Sébastien Loeb had one. So did Carlos Sainz. More recently, Kalle Rovanperä and Sébastien Ogier have had one. And now, Max McRae has one as well.
What are we talking about? Special edition road cars. And, more specifically, the Fabia McRae Edition, which went on sale at Simpsons Škoda on Friday.
You’ll get McRae graphics and badging, a unique series number plaque, racier alloys, a signed certificate and a personalized handover from McRae, the man who set more fastest stage times in this year’s British Rally Championship than anybody else.
The Scot missed out on the British title by 1.2 seconds at last month’s final round, but seeing his name on the back of 10 Fabia 130s has helped ease some of the pain.
“It’s a really cool thing to do,” said McRae. “We’re fortunate to have a great relationship with Neil [Simpson] and everybody at Simpsons Škoda and this is another demonstration of that. Even without the livery, this Fabia 130 is an awesome car – but it definitely looks sweet as the McRae Edition!”
The even better news for anybody buying one is that it comes with the option of having Max teach you how to drive it.
And, the McRae Edition Fabia will be 20 times rarer than either of the fancy Toyotas.
Neil Simpson added: “We had the opportunity to come onboard with Max at the start of the season and we jumped at it. He’s driven so well this year and his pace across that final loop of the year in Wales was just sensational. All of this bodes very well for the future and working together on the McRae Edition Fabia seemed like the most natural thing to do.
“This will probably be the most powerful Fabia road car ever made and having Max with us and the McRae name on the car really symbolises the relationship and partnership with the McRaes and Škoda.”
Priced at £30,990, the car delivers close to 180bhp and 250Nm of torque, runs 18-inch wheels with a ride height dropped by 15-mil and a seven-speed DSG gearbox that’s tweaked with higher shift points and sports-mode downshifts.
This isn’t the first time the McRae name has been added to a road car in celebration of on-stage prowess – 30 years ago Subaru UK delivered the Series McRae Impreza. There were 200 of these (numbered 001 to 201, with no number 013 car) and they all came in blue with 16-inch gold Speedline wheels.
A decade down the line and Prodrive joined forces with Subaru UK to produce the all-black WRX STI RB320 to honor 2001 world champion Richard Burns. Loeb had his own Citroën C4 badged while Sainz’s signature was added to the back of a Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD.
