Hollie McRae toasts Jimmy McRae’s career

Legacy, lineage, dynasty.

These are words often reserved for ancient legends, aristocratic families with their descendants flowing back through centuries, the Royals even.

Then how could it be that these words have been published in motorsport magazines, rally news and online fan forums all in reference to one name: McRae.

The McRae family have their roots in Scotland; they enjoyed a simple life. Making a home in South Lanarkshire, they worked as tradesmen in the local area and were seldom seen farther than Glasgow. Jim McRae was the man who would change that – note: “Jimmy” didn’t exist in his pre-rallying days. Stepping in a rally car for the first time at age 30, he soon created a wave in the British motorsport scene which would build momentum over generations and be felt in every corner of the world.

This year, the five-time British Rally champion celebrates 50 years in the sport and I believe in reading this, you are metaphorically standing alongside me and raising a glass to the career and talent of Jimmy McRae, or my Gramps.

Anyone who has been in the presence of Jimmy, or who has seen interviews of him online, will most likely have heard his rallying origin story; the Scottish Scrambles, a little extra cash flow from the plumbing and heating business and the decision to swap two wheels for four. A decision, however, not made by himself but pitched and persuaded by his wife, Margaret: “Why don’t you have a go at this rallying thing, I think it will be safer than the bikes.”

That little extra cash flow materialised into a £300 Ford Mk 1 Cortina and within two years, Jimmy had proved that he could get results and secured himself a works drive with Dealer Team Vauxhall. The 10 years that followed is the stuff that built his legacy.

Come 1978, McRae was commanding his Vauxhall Chevette 2300 HS around the roads of Great Britain. The following year, at the Manx International Trophy Rally – Britain’s only pacenote rally at the time – fans were made to stand up and take notice as relative newcomer, McRae, put ex-champion, Russel Brookes, through his paces. McRae finished second by only 14 seconds. By his third season in the Chevette, Jimmy secured his first championship victory following three event wins in the Irish Tarmac Championship.

The early ’80s saw McRae move away from Vauxhall and into an Opel Ascona 400. New car, new team, new co-driver, the combo seemed to work as in their first year together. Jimmy McRae and Ian Grindrod achieved their first British Rally Championship title, first overall on the Irish Tarmac and collected 232 points in the European championship, finishing fourth.

In 1982, the Rothmans Opel Rally Team was created and McRae slotted in nicely alongside team-mates Toivonen, Vatanen and Röhrl. Other big names of the season included Mikkola, Brookes and Waldegård but none could stand in the way of McRae’s British championship campaign. Victories on the Manx and Circuit of Ireland brought home a second BRC victory for the Scot and in the European championship, seven podiums in 10 rallies saw the McRae name finishing second on the continent.

The next two years didn’t come without their challenges – another new car, mechanical issues, multiple co-drivers. But in 1984, Jimmy piloted the Opel Manta 400 to win his third British Rally Championship. The difficulties didn’t ease following the win, however, as sponsorship had run out and this spelled the end of the Opel/McRae partnership.

There was no BRC win to come in 1986 but it was an important year in the career of Jimmy McRae; one which he looks back on with fond memories. A deal between David Richards and John Davenport secured a MG Metro 6R4 and a Rothmans Rally Team drive for McRae.

In this monster of a car, he achieved a number of podiums at home and one in Gran Canaria at the Rally El Corte Inglés. The end of the ’86 season meant the end of Group B rallying and there is surely no better car to drive in its swansong. When asked today, my Gramps will still says that the Metro 6R4 was one his favorite car to compete in, even if it does mean you need to speak a little louder into his left ear and repeat your question a couple times.

As a new rallying era dawned, McRae and Grindrod set about getting comfortable in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth. They had yet another productive season with successes on the Isle of Man and at the Circuit of Ireland proving to be key in their 1987 campaign. You can never be too sure whether it was the passion, driving talent or Celtic connection that excited the Irish but since those early days, Jimmy McRae was adopted as one of their own and still is to this day.

McRae’s fifth and final British Rally Championship victory came in 1988, this time with Rob Arthur navigating. The team racked up 122 BRC points over the season and perhaps most importantly, Jimmy finally topped the podium at home in the RSAC Scottish Rally, a win which had alluded him thus far in his career – six times the bridesmaid before finally being the bride. Making this win even more special, perhaps, the McRae name appeared twice in the top 10; his son Colin finishing ninth.

With five titles to his name, in just 10 years, Jimmy McRae became the most successful driver in the history of the British Rally Championship – and still is nearly 40 years later. He is the benchmark of what it takes to be a British rally legend.

This is an astronomical achievement in its own right; made only more impressive in the knowledge that as Jimmy was winning each these titles, he was also encouraging, coaching and supporting his sons in their early sporting careers.

Come the start of the ’90s, eldest son Colin was 21 and quickly chasing his father up the leaderboard of rallies in which they were both entered. Alister, 19, wasn’t far behind. Both boys were eager to ride the wave created in their father’s wake and make their own mark on the motorsport world.

And so, in 1990, Jimmy McRae made the decision to retire from full-time rallying. Was it a personal choice to drive for pleasure rather than points? Could the pot not stretch to fund all three McRae drivers? Gramps rarely addresses these sorts of questions without a tongue-in-cheek answer but perhaps we can assume that with his own legacy established, he felt it the right time to focus on the McRae lineage – a sacrifice that must have been difficult for anyone with such drive and talent to make whilst still so clearly competitive in a rally car.

But these sacrifices began to pay dividends almost immediately as in 1991. Colin won his first British Rally Championship title in a Banbury-built, Rothmans-clad car much like his father had five years previously. By the end of the following season, a second BRC victory with six wins in six rounds proved that it was time for Colin to take on the world.

With the eldest off exploring pastures new, Jimmy and Alister were making sure that the McRae name was still achieving on home soil. In 1992, both McRaes finished in the top five at the Perth International Scottish Rally, and the family affair was sure to entertain at the Network Q RAC Rally in the years that followed. In 1995, Alister became the third McRae to add his name to the BRC trophy after a stellar season in his Nissan Sunny GTi.

It was clear that the name McRae was not just a one-hit wonder.

Five decades have now passed since Jimmy McRae first drove a rally car and even today, he is no stranger to a service area or spectator hillside – nowadays, supporting the third generation of rallying McRae on stage. Max McRae has been getting involved in the sport in any way in which he could from an early age, all with Gramps’ help. There’s a seat going in a drive at Knockhill? Thirteen-year-old Max will have that. You want Jimmy over at Donegal? Max will come too and compete. Your business is doing well? Max is looking for BRC sponsorship.

No-one can deny the graft that Jimmy has put in over the years to get his boys to where they are. In May of this year, Max competed in the ERC Islas Canarias, I travelled over to cover his event on social media and Gramps came along too – it is a family occasion after all! It was a special rally for a number of reasons, not least as Gramps was able to share stories of rallying his Metro 6R4 on those very same roads nearly 40 years ago. It’s moments like these that reaffirm what rallying is all about.

Not only is he able to share personal anecdotes that could be made into movies, Jimmy has an abundance of knowledge and a mechanical understanding that any service park would be lucky to have. Most 80-year-olds struggle to remember the names of all their grandchildren; not Jim. He’s got that covered, as well as the names and specs of rally cars that were raced long before his grandchildren were even thought about.

Just last week, he took one of those very rally cars – a Mk1 Ford Escort – to the Aberdeenshire countryside and proved that talent does not age. A round of the 2024 British Rally Championship, the Grampian Forest Rally entry list gained a stirring addition in Jimmy McRae as he chose to mark his 50th rallying anniversary by entering an event alongside his Grandson, Max.

The smiles were beaming and excitement palpable as fans gathered to get an autograph, picture and conversation with a legend. Seeded 50 to mark the occasion, Jimmy’s hope for the rally was to have fun, get the car back safely and finish higher than his seeding. On Saturday August 10 he did that and more; finishing first in class, treating spectators to nostalgic butteries and weaving yet another thread in the McRae tapestry.

Without his decision to get into the driver’s seat, many of our favorite motorsport moments would cease to exist. He is the driving force behind the McRae name and its meaning within motorsport. And it is a testament to his talent and love for the sport that his family choose to do the same – no pressure, no obligation, just the determination to entertain and to be connected behind the wheel. A dynasty which all began with Jimmy McRae.

And so I’m going to ask you once again to raise that metaphorical glass to the Grandfather of British rallying.

To Jimmy!