Moz

It would appear from recent news reports that Colin Mcrae is strongly rumoured to be heading back to Subaru and has fell out with Ford boss Malcolm Wilson who is blaming Colin for the focus not finishing in the last nine outings.

Blow Dog

That would be cool.
Its not suprising really. It took Mcrae years to settle into the Subaru.
Cem

Neil Micklethwaite

Colin Who ?

IMHO Burnsie is a more complete driver ( not quite as fast maybe ) BUT at least he finishes with the car in one piece and usually in the points, and he doesn't wear a skirt

V697DMO

Colin is without doubt the fastest driver, but the fastest driver is usless without a finish in each round (tortoise and hare remember). Richard is good, getting better, Juha (yeehaa !) has come back to form but is not as hungry as he was (he has done it all). What Subaru need is to get the new car on the road ASAP. There is NOT room for Richard and Colin and Juha in one Team. This could be Richards year (if someone nicks the bandito's wheels !).

Colin is only falling out with Mal. 'in the press' and its no more than he did with Dave Richards, remember cat a few years ago when he had to give way to Carlos ?

I hear that Colin does not really like to 'sort' a car, he wants it to work (don't we all) so with Subaru's new car he would be trading a blue oval for a set of stars but be in the same position. The Focus needs a lot more work (testing time) and uncle Henry needs to put up some cash, Carlos is very good at making a car competitive so its going to happen, Fordies be affraid if Carlos leaves.

I personnally would like to see :--

Colin and Tommy at Mitsi (who is really fastest)
Richard and Juha at Scoobs
Carlos and NEW BLOOD at henries
SEAT, Peugeot, etc ar'nt going to win this year but they will have a huge effect on who does

Trout

iTrader: (1)

...BUT....

at Goodwood last year on the head to head hillclimb - didn't Ginger beat the Wallace Whinger?

Wasn't he also the much more commited driver and 2 secs faster too boot. Of course you argue that Big Col wasn't taking it too seriously but looking at that and the way Richard was driving on the RAC last year - he looks pretty complete and fast to my eyes.

Having said all of that - Colin will always be totally associated with Subaru - even recently he said that his 22b is the best car he had ever driven on the road - I am sure Ford were well pleased by that! I believe he has now been banned from mentioning the 'S' word

David

[This message has been edited by Rannoch (edited 07-02-2000).]

Kev

I hope it's true.....

Colin is by far the most commited driver out there in the WRC, when his car matches the conditions he is unbeatable. I agree he was a tad out of hand for a while ( but they did ask his co-driver to leave ?! ) but since he's been tamed by Nicky he has matured no-end.

Like most of the teams Prodrive introduce new technology throughout the season and as they are pushing the boundries to the limit failures are inevitable and Colin has had more than his fair share ( like he has in the last year with Ford ) and any driver who puts so much into his driving is going to be dissapointed with continued failures ie the dreaded cam gears that dogged his last season with Prodrive.

Just think how cheesed off we would be if our cars kept failing, say on track days for instance ?

IMHO he is the best driver out there ... no matter what he drives.

IMHO
K

Josh L

I sincerely hope it's not true!

Subaru have done OK since he left, and you don't that endless bleating anymore. I apreciate that he did an enormous amount for the Subaru profile, but as soon as there was the slightest problem, the car was always entirely to blame.

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I seem to remember Ford getting their firt experience of this as early as the Monte last year, and the tone of Nicky Grist's voice has, on occasion, had a tone of desperation.

Personally I think Richard and Juha are a superb combination. Long may they continue! (well at least until Juha gets his Bus pass)

Josh

I Stancer

Whoooo your on dodgy ground criticising Colin round here I fancy . Juha is a big hero of mine from years ago , and RB is very impressively consistent ,he deserves the championship this year on present form , BUT he's not Colin , The fastest ( probably ever ) Warts and all

Ian

Oge

Colin is perhaps faster than Tommi, but as long as you don't finish, it doesn't matter. Tommi's strengths are an amazing ability to perform consistently at a high level and the ability to finish with the car in one piece.

KevinS

PLEASE don't let this be true. We don't want him back. He blamed Subaru for everything including driving off the road and hitting trees and now he is doing the same at Ford. He is a whinger who always blames someone else for his failures. Compare him with cool calm collected Juha. I am happy with the Scooby team.

KevinS

I forgot to add that Dave Richardson and Subaru made Colin - NOT the other way round. He was the wild man from Borneo before they calmed him down and showed him that to win you had to finish. They could easily have dumped him after he had written off so many cars.

[This message has been edited by KevinS (edited 07-02-2000).]

Moz

I personally think that Colin Mcrae did more for the impreza marque than is appreciated, He has after all been world champion unlike Richard burns who is just plain boring to watch, I wonder how many people on this bbs could put their hand on their heart and say that they would be driving a subaru if it hadn`t had the positive media coverage its had since mcrae was behind the wheel,The British press, including Performance car( who described the car as fast but a bit farmer barley mow), did not start to champion the impreza until Mcrae started to win rallies in it, he started it all, Subaru were first to realise this by launching the series mcrae in 95. Before then most on here, i`m sure, would have been too embarrased to admit to driving a subaru no matter how fast it was, they were after all the prefered choice of Farmers and odd ***** with tweed caps,hacking jackets and shooting sticks. If Colin Mcrae does return to Subaru, then I think it will be beneficial to the marque and it should be interesting to see who is the fastest, I know who my money would be on.

Moz

Josh,
By the way, Mcrae won the Monte last year only to be disqualifed for an illegal water pump which the team had not put forward for homologation, hardly his fault.

chrisp

I reckon its down to the company car they have give him. At subaru he had a modified legacy and when he left they gave him a 22B. Whats he got from Ford :- a galaxy .

No wonder he tempted to come back .

chrisp

Paul Wilson

You'll no doubt recall the spate of engine failures last time McCrash was driving for Subaru? Let's just say that he was not blameless.

SDB

OK..

Couldn’t resist any longer.

There are a couple of sides to the outside view of Colin. We see him at times, as the fastest man on almost any rally in the world (the fastest, not second fastest to Tommi or anybody). We then at times (fairly regularly admittedly) see him crash. There are reasons for this.

Tommi is without doubt one of the worlds most stunning drivers ever. He can consistently put in fabulous results without regular crashes. Remember though, he is very very experienced in the EVO, and the car itself is proven technology (and IMHO a tame handling car in comparison to the Impreza) which he can comfortably ride on. There are few surprises, few things to test / trial.

McRae on the other hand is driving an unproven, unfinished car. I strongly believe it is not fully competitive. The problem with McRae is that second is simply not good enough.

When you drive on the limit, you are at a point where the car is balanced on it’s comfortable maximum for the current surface, etc. It is possible to go a bit faster than this, but it means driving OVER the limit. Now the car simply won’t operate past it’s limits, you would in-fact be slower if you tried to drive over the car’s limits, because you would constantly be correcting mistakes (for want of a better word). You need to find another kind of limit to break. This means things like diving into a bend which you would normally use a little caution in with total commitment. It means, taking that crest absolutely flat out in order to gain ½ second (a massive amount of time) on all of the people who didn’t take the risk. It means seeing someones braking marks on the road and deciding to shave a few yards off their braking point, because if they managed it, and you can do this, you will have almost certainly gained time on them.

I believe Colin has been struggling with this car, and is doing everything he can to not fade into the background. He is pushing the car to it’s limits and then finding that this is not enough.

Also at Subaru he DID crash quite a bit, but remember, he did make World Champion, unlike Burns. It would be nice to see Burns make the championship this year, but lets face it, if he does do it, it will be a slow points based affair rather than an exciting knockout extravegansa (sp?).

Burns will push on in his highly calculated and skillful way and hope that in doing this he will find more points than Tommi or whoever. Colin is out to destroy the enemy on every rally (every stage?).

In order to be that bit quicker at the level of Colin, Tommi and the like, you just have to push it that bit harder. I really hope he continues the way he has. It may mean he is without a shot of the title for a few years in a row, but then he will find a great year and destroy everybody. I prefer this than just missing every year and then winning by a couple of points?

Remember also, the reason drivers are hired is to win, but also to bring publicity to the Marque. If you wind the championship you will do this. But if you just miss the whole year has been, to a degree, wasted. If you go out and attack on every event, you are bringing publicity to the team all through the year. Not just maybe at the end if you happen to build enough points to win.

Cheers

Simon

PS Sorry it was so long


[This message has been edited by Simon de Banke (edited 08-02-2000).]

AlexM

Moz,

Sorry, McRae was disqualified from 3rd place on the Monte due to technical infringments, not first.

Cheers,

Alex

Neil Micklethwaite

McRae won his title after a short season ( 9 Rounds as opposed to 14 this year )

His main rival ( Sainz ) missed out on two of the last 4 Rallies that year after falling off his bike, perhaps things would have been different then ?.

22BUK

Chrisp,

I think both Colin and Nicky Grist BOUGHT their 22B's after they left Subaru. Anders will know for sure. Where is Anders?

Regards
Anthony

Ian Cook

Colin and Nicky did indeed have to buy them, but may have got a very good price as well as both getting 000 (I think)

Fred

Agree Colin to be back only if Subaru change to another tires manufacturer (become more and more stronger than me )

I Stancer

Me again
I thought this topic could travel a bit .
Whats that you said about farmers with odd ***** ? Sombody hold me tweed jacket and we'll sort this ! outside sunshine !

Ian

johnfelstead

i couldn't give a to$$ what colin drives. I will allways support him in everything he does.
He put british rallying back in the headlines and didn't get where he is the easy way.
He served his aprentaship in the lower classes of british rallying in a nova and blew everyone away.
Ford had the chance to back him the first time around and decided that young talent isn't worth the effort.
He got his first national wins with no support apart from his dad in a self funded cossie.
He was treated by subaru as a second class citizen at first untill they realised his potential.
Yes he USED to crash a lot when learning, he hasn't done that for ages until the focus arrived and he has had to push unbelievebly hard to get any speed out of an underdeveloped/overweight/fragile car.
The engine in the focus is quite frankly to$$. It is the first of a new generation of WRC engines that has been developed from a production normally aspirated engine under the WRC rules and it aint working yet. The old cossie YB Turbo is still a better engine at the moment.
And as for his world championship year, he was forced to come second to carlos sainz on the penultimate rally by david richards when only carlos could have beaten him in the world championship.
His reply was to totaly humiliate carlos on the RAC coming back from punctures and broken suspension to absolutely destroy him.
I will never forget colin coming towards me on the top section of sweet lamb, a road i know well from our rally testing, with absolute commitment and precision, his speed through the top series of fast hairpins was breathtaking.
Colin is my Hero in the real sense of the word.
I support richard aswell and i hope he does well this year also but i find him completely lacking in charisma, the mitsu charisma was a very apt car for him to drive in 1998, that too lacked any charisma, just efficient at going about its work.