North of five or six thousand revs and the R4’s a dream. He was only a second down on Petter Solberg in the factory Subaru Impreza WRC around the forest stage. “Don’t forget, when the car first came out, Colin took it straight to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed. And when you do, it really starts to work. “You’ve got to drive it,” said McRae, “you’ve really got to drive it. The car’s not easy to drive, but once the five-time British champion septuagenarian sitting to my right is warmed up, he’s on top of the car and we’re really starting to get somewhere. “He wanted… he wanted a modern Metro.”Īnd that’s what he got. Turning across some gravel onto a twisty Tarmac stage to the side of the Knockhill circuit main, you can feel the wheels snatching as the transmission tries to contain 350 naturally aspirated horses. And it’s as clear and cool today as it was when fuel was first fired through the injectors a decade and a half ago. That’s the soundtrack Britain’s first world champion was chasing. Still a bit fluffy low down after its trailer trip across the Firth of Forth, Jim jabs the throttle and clears the throat. Sitting alongside the five-time world champion as we nose our way out of the Knockhill paddock, it’s hard not to agree. “But he wanted a driver’s car that you could get in and be challenged by – not get in and get all that popping and banging with the anti-lag. “Colin wanted to offer a car which cost around the same as a Group N car,” said Jimmy McRae. Around that time, the thinking from Lanark was gloriously straightforward. The finished R4 possessed brilliant simplicity in its development and ground-breaking in its deployment. A pair of fairly rudimentary differentials, the sort shorn of any electronic or hydraulic assistance for millisecond remapping on the merest hint of throttle application, were also added to the mix. The combination of a 2.4-liter Millington Diamond engine with a six-speed sequential gearbox worked. And noisy output.īut mostly it was about enjoyment. Revealed in 2006, the McRae R4 was the 1995 world champion’s answer to what a particular section of the sport should be all about. He’d spent some time in an MG Metro 6R4 around the time and he’d discovered pure driving.
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