The McRae R4, one of rallying’s great ‘What ifs’.

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One of Colin McRae’s greatest treasures was his Metro 6R4. While his frontline career had wound down after the 1995 championship win and period with Ford, he enjoyed some rallying for pleasure with the 6R4. In 2003, he put his mind to what in his opinion a rally car should be. Out of his deliberations came the notion that it had to drive like the Metro, devoid of the tech gizmos that had invaded contemporary rallying machinery. Seeking purity of driving where the driver’s feel and input was paramount, he laid down a plan executed by DJM Race Preparation for a steel chassis and centre-cell clad in carbon-fibre panels. The body, based on the dimensions of the Ford KA, would be suspended on twin wishbones with Proflex dampers. To obtain the raw driving experience he found with the 6R4, it had to be un-blown, so a 4-cylinder 2.5-litre Millington Diamond engine would feed an in-house designed six-speed gearbox with some 350 BHP. The Gearbox would be adaptive between full manual and semi-automatic, manual fore and aft diffs., a choice of active or manual centre diff. and two- or four-wheel drive. The McRae R4 broke cover in 2006 at Goodwood Festival of Speed and caused much excitement with the motoring public, especially rally enthusiasts, as a future cost effective clubman’s car. The tragic circumstances of McRae’s death in 2007 and what that has meant to his family are paramount in the mind. For the rally scene, the car became a ‘what if’, particularly as some orders had been placed and there was rumour of a one-make series. This could have shaken British rallying out of the period of torpor that has plagued the sport a lot sooner; it would have been unthinkable when the R4 was launched that the UK would not host a world championship round after1999. On a happier note the WRC returns to the UK in 2027 and the McRae name is appearing on the rally scene once more. Colin’s daughter, Hollie, lifts the sports media profile as a commentator also getting behind the wheel for some action in a mini on the 2025 Roger Albert Clark rally. Hollie’s cousin Max got his name on the British Championship score board at the end of 2025 when he won the Cambrian event, 26 years after father Alistair won the Scottish BRC round and 30 years after uncle Colin nailed the world championship.