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The 2001 season looked like it might go the same way, as the first four rounds of the Championship passed McRae by without a point.

However, three consecutive victories put McRae back into the title picture and he led the Championship going into the final round, at the Rally of Great Britain. McRae couldn’t take the title as he crashed out of the Rally, allowing fellow British driver Richard Burns (also now departed) to take both the victory and the World Championship.

He won two Rallies in 2002, but in a season dominated by Marcus Gronholm, finished a distant fourth in the Championship. A highly-anticipated move to Citroen for 2003 didn’t pay off, as McRae endured his first winless season since joining the Championship and stumbled to seventh place in the overall standings.

This poor performance led to Citroen dropping McRae, who after failing to gain a seat at Subaru, decided to concentrate on entering the Paris Dakar Rally. He has made sporadic appearances in the World Rally Championship since, and was said to be hopeful of securing a drive for the 2008 season, before his death.

Outside of Rallying, McRae is a well known name to Video Game players due to the successful Colin McRae rally games produced by British programmers Codemasters. They issued a statement shortly after his death:

“For over ten years, Colin was part of the Codemasters family and it was a privilege to have a man recognised as a true legend on the team. He always took a keen interest in the game experience, wanting to make sure it was without equal in its portrayal of the sport.

“His contribution was inspirational and brought his technical expertise and passion for rally driving to each and every McRae game. Through the popularity of those games, he brought a whole new audience to the sport itself.”

They have also pulled television adverts for the latest game in the series, Colin McRae: DIRT as a mark of respect to Colin and his family.

McRae was highly regarded throughout the Motorsport community and the tributes have poured in since the news of his death broke. Valentino Rossi dedicated his recent win in the Portuguese round of the Moto GP championship to the Scotsman, saying:

"He gave me a lot of passion for that sport; always a great show, sometimes some mistake, but always very fast. Yesterday he died in the helicopter, but I dedicate this victory to him."

The respect that McRae has garnered throughout his years in the sport is clearly enough for him to be described as a true legend of Rallying. Our thoughts are obviously now with his family, who have to deal with not only the loss of Colin, but of his six-year old son Johnny, who was also on-board. Condolences also to the families of Ben Porcelli (6) and Graeme Duncan (37) who were also killed in the accident.

Motorsport has lost a true great and he will be sorely missed.