Police believe McRae and son died in crash LONDON (Reuters) - Former world rally champion Colin McRae and his five-year-old son were among four people killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday, police believe. Strathclyde police issued a statement on Sunday naming the 39-year-old McRae and his son Johnny as among the presumed victims. The helicopter, registered to 1995 world champion McRae, came down near his home on Saturday and burst into flames. "It has now been confirmed that there were four people, two adults and two young children on board," the police statement said. "The post mortem has still to take place but the four involved are believed to be Mr. Colin McRae (39) of Jerviswood House and his son Johnny Gavin McRae, aged 5, Ben Porcelli (6), of Cleghorn Road, Lanark, who had been over playing with Johnny, and family friend Graeme Duncan (37), of L'Ile Degaillot, Faycelles, France. McRae was the first British driver to win the World Rally championship. The second, Richard Burns, died two years ago from a brain tumour. Chief Superintendent Tim Love of Strathclyde Police said: "We believe that the group were just returning from a visit to the nearby village of Quarter around 1605 hours, when it appears that the helicopter got into difficulty and crashed within the grounds of Mr McRae's family home. McRae, the son of five-times British rally champion Jimmy, was a big figure in British motorsport with his swashbuckling driving style and won the title driving for Subaru in 1995. He was runner-up in 1996 and 1997 and again with Ford in 2001 when he was pipped to the title by Burns. On Sunday, tributes poured in from the motorsport world. Former Subaru boss and World Rally supremo David Richards said McRae had "extraordinary spirit". "It was a competitive spirit like I've never seen in any other individual in my life that could say 'I can do anything'," Richard told reporters from the Belgium Formula One Grand Prix. "It's unusual to call somebody a legend but it's very appropriate for Colin.
I heard that on the news yesterday afternoon. I don't really know anything about him, other than he's a famous rally driver and there were a lot of console games named after him.
Colin McRae was a great ambassador not just for sport but for Scotland as well. He was not very well known because he never hit the news headlines with scandals or drugs or any of that sort. He worked hard for what he wanted and it paid off. He deserves to be remembered as a good role model and a loving farther. I just hope his wife and daughter can get through this.
He was from lanark, which is about 5 minutes away from where I live. I was shocked to hear about it, he'll be a sad loss.
