[TV] Racing Legends on BBC Two

[The Fat Clerk]

Thought the McRae one was the best of the 3. Not really a rally fan but thoroughly enjoyed it last night.

[terence]

Quite agree Dave,best of the three.

[rdjones]

I really enjoyed it and I think it will be staying on the Sky+ box for a while to come.

[johngee]

Agree it was the best. I thought Hoy was a very good presenter who didn't impose his own sporting success and, although I never really understood McRae's 'win it or bin it' approach, I found the programme very engaging.

[VIVA GT]

I add my own five-pennyworth to this and say that I too thought it was an excellent programme that (unlike the other two) seemed to concentrate on the subject, not the presenter of the show.
Obviously Colin couldn't be involved in the show personally, but the input from his Dad Jimmy was very interesting. (And he too kept himself in the background).

[garcon]

It was good to see the programme didn't shy away from Colin's fatal flaw. It was part of what made the man. It's just tragic that it ultimately took the lives of three others too.

[Knowlesy]

It wouldn't have been right to have ignored something that was, quite simply, his character.

Just watched it. Ah man. I feel very sad. I rarely get tearful but there were a lot of happy memories there. Colin is one of my heroes and not even that stupid accident he caused can change that entirely.

[leonidas]

Yes, I thought it was a good show. It just gave the factual reports about the accident and left it at that. Sensible in the circumstances.

If anything I think they played down his achievements - okay Tommy won a few championships but McRae took the record for most WRC wins. This wasn't mentioned. I also thought they could have covered his comeback with Skoda. Okay so he didn't win anything but to come back and be on the pace immediately with a second rate car demonstrated total class - and that he could still do the business.

[John Turner]

Yep, I agree, best of the 3, even though I, too, am not as into rallying as track racing.

[btcckid]

Originally Posted by leonidas

Yes, I thought it was a good show. It just gave the factual reports about the accident and left it at that. Sensible in the circumstances.

If anything I think they played down his achievements - okay Tommy won a few championships but McRae took the record for most WRC wins. This wasn't mentioned. I also thought they could have covered his comeback with Skoda. Okay so he didn't win anything but to come back and be on the pace immediately with a second rate car demonstrated total class - and that he could still do the business.

dont forget Xsara in 2006 too......see i get fed up that nobody ever remembers that this was the last WRC car he raced ........its the forgotten rounds he entered

[cg7aa]

There were some omissions as some have already mentioned but it was to be expected. I wanted more about his relationships with his co-drivers though especially Grist and how this may or may not have broken down at certain times because in my view, he expected them (maybe without realising it) to accept the very high levels of risks he was prepared to take on.

Nicky's facial expression after the costly 2001 crash was indeed very telling. I remember being so so disappointed back then when I heard the news of the crash.

He could have achieved so much more if only...I mean that Dakar crash for instance. It was very frustrating being a fan sometimes.

Perhaps I'm the only one who thinks this but I think the whole 'if in doubt' thing was perhaps a little bravado/psychological thing, a part of me doubts if it was really carried out to the letter every time and all the time.

To this day, I still get goosebumps watching some of the onboard footage of his driving, almost invariably at the end of watching such clips, I can't help feeling a little sad that he is no longer with us.

Overall, a watchable program even if some of us have seen Block's antics enough times for the awe to wear of a little. Minor moan though.

[leonidas]

I got the impression that later on he became more interested in winning rallies than winning championships - especially after signing for Ford when the car wasn't at its most reliable and it wasn't great on tarmac. That just made logical sense in the circumstances.

I think Colin certainly played up his recklessness for effect. You can't win that number of rallies by being reckless. There may have been a slight issue of concentration or focus at times when the red mist descended. Jim Clark used to say that to go faster he didn't actually drive any faster he just concentrated more. That's even more the case in rallying when you are dealing with pace notes and hundreds of corners. But when it mattered - when Carlos was trying to wind him up - Colin got on with it and won the championship.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by garcon

It was good to see the programme didn't shy away from Colin's fatal flaw. It was part of what made the man. It's just tragic that it ultimately took the lives of three others too.

Agreed. Was expecting them to skirt round the circumstances of the crash. Kudus to the programme makers for stating the facts and leaving it at that.

I'm a bigger fan of rally than circuit, so perhaps I'm biased, but I thought the McRae episode was the best of the series. Hoy made a better presenter than I was expecting and, despite the omissions, I thought it was a pretty good whistlestop tour of his career highlights.

[chunder]

Was simply a great tv show, along the lines of the TT film, just very well done.

I thought Sir Chris was humble, respectful and pretty damn handy, Jimmy was also so welcoming and proud, was quite moving really.

And all the other peopel involved, they should all be very proud of what they did, this was a truly superb piece of tv, so much better than all the other shows and I am glad we were able to see it.

[Mike Bell]

I second and third all that after catching up last night!

During the years Colin was climbing to the top with Subaru I was working for one of the opposition in WRC so the program bought a lot of memories back. Sir Chris was perfect choice and obviously got on well with Jimmy from the banter. Yes, perhaps a bit less of KB in the Fiesta and a bit more of Colin would have suited me, but on the whole the best of the three programs by far. Glad I saved it so can watch again......

[Knowlesy]

I had actually forgotten that McRae led the Dakar. I was actually really quite angry upon rediscovering this!

Dunno how I forgot tbh.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by leonidas

I got the impression that later on he became more interested in winning rallies than winning championships - especially after signing for Ford when the car wasn't at its most reliable and it wasn't great on tarmac. That just made logical sense in the circumstances.

I think Colin certainly played up his recklessness for effect. You can't win that number of rallies by being reckless. There may have been a slight issue of concentration or focus at times when the red mist descended. Jim Clark used to say that to go faster he didn't actually drive any faster he just concentrated more. That's even more the case in rallying when you are dealing with pace notes and hundreds of corners. But when it mattered - when Carlos was trying to wind him up - Colin got on with it and won the championship.

He could be reckless, but he won the Safari multiple times. There was an intelligent, percentage driver in there as well. He wouldn't have been on top of the world if not.

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by cg7aa

There were some omissions as some have already mentioned but it was to be expected...

.

It just occured to me, there wasn't a mention of the nasty Corsica (I think it was Corsica, may have been another tarmac rally) accident either when the car went down the ravine.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by cg7aa

It just occured to me, there wasn't a mention of the nasty Corsica (I think it was Corsica, may have been another tarmac rally) accident either when the car went down the ravine.

Yeah Corsica. By far his worst accident in a rally.

[chunder]

Indeed, I think he was stuck in the car for a while, and he hurt his hand.

It was about this time I think that Nicky started getting fed up I reckon, must be hard sitting in a McRae car in that era!

[Knowlesy]

Second half of 1999 and a lot of 2000 he was just crazy really, seemingly out of frustration at the reliability issues. The Focus was atrocious after he got the two early wins in '99.

2001 was much better though. Had he perhaps been sensible at Rally GB things would probably have been fine. But that must have destroyed Grist, it was his title too.

[ArnageWRC]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

He could be reckless, but he won the Safari multiple times. There was an intelligent, percentage driver in there as well. He wouldn't have been on top of the world if not.

Exactly, it's too easy to say he was reckless without actually looking at his record, and the evidence.
3 Safari wins, 5 Acropolis wins, the two toughest events on the WRC calendar. I still maintain that 1997/98 WRC Titles were lost by car problems, including the recurring engines issues. In 1998, he lead the last 2 events, when the engine failed on both events.

The majority of drivers have at least one major off in a season, and in 2001, Colin hadn't had one when they arrived for RallyGB. I just knew what would happen - especially after being at Tyle, and seeing him fly through....A few of us looked at each other and knowingly waited for the inevitable. However, it needn't have been like that; he didn't score a single point on Tarmac that year - a nose heavy car, and poor Pirelli Tarmac tyres saw to that.

[chunder]

When you consder he only won one championship it is a rather poor return considering he was at elast the match of Makinen and often quicker.

Burns was at a good level for 4 or do years and managed to win the championship too, as did Solberg and neither you would consider to be way above the rest in terms of speed.

The WRC is a battle of wit, pacing yourself and luck. Colin had luck and enough wit, what he seemed to find hard was pacing himself, he hated being beaten, in the early pre WRC days in the Impreza I think he had this nailed and would nearly always win a last stage battle.

But he only won the war once, and this says it all.

[Knowlesy]

As Arnage says though, you can attribute a couple of titles, at least, to reliability.

'97 and '98 he was outstanding and missed out by the slenderest of margins against the bulletproof Mitsubishi of Makinen.

At the end of the day, he won tons of rallies to go with that world title and that's good enough. He brought drama and excitement and interest to the WRC in this country and all that means we can be immensely proud of him I think.

[chunder]

I'm fairly sure that cars of his team mates wre unreliable? Eriksson, Sainz, Liatti all won rallies too in Subaru, but admittedly noone really got close with the Focus, only Carlos, until the Martin/Duval came out.

For me he was out engineered and just now and then out thought by Tommi, the two are both legends, and both pushed each other about as far as anyone else has been pushed since Group B and Alen, Juha, Timo etc