Daredevil McRae earned a deserved title on home soil

Remember when To have a close-up of the sheer spectacle of Colin McRae, arms working wildly behind the wheel of a rally car was a treat to remember.

Colin McRae, right, celebrates winning the World Rally Championship after his victory in the Rally of Britain in 1995.

To have a close-up of the sheer spectacle of Colin McRae, arms working wildly behind the wheel of a sliding, skidding, bucking and bouncing rally car was a treat to remember. Even his laid-back co-driver Nicky Grist was impressed by the Scotsman's remarkable skill. "Being alongside Colin was the best, most exciting and rewarding time of my life, and I trusted him implicitly," he said.

I can support Grist's endorsement of McRae's daredevilry from first-hand experience, having once unwisely accepted a ride with him ahead of the British round of the World Rally Championship. I would substitute the words abject and fear for any Grist has used to acclaim McRae's all-out effort in pointing a car at 160 kph at a space between trees on an icy forest stage that any normal being would turn sideways to walk through very slowly and carefully.

But then adrenalin-junkie McRae did nothing half-heartedly, from rallying as a profession to his spare-time activity of, say, jumping out of a helicopter on to a mountain top and racing to the bottom on skis. His was the ideal attitude to carry on to the world rallying stage as Britain's first world title holder. He was also the youngest champion of all-time at just 27. He snatched the crown in November 1995, just seven years after his debut in Sweden, after a titanic rally-long thriller of a decider with his Subaru teammate, the Spanish legend Carlos Sainz, in the final showdown of the season: the Rally of Great Britain.

His rare blend of courage, skill, astounding reflexes and refusal to take backward step gave him a confrontational reputation. His keeness to compete among the world's best in the rough-and-ready business of rallying came from his father Jimmy's genes. He had established himself as a driver of world-class merit when monetary rewards in no way reflected the dangers and skills of driving in the most testing of weather conditions.

At his peak his father Jimmy, five times the British champion, would have been hard-pressed to earn £100,000 (Dh550,000). In stark contrast Colin at his best collected £6million a year. It gave him a lifestyle of absolute luxury, an apartment in Monaco,a mansion in Scotland, a chalet in Switzerland and more than enough to buy a helicopter to further satisfy his venturesome character and ease the pain of travel up and down the United Kingdom and for his closer European jaunts.

It was that very treat to himself which proved fatally tragic for him and his five-year-old son Johnny, his friend Ben Porcelli, aged six, and McRae's 37-year-old pal Graeme Duncan. Onlookers reported that a rotor blade on the Squirrel helicopter snapped off leaving precious little time for any recovery, however sharp McRae's reactions and however efficient his flying skills, and sent it nose-diving hundreds of feet into a wood close by his Jerviswood House home and bursting into flames.

Legions of motorsport fans, not only those who followed rallies and had grown to admire the modest Scot's phenomenal performances were stunned and later, closer to the funeral, reacted by turning out in their thousands to hail a fond farewell as the cortege moved him and his beloved son, sharing the same coffin, to their final resting place. It emerged later that, because of an oversight on his part, his pilot's licence had expired two years earlier, but an aviation investigator stated: "There is no suggestion Mr McRae was not a competent pilot."

McRae's record of two British titles, a world championship and 25 wins with 477 stage victories from 146 races in a 19-year career, all achieved in dashing and fearless style,was a memory precious to his loyal following. One year later nearly 1,000 Subaru owners - the make of car in which McRae earned most of his glory - arrived from all over Europe to hold a tribute weekend near his Scottish home.

It was followed by a Forest Stages Rally event in his name in Perth, Scotland, that was attended by former world champions Stig Blomqvist, Hannu Mikkola, Ari Vatanen and Bjorn Waldegard in a 130-car rally. His old boss David Richards and Grist acted as co-drivers. Jimmy and his other son Alister took their tearful part. Richards and his wife amazingly survived their own helicopter crash on their return from the Belgian Grand Prix that weekend.

"I was flying across to Belgium when I got a call from Ari Vatanen asking whether I'd heard the news - but he refused to tell me what it was until I had landed. When I was on the ground he gave me the awful news," said Richards. "Colin had a competitive spirit like I had never seen in any other individual in my lifetime. It said quite simply 'I can do anything'. "Some of the accidents he had left me tearing my hair out - but he couldn't stop himself trying to the maximum whatever he did.

"In Finland in '93 he rolled the car in three crashes and every time we thought, well that's it - end of story. But each time he climbed out to knock and kick the dents. "By the third accident I was knocking out the dents with him.He was that infectious a character. "I well remember the challenges I used to have trying to manage and contain him in the early stages. "He was crashing every week and we couldn't pay the bills. We just couldn't keep up with his accidents.

"But he developed into one of the greatest of all time. And he was a tremendous pal and such fabulous company."