Scotsman Jimmy McRae might not have started rallying until he reached 31 but he wasted no time in notching up no fewer than five British Rally Championship titles. He also obviously passed on his driving talent genes, as two of his sons became international rally stars. Like their father before them, both Colin and Alister (who is also racing at the 2017 Leadfoot Festival) won British crowns. Colin went on to become the first British person and the youngest to win the World Rally Championship (WRC) Drivers’ title in 1995.
Jimmy made his WRC debut 19 years earlier in 1976, after only a couple of years rallying and he soon became a works driver for Vauxhall.
In the European Rally Championship, he was runner-up in 1982, while his highest placing in the WRC was fifteenth in 1983.
Throughout his career, Jimmy drove for a number of different teams, including Opel and Ford – reaching a pinnacle during his time in the Rothmans Rally Team, driving an Opel Manta 400.
Though mostly retired from motorsport now, Jimmy still occasionally competes in historic rallies and some Scottish Rally Championship events. In October last year he marked a very special milestone in his career – competing in the Wales Rally GB, 40 years after he first appeared on Britain’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Fittingly, he celebrated that anniversary back behind the wheel of an identical Vauxhall Magnum to the one he campaigned back in 1976.
Jimmy McRae - 1979 Ford Escort RS1800 MK2:
Scotsman Jimmy McRae might not have started rallying until he reached 31 but he wasted no time in notching up no fewer than five British Rally Championship titles. He also obviously passed on his driving talent genes, as two of his sons became international rally stars. Like their father before them, both Colin and Alister (who is also racing at the 2017 Leadfoot Festival) won British crowns. Colin went on to become the first British person and the youngest to win the World Rally Championship (WRC) Drivers’ title in 1995.
Jimmy made his WRC debut 19 years earlier in 1976, after only a couple of years rallying and he soon became a works driver for Vauxhall.
In the European Rally Championship, he was runner-up in 1982, while his highest placing in the WRC was fifteenth in 1983.
Throughout his career, Jimmy drove for a number of different teams, including Opel and Ford – reaching a pinnacle during his time in the Rothmans Rally Team, driving an Opel Manta 400.
Though mostly retired from motorsport now, Jimmy still occasionally competes in historic rallies and some Scottish Rally Championship events. In October last year he marked a very special milestone in his career – competing in the Wales Rally GB, 40 years after he first appeared on Britain’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship. Fittingly, he celebrated that anniversary back behind the wheel of an identical Vauxhall Magnum to the one he campaigned back in 1976.
1979 Ford Escort RS1800 MK2::
Jimmy McRae’s Leadfoot Festival steed this year is a Ford Escort RS1800, which is owned by Gary Smith of Hamilton.
The car was built as a replica to the works RS1800 Escorts that were made famous by Ford Motor Company during the years it was based at the former Boreham airfield in the United Kingdom, where their cars were prepared and tested.
Ford had a long and successful history in rallying, winning the World Rally Championship in 1979 with the Ford Escort RS1800 and drivers Hannu Mikkola, Björn Waldegård and Ari Vatanen.
This RS1800 has competed in the 2010 Silver Fern Rally and in 2011 came it second in the NZ Historic Rally Championship.
It came to the Leadfoot Festival in 2012 and in 2014 did the Silver Fern Rally for the second time.