The word legend is often overused – but in the case of 5 times British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae it’s a fully deserved term and few true ambassadors to the sport such as he.
Starting his career at the relatively late age of 31 – he quickly progressed as a driver in Scottish events, including the Snowman Rallies in the 70s – impressing the DTV team who offered him his first works drives that resulted in a lengthy career driving Vauxhalls and Opels - in which he won most of his 5 British Titles between 1981 and 1988. When part of the Rothmans Opel team he included drivers such as Ari Vatanen, Walter Rohrl, and Henri Toivenen as teammates and was runner up in the European Rally Championship in 1982. A hugely talented driver he could easily have competed successfully at World championship level but focused on the domestic championships which at that time attracted the worlds best drivers anyway
Hear what Jimmy has to say when he met up with our own Fiona Moir