Rally champion: Colin McRae
Ulster rally fans in tribute to hero McRae
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
By Sammy Hamill
A week after his death in a helicopter crash, Ulster fans of former world
rally champion Colin McRae paid a last poignant tribute in the Subarus he
made famous.
More than 70 owners of the rally-breed Subarus drove in convoy through
mid-Ulster at the weekend, remembering their hero.
Colin came here as a young Subaru driver to win the Circuit of Ireland Rally
in 1991 and the Ulster Rally in 1992, a stepping stone to becoming the
youngest - and Britain's first - world rally champion.
His success spawned a whole generation of Subaru enthusiasts, among them
Paul Murray, who organised the convoy tribute in the wake of last Saturday's
horrific accident which killed the 39-year-old Scotsman, his son Johnny and
two friends.
From Cookstown, the convoy travelled through Draperstown, Maghera and
Magherafelt.
The McRae family have revealed that Colin and Johnny will be buried
following a private funeral this week, and a Service of Celebration will
take place at 4pm in their home town of Lanark next Sunday.
The service will be relayed from St Nicholas Church, Castlegate, out onto
Lanark High Street, which will be closed to traffic.