-Box for the ultimate in driving simulator seats. We look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Links:
http://www.krismeeke.com
http://www.sebastienloeb.com
http://www.codemasters.co.uk
http://www.d-box.com
http://www.goodwood.co.uk
http://www.colinmcraesport.com

Scottish Old Skool Escorts Support the Vision

The Vision received an invitation to participate in the largest gathering of Ford Escorts in Scotland from Scottish Old Skool Escorts at Kames on Sunday 28th of June. We didn’t have to think twice about accepting and Jimmy was delighted to take Colin’s spectacular MK2 along to join 150 other Escorts on display. We also brought along the R4 for the large crowd of enthusiasts to look over. Jimmy agreed to take prizes winners of an auction which raised over £1,100 for a blast round the Kames circuit. By the look of the photographs he was holding nothing back.

As if the day wasn’t interesting enough Alistair had just arrived from Australia so Jimmy enlisted him and his son Max (who has just turned 5) to the McRae team. Alistair put on a fine display of sideways driving in the gravel tyred Ari Vatanen/Dave Richards MK2 Rothmans Escort much to the pleasure of an appreciative crowd. Max got a run with his Grandfather in the Escort and enjoyed every moment.

The day was a great success; everyone left with a big smile on their faces and the event raised a fantastic £3,500 for the Vision. On behalf of Jimmy, Alistair, Max and the Vision a big thanks goes to Martin Calvert and the team for organising such a spectacular event, and to the fans for their support and enormous generosity.

More information at: http://www.scottisholdskoolescorts.co.uk/

Rally Show debut for Vision Roadshow

The Colin McRae Roadshow made its debut at this year’s Chatsworth Rally Show in what was arguably the wettest show in the events history. The recently completed mobile retail unit stocked with Colin McRae Sport clothing and popular footwear made a welcome shelter for the brave spectators. Fans enjoyed seeing action from some of the 14 DVD titles on sale featuring Colin right from the early days through to his amazing WRC career. It was a number of firsts for the Vision over the weekend, as the new mainstream Colin McRae Vision branded clothing went on sale. The range consists of Polo shirts, T-shirts, hats and jackets. With some items selling out on the first day, it looks like we have a winning collection. The umbrellas that will go on sale soon would have been the most popular item. They will be available in a few weeks, just in time for the height of the British summer. Visitors were treated to a preview of two newly commissioned Jim Bamber models of Colin’s Subaru Impreza and Ford Focus WRC cars. They will be available later in the year and will make ideal gifts for all McRae fans. New products will be added throughout the summer in time for the on-line shop opening later in the year.

The retail unit is only part of the roadshow. We intend to bring along one of Colin’s cars to each event and Chatsworth was no exception. Fans young and old enjoyed seeing the two times British Championship winning Legacy now fully restored to original condition. Everyone has their own special memories of this piece of rallying history and we all enjoyed hearing stories about McRae on maximum attack.

Even though the weather was against us, the crowds gathered on Saturday afternoon when Jimmy and Margaret McRae visited the stand. Jimmy was delighted to chat to fans, sign autographs and have a few photo calls. Other visitors on the day included MSport boss Malcolm Wilson and his wife Elaine. We missed an opportunity to sell Malcolm a pair of McRae shoes - but we’ll get you next time Malcolm! Sunday didn’t see any improvement in the weather with many of the stands packing up by mid morning, but we “boys” at the Vision are made of sterner stuff and stuck it out until the bitter end. Visitors on Sunday included Colin McRae Vision Charity Ambassador and IRC leader Kris Meeke along with co-driver Paul Nagle, fresh from a hat-trick of victories in Brazil, the Azores and Barbados. Kris and Paul were at Chatsworth on official Peugeot duty, entertaining the crowds out on the stage in the super 2000 car. Kris is a very enthusiastic ambassador for the Vision and recently spent time with the Hankook Scottish Rally Championship Juniors. Both Kris and Paul wear the Vision logo with pride on their racing suits and helmets and will feature in many of the Vision initiatives in the future.

All in all it was a good first outing for the new roadshow. We met lots of old friends and made lots of new ones. Our next adventure is at The Goodwood Festival of Speed at the beginning of July, when we will have lots more new products and guests at the show. Make sure you pop in and say hello. Thanks to the good people at Chatsworth for providing the space and to our many visitors and fans for their fantastic support.

Colin McRae Vision Display Unit

The Colin McRae Vision exhibition stand debuted at this year’s Knockhill Motorfair on 9th/10th May and also attended the Jim Clark Rally on 23rd May, where we were located in the traders area in the Border’s town of Duns.

The stand included a static display of Colin’s 1991/2 British Rally Championship winning Subaru Legacy and a selection of memorabilia including books, clothing, dvd’s and posters for sale.

The Legacy which was recently fully restored to pristine condition by Autosportif, proved to be a great crowd puller and many fans used the opportunity to have their pictures taken alongside this iconic car.

They were also keen to talk to us about Colin’s rallying history, memories of meeting him or times when they saw him in action behind the wheel.

There were also enquiries about whether the R4 would be on display at future events and we are delighted to confirm that this will indeed be the case. We will decide which of Colin’s cars we will take to each event on an individual basis and try to vary this as much as possible.

It was the first time much of the Colin McRae merchandise had bee on display and sale direct to the public and this was met with much interest and enthusiasm.

The merchandise got a lot of attention and items such as the caps and t-shirts proving very popular items with the fans.

The response has been overwhelming and gives us great encouragement for the future as the fans have shown that they want Colin’s legacy to be kept very much in the limelight.

Our attendance at these shows also enables members of the public to see and understand a bit more about the charity that has been set up, the Colin McRae Vision and we are keen to engage more with the public on this subject and will be issuing regular updates as to our fundraising and how the family wish these to be distributed to good causes.

In summary, we have been greatly encouraged by the reception we have received at these initial 2 events and plan to roll out our ‘Vision’ display unit at more motorsport events over the course of the summer to enable fans across the country to see Colin’s cars and buy his merchandise.

The provisional list of events we are intending to be present at is as undernoted.

Colin McRae Vision Roadshow – Provisional Dates 2009

Motorfair - Knockhill - 9/10th May - more information
Jim Clark Rally - Kelso/Duns - 22/23/24th May - more information
The Rally Show - Chatsworth - 6/7th June - more information
Northern Big One - Lightwater Valley - 28th June - more information
Festival of Speed - Goodwood - 3/4/5th July - more information
Classic Speedfair - Knockhill - 19th July - more information
McRae Gathering cheque presentation - Chester - 9th August - more information
Touring Cars - Knockhill - 15/16th August - more information
Rallyday - Castle Combe - 19th September - more information
Colin McRae Forest Stages - Perth - 2/3rd October - more information
Rally of Scotland – Stirling - 19/20/21st November - more information

Colin McRae Vision

The Colin McRae Vision Charity will be much in evidence at Motorsport Events throughout 2009. The ‘Vision’ display stand will be present at high profile events such as the Rally Show at Chatsworth, Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Rallyday at Castle Combe to name but a few.

We will have unique ‘Colin McRae’ merchandise available for purchase, including branded clothing, books, DVD’s and various other memorabilia.

We also hope to have some gaming units on site, where you can test your skills on the Colin McRae ‘DIRT’ game with ‘money can’t buy prizes’ on offer to the winners.

At each event we will also be bringing along at least one of the cars from the family collection of the vehicles Colin used during his illustrious career. At selected events these cars will not only be on static display but will be demonstrated ‘on track’ by Jimmy McRae.

Throughout all this activity, we will not allow ourselves to lose sight of the objective of raising money to benefit charitable causes for children, funding road safety initiatives for young drivers and encouraging grass roots participation in motorsport.

Full details of the venues and dates where the ‘Vision’ will be in attendance, will be posted on the website as soon as the list is finalised.

McRae Sr salutes fans

Colin’s father thanks gathering for raising charity cash.

McRae’s world-title winning car to be displayed in Riverside Museum

Now the accomplishments of the late rally driver Colin McRae are to be honoured by the inclusion of one of his cars at the new£74m transport museum in Glasgow.

Vision Roadshow at Glorious Goodwood

The Vision Roadshow visited the world famous Goodwood Festival of Speed on what turned out to be a glorious weekend. The event attracted 150,000 motorsport fans over three days.

Scottish Old Skool Escorts Support the Vision

The Vision received an invitation to participate in the largest gathering of Ford Escorts in Scotland from Scottish Old Skool Escorts at Kames on Sunday 28th of June.

Rally Show debut for Vision Roadshow

The Colin McRae Roadshow made its debut at this year’s Chatsworth Rally Show in what was arguably the wettest show in the events history.

Colin McRae Vision Display Unit

The Colin McRae Vision exhibition stand debuted at this year’s Knockhill Motorfair on 9th/10th May .

Colin McRae Vision

The Colin McRae Vision Charity will be much in evidence at Motorsport Events throughout 2009.