2005 Ford Escort MkII McRae-Ex-Colin McRae

The remarkable career of Colin McRae MBE has filled volumes and is too long to list here, but it did include becoming Scottish Schoolboy Motocross Champion at 13, the Scottish Rally Championship in 1988, winning the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Championship and, in 1995 he became the first British driver and the youngest person to win the World Rally Championship Drivers title, a record which stood for 27 years. Success continued with a total of 25 wins in the WRC, a third place at Le Mans in the GTS Class, a win in the Baja 500 Portalegre, stage wins on the Dakar and many other rallies worldwide.

Despite the passage of time, Colin McRae is still one of the biggest names in the world of rallying, certainly the most recognised. Colin was an iconic figure at the time. 'Everybody took a step back when they heard Colin driving. He was just using the road as a rough guide. His style and approach were something to watch. At one time he held the record for the most rally victories. His ‘never say die’ attitude, always flat out, it really sat with people and endeared him to them'.

But people often forget that he was a mechanic, too. He worked well with engineers and understood how to set a car up and its mechanical limitations. He is frequently discussed in terms of his wild, aggressive style, but if you watched him drive on tarmac at Le Mans or ASCAR at Rockingham, he was really quite smooth. He won two Safari rallies, which takes a lot of mechanical empathy and an intelligent approach as to just how much you can get away with.

Here at Silverstone Auctions, we feel truly privileged to have been entrusted by the McRae family with the sale of three of Colin’s favourite cars. They are significant cars in the history of rallying and will be available to view prior to our auction on Friday, August 25th.

For some time, Colin had been thinking about building a really special Mk II Ford Escort, the fastest rally Escort ever built. In Colin’s own words,  'The Mk II is the rally car of all time. When my father started rallying, these were the type of rear-wheel drive cars that were at the top level of the sport. I remember watching in the forests and they always sounded the best and looked the most spectacular – sideways. Ever since then, they have stuck in my mind'.

So, in 2002, Colin made the decision to start the project and recruited Dave Plant of DJM race prep in Newark to build it. In Dave’s own words,

'In late 2002 we were asked by colleague and friend Gordon Birtwistle of Proflex UK Ltd. if we could convert a Mk II Escort into independent rear suspension instead of the conventional live axle, for a rather special customer, this being the late great Colin McRae and of course, we were only too pleased to take up the challenge. The donor car was supplied to us in early 2003 and after numerous telephone conversations with Colin, the project commenced. The original specification was to be an ultra-long wheel travel, gravel rally car. With fully independent front and rear suspension to our own design and using our own aluminium uprights, finished off with a T45 roll cage to support the modifications.

Colin first visited our workshop in April 2003 to see how his ‘toy’ was shaping up. He took a particular shine to our brand new, 4WD tarmac-spec KA rally car and it became apparent to him that we were a ‘one-stop shop’ and were able to bring WRC attributes to any vehicle. This led to us doing more work than was initially intended and it was decided on that day that the project was now to be a turn-key rally car designed to be as lightweight, compliant and agile as we could make it.'

The full story of this unique car’s build and subsequent testing is well-documented elsewhere but the final build-spec included,

• A Millington ‘Diamond’ 2.5-litre, 16-valve, four-cylinder engine producing around 330bhp on electronic fuel injection and mounted as far back and as low as physically possible

• Cleverly designed bespoke exhaust manifold

• Bespoke DJM sequential gearbox and individual limited-slip differential

• T45 bespoke roll-cage

• Detachable front wings and extremely lightweight body panels

• A bespoke carbon fibre complete dashboard and unique instrumentation

• A single-seater-type, floor-mounted pedal box and internal master cylinders

• Proflex canister fully adjustable dampers

• Alloy ‘Group A’ Escort Cosworth suspension uprights (all round)

• Alcon ultimate brake discs and calipers

• Carbon fibre gear lever and handbrake lever

• Extended turrets

• A mid-mounted internal bespoke fuel tank (effectively where the rear seats would be)

With the rear axle replaced by independent suspension and weight saving throughout the car, the Escort weighed in at a healthy 930kg further enhancing the car’s remarkable handling and agility.

Over the next couple of years many hundreds of miles were covered in testing and on rallies, and the car may have played a small part in rekindling a well-known partnership between Colin and Nicky Grist, who shared the car on the Scottish and the Pirelli. Lots of magazine articles about this amazing car can be found online and there are also several YouTube clips, including one of Colin tackling the famous 'Molls Gap' stage on the Killarney rally in Southern Ireland. In common with all of Colin’s famous cars, the Escort has been modelled in 1/43rd scale by Trofeu Models and Corgi as part of their Vanguard Tribute Collection.

Accompanied by its 2005 RAC Logbook, ONM 804V has been prepared to the highest standards and presents superbly. It runs and drives well but is not event-ready and the safety equipment, seats, belts, extinguishers etc. are no longer current so consequently the car will need complete preparation before being run in anger. It has, however, been fitted with new front discs and pads as well as a new clutch master cylinder and new brake master cylinders and, in addition, it’s been looked over and checked by Ian Gwynne of BGM Sport in Brackley. The car is being stored by him until our sale at the Silverstone Classic on the 26th/27th August. He is a friend of the McRae family and seriously interested parties are welcome to speak directly to Ian and view the car prior to the sale if they wish.

The Talbot Sunbeam Ti from the 1986 season, which we are also offering, and this remarkable Escort last used by Colin in 2007 effectively ‘bookend’ his career and make these cars so special, particularly as they are for sale for the first time and directly from the McRae family.