BBC2 'Racing Legends' Colin McRae 28/12/12

Status
This is not open for further replies. We close very old threads, and if this is the case, please start a new one on the same topic.

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
have had it bookmarked and alarm set on phone for a week or so now since i first heard it was going to be on
 

Gaza_r

RMS Regular
OP
Gaza_r
Messages
1,090
Location
Belfast
Drives
Focus TDCI
Nicked from the Radio Times website

---------------------------------------
27/12/2012 2000hrs
Sir Stirling Moss (profiled by Patrick Stewart)
Patrick Stewart/Sir Stirling Moss
------------------------------------------
Hollywood actor Sir Patrick Stewart tells the enthralling story of Sir Stirling Moss's glittering race career. The pair travel to Florence in a classic Gull Wing Mercedes to retrace the route of Italy's most famous road race, the Mille Miglia, and discuss how Stirling's near-fatal crash may have been the best thing that ever happened to him. Yet how will Sir Patrick cope with the raw power of the era when he drives a 1957 Formula 1 car at the scene of Stirling's historic British Grand Prix victory?
 
28/12/2012 2000hrs
Colin McRae (profiled by Sir Chris Hoy)
 
29/12/2012
Sir Jackie Stewart (profiled by James Martin)
------------------------------------------
Chef James Martin joins Jackie Stewart on a road trip through the Alps in a classic supercar to retrace the life and career of the three-time Formula One world champion. Self-confessed motor-racing fanatic James then discovers how Jackie's relentless safety crusade lives on in the vehicles of today and faces the challenge of driving one of his Grand Prix-winning cars around the Monza circuit in northern Italy.
 

Gaza_r

RMS Regular
OP
Gaza_r
Messages
1,090
Location
Belfast
Drives
Focus TDCI
have had it bookmarked and alarm set on phone for a week or so now since i first heard it was going to be on

The man was a total legend.

But I still wrestle with my feelings about him, I can't forgive him for that helicopter crash.
 

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
The man was a total legend.

But I still wrestle with my feelings about him, I can't forgive him for that helicopter crash.
He lived life on the edge, pushed mechanics and physics to the absolute limit, just unfortunate there was three others with him...

He was fortunate on four wheels that when driving in a way that a car shouldn't have been capable of not to have lost his life, when flying a craft in a way it wasn't designed for it bit hard sadly :worried:
 

DC.

RMS Regular
Messages
11,357
Drives
VW Golf GTI
I don't know all the ins & outs of the helicopter crash but no matter my view stills remains - he was/is the best rally driver I've ever seen.

WRC just hasn't been the same since. looking forward to this programme :grinning:
 

Conor

RMS Regular
Messages
7,910
Sky+'d.

Have to agree about the crash tbh, but still my favourite rally driver of all time, even if I don't think he was technically the best there ever was, but in terms of entertainment and bravery he probably was up there with the greats.
 

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
Sky+'d.

Have to agree about the crash tbh, but still my favourite rally driver of all time, even if I don't think he was technically the best there ever was, but in terms of entertainment and bravery he probably was up there with the greats.
good healthy debate to be had about this :laughing:

i feel technical can be seen in many different lights...
he drove with flair and confidence, the like of todays greats i feel wouldn't be just as "race track" styled if they were chucked into a grpA car and told to win events to get rize money to make your living, i dont think they could be driven with track like agility as they were very agricultural in design rather than software designed ?
 

Conor

RMS Regular
Messages
7,910
Love a good debate! :grinning:

I know what you're saying, but to me a great technical driver was/is the likes of Tommi Makinen, OK in a straight dog fight with McRae he mightn't have been the quickest of the two, but he drove in the same era and was a lot more successful because he displayed a lot more control and knew the limit of the car. Ultimately this meant he got to the end of more events and won more championships as a result.

McRae would keep pushing and pushing, and while he was incredibly brave and confident in the way he drove, the way he kept pushing was probably why he wasn't more successful in terms of trophies and titles. Let's be honest, he wrecked a lot of cars in his time!

Don't get me wrong, if I had to sit in the passenger seat and was looking to have an adrenalin induced heart attack it would've been McRae every time, but if I was a team boss wanting to win events it would've been a more consistent driver, even slower driver.
 

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
i can agree with you on that actually, comparing him to the flappy padle WRC era is wrong and when you compare him with greats from the grpA era then you'd be about right i guess...
 

Conor

RMS Regular
Messages
7,910
You don't think Loeb would've been able to compete in group A or B? The likes of Sainz, McRae and Makinen didn't make the transition to WRC cars very well to be fair, Gronholm and Loeb made them look well past their best! Funny how a car that probably requires less talent to drive can make drivers with the most talent look slow!
 

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
Loeb maybe as he has proved his salt in various motorsport the last year and his ability...

but many other I feel would completely crumple if thrown in at the deep end and told to do a 3-4 day rally with miles similar to that of the era, those cars took some serious steering, i was recently in an ex works quattro for a short skelp and over a few miles it was a labour rather than a love to make it sing
 

Conor

RMS Regular
Messages
7,910
Oh yeah totally agree there. There's no way today's crop would have been able to compete 20 years ago. What drivers are starting out in nowadays are probably twice as advanced as what factory group A cars were!
 

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
When you think that McRae started off on "real" stages in a Nova i think it says it all lol

by the time this generation get through the wee cars and make it to the stages they are in a 100k Fiesta or C2 etc when Colin's nova was maybe 10k (still a lot of bangers and mash back then)
 

jonspeed04

RMS Regular
Messages
817
Location
lisburn
Drives
Carlos Brennan
Lucky enough to have seen him in the flesh from his first ulster rally in the nova in 1988 , up until has last rally here Donegal 06 in a 6r4 . Legend and the excitement if he was on a rally was unreal . Never been to an f1 race when Senna was around but i imagine it was the same buzz
 

Gaza_r

RMS Regular
OP
Gaza_r
Messages
1,090
Location
Belfast
Drives
Focus TDCI
McRae was one of the greats.

Personally I think he had to drive cars on the limit to compensate for their lack of pace - look at his first season with Ford in 1999...

When he had the right car and drove within himself he was unbeatable - like the 555 Impreza years in 94, 95 & 96.

Comparing McRae to Loeb isn't fair - they come from diffrent generations were the cars require different driving styles.

I remember a fella selling t-shirts at Rally Ireland, he had one with "Loeb can't Scandinavian flick" written below a picture of Colin.

It summed up the different driving style of the 'WRC generation' for me.
 

svensktoppen

RMS Regular
Messages
32,751
Drives
FK2 CTR
Have the whole series set on record, cannot wait to get back and watch them :grinning:

Only fly in the ointment is James feckin' Martin presenting one of the shows :worried: He is such a moap, cannot stand the dude...

Would have loved to have seen a show about Jim Clarke in there as well, by far the best British driver ever (Colin included!).
 

sideways365

RMS Regular
Messages
1,205
Drives
X5
Set the sky planner to record these, although in the listings it only shows 2 shows on thursday 28th and fri 29th neither of which are the McRae one, anyone know when this one is on?
 

Graham

RMS Photographer
Messages
32,990
Location
By the sea
Drives
Press Cars
Sir Stirling Moss is someone i would look up to without a doubt, but my god he is a legend lol

said something along the lines of "you can imagine the life of a young man driving all over europe with crumpet" haha

what a guy :laughing:
 

soupz

RMS Regular
Messages
2,308
Location
Lisburn
Drives
Boxster S
Wow. Simply awesome.

Driving that 300SL Gullwing around the Mille Miglia with Sir Stirling Moss. Beyond the thing of dreams..
 
  • Like
Reactions: dub
Status
This is not open for further replies. We close very old threads, and if this is the case, please start a new one on the same topic.
Top