COLIN’S SCOOBY
They say you should never meet your heroes, ‘they’ don’t know what they’re talking about
Chris Harris meets two of his all-time heroes: Colin McRae’s winning Subaru and Colin’s dad, Jimmy
The day we filmed with the blue Subaru you see in these pictures, I learnt this: the true value of a motor vehicle should be based on what it has done, not what it might be capable of. We took L555 BAT to Chatsworth because it was a significant location in the 1995 World Rally Championship, and also because we couldn’t run the car on the full travelling stage. Initially, I was pretty disappointed to learn that Alison, Colin’s wife, wasn’t going to allow a proper stage run, even if we fitted a full set of Kevlar underside protection. And then I saw the car at Chatsworth. And I remembered that, had it not been for the intervention of a close friend of mine who happens to know Jimmy, Colin’s dad, I wouldn’t have been let anywhere near the driver’s seat. But the sight of that car, with that livery, in that colour, sent me spiralling back to my youth, to simpler times, to when rallying ruled. And this is the exact car that finished Rally GB, that won the championship and which pulled those donuts. I spent a long, long time poring over every detail of the car and then I asked the most stupid question anyone in my position can ask: “What have we insured it for?” “£750,000,” said one of the adults who accompanies us on these shoots. “Is that all,” I thought? Yes, in the scheme of our normal lives, that’s a lot of money. But in a world where someone will pay £6.7 million for the hideous Lamborghini Veneno, it’s nothing. OK, the insurance value has to reflect what it would cost to replace the car should it be severely damaged (don’t go there), but even so. For many people, this is THE car. Forget Formula One Ferraris. Forget Formula One McLarens. This frumpy little saloon car is the genesis of their love for cars. I think someone would pay many, many millions for this car. If I were that rich, I would. Jimmy McRae came with the car. As chaperones go, a five-time British Rally champion and father to the most famous rally driver ever born, his qualifications for the job were above average. He was nervous, he quite rightly didn’t know or care who I was – he just wanted the car to be treated with