Picture special: Colin McRae's career highlights

SUBARU IMPREZA WRC: Colin McRae claimed 25 WRC wins and the 1995 title during his career

Colin McRae

VAUXHALL NOVA (1988): McRae announced himself as a major rallying talent with his exploits in a Vauxhall Nova in 1987 and 1988. He used the car to make his WRC debut in Sweden in 1987, finishing 36th overall and third in class despite a lack of experience on snow, then won the Scottish title outright in the car the following year

PEUGEOT 309 GTI (1988): McRae shone in a Peugeot Sport 309 GTI in Group N of the British National Championship. He won the class title to earn an outing in a 205 GTI on the RAC Rally

FORD SIERRA RS (1989): Select World Rally Championship and British outings in a Ford Sierra RS during 1989 provided proof of McRae's talents

SUBARU LEGACY (1991): Picked up by Prodrive, McRae won the British championship in a Subaru Legacy

SUBARU LEGACY (1992): McRae stunned the World Rally Championship with his form on the Swedish Rally in 1992, humbling several local drivers to clinch second place on the snow event

SUBARU LEGACY (1992): McRae clinched back-to-back British championships in dominant fashion. He's pictured here on the Manx Rally

SUBARU LEGACY (1993): McRae moved to the world stage full time with the Subaru World Rally Team in 1993, driving a Legacy RS. He claimed his first WRC win in New Zealand that year

SUBARU IMPREZA (1994): Subaru switched from the Legacy to the Impreza for the 1994 season, truly establishing itself as a rallying force. McRae took another win in New Zealand, before adding a home victory on the RAC Rally

SUBARU IMPREZA 555 (1995): The 1995 season was beset by controversy, with the Toyota team excluded for using an illegal turbo restrictor and a team order spat between McRae and Carlos Sainz in Spain. But the Scot clinched the title in style on his home RAC Rally, bouncing back from a puncture to take a dominant victory

SUBARU IMPREZA 555 (1995): McRae celebrates his world title at Chepstow Racecourse on the RAC Rally finish ramp

SUBARU IMPREZA 555 (1996): McRae's title defence included three rally wins, but three retirements scuppered his championship ambitions. Tommi Mäkinen claimed the title in his Mitsubishi Lancer

JORDAN 196 (1996): A publicity stunt car swap with Martin Brundle gave McRae the opportunity to sample a Formula 1 car in 1996. He lapped Silverstone in a Jordan-Peugeot 196

SUBARU IMPREZA WRC (1997): With new regulations introduced for 1997, Prodrive launched the Subaru Impreza WRC. McRae claimed five wins in the car (including in Australia, pictured), but Mäkinen claimed his second of four consecutive titles in a Group A Lancer

SUBARU IMPREZA WRC (1998): McRae's final season with Subaru included three wins, including on the asphalt roads of the Tour de Corse

FORD FOCUS WRC (2001): Three straight wins in Argentina, Cyprus (pictured) and Greece thrust McRae right into the 2001 title battle, but his hopes ended with a crash on the season-ending Rally GB

FORD FOCUS WRC (2000): In his second season with Ford, McRae took a pair of wins in Spain and Greece (pictured), along with four other podium finishes

FORD FOCUS WRC (1999): Ford made a bold move by snapping up McRae to drive the new Ford Focus WRC in 1999. McRae claimed the car's first victory on its third event, the Safari Rally

FORD FOCUS WRC (2002): Fittingly, McRae's 25th and final WRC win came on one of the toughest events, the Safari Rally

CITROEN XSARA WRC (2003): McRae switched to Citroën for 2003, claiming second place on his first outing for the team in Monte Carlo. That was his only podium for the team and, with new rules restricting the number of full-time drivers, Citroën elected to keep Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz instead of McRae for 2004. That left McRae without a full-time WRC drive

FERRARI 550 MARANELLO (2004): McRae reunited with Prodrive to tackle the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a GTS class Ferrari in 2004. Sharing a car with Darren Turner and Rickard Rydell, he finished third in class and ninth overall

SKODA FABIA WRC (2005): The Scot made a surprise return in 2005, making two outings for the Czech firm. Driving a Skoda Fabia WRC (pictured during a pre-event test), McRae finished seventh on Rally GB but starred in Australia. He was on course for an improbable podium before a clutch problem sidelined him

CITROEN XSARA WRC (2006): McRae's final WRC outing was a one-off drive with the semi-privateer Kronos Racing outfit, filling in for injured champion Sébastien Loeb. He retired on the final stage with a mechanical problem

PORSCHE SUPERCUP (2006): McRae's circuit racing exploits also included a handful of outings in the F1-supporting Porsche Supercup, including the race at the Nürburgring

MCRAE R4 (2007): Before he died, McRae had been developing his own rally car, the McRae R4. He ran it in public at that year's Goodwood Festival of Speed

IMPREZA 555 (2007): a memorial service for McRae attracted thousands of fans to his hometown of Lanark in Scotland