It's November 2015, and what's the relevance you may instantly be wondering? A month until Christmas? True, but this month marks a special and not so special anniversary for Britain's greatest ever rally drivers Colin McRae and Richard Burns. The 22nd marked the 20 year anniversary of Colin's 1995 World Championship win, the first ever for a British rally driver and to this day McRae still holds the record as the youngest ever World Rally Champion. The 25th tragically marks the 10 year anniversary since Burns lost his 2 year battle with a brain tumour. This juxtaposition of anniversaries got me reflecting on two of the greats of my childhood, who I so sorely wish were still around today. In today's WRC we have Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans, but McRae vs Burns was something else. Between them they took 35 WRC victories in a period up against WRC legends and fellow World Champions such as Marcus Gronholm, Tommi Makinen and Carlos Sainz. At the same time Britain had two top drivers capable of winning the championship, something we have not seen since. But what's interesting is the two could not be more different. There are some very basic similarities beyond the fact they are both from the British Isles. Both won the British Rally Championship on their way to the WRC, both were World Champions once in their career and both drove for one of the WRC's most iconic teams: Subaru. But in many ways Colin and Richard were like chalk and cheese. Colin McRae was blindingly fast, there is absolutely no doubt about that. Always on the edge, never happy to settle for second, the Scot was one of the WRC's finest talents, and was a definite fan's favourite due to his gung-ho attitude behind the wheel of a rally car. Throughout his career he racked up an incredible 25 wins (fifth on the all time winners list) but surprisingly only took the one world title. He came very close on two occasions in 1997 and 2001, but perhaps his "fully-committed" (to use the phrase of childhood friend Robbie Head) driving style led to him achieving a great number of rally wins, but not the consistency required to win world titles. That brings us on to Richard Burns, who in contrast was a very methodical driver, very precise and very technical champion, much unlike the flamboyant McRae. Testing to McRae was a bore, but for Burns it was vital, as it let him fine tune his car's setup and experience the conditions of the upcoming rally. Richard always chose consistency over an all out attack for victory, and nothing demonstrates that more than the title showdown dubbed "The Battle of Britain" at Rally GB in 2001. McRae started the rally at an incredible pace, blitzing his opposition averaging an incredible 78 mph in one of the forest tests. But he crashed heavily at 100 mph and his title dream was over. Burns on the other hand paced himself and took the 3rd position he needed to become England's first World Rally Champion. It would be wrong to assume though that Richard wasn't fast, because he was. It was just his approach was much more controlled and restrained. Arguably more boring, but equally effective. In 1999 and 2000 he was as fast as ever in the infamous Subaru Impreza WRC. He took 7 out of his 10 WRC wins in those two years alone. In contrast Colin (in the new and developing Ford Focus WRC) only took 4 wins in those two years. Colin McRae and co-driver Nicky Grist on the 1997 Rally Australia What I find sad is that the media painted out these two drivers to be fierce rivals, and of course to an extent they were, but they were more friendly than it may have appeared. An example of this is after Burns' admission to hospital, McRae was often seen by his hospital bed, which I think is really nice. And ultimately they both were trying to do the same thing - knock the Finns of their perch. McRae's biggest battles were with Tommi Makinen, whilst Burns' found himself fighting Marcus Gronholm (who took over the mantle from Tommi) more often than not. It would be truly fascinating I believe to see the two of them today. Would the McRae legacy still be as strong if he were still alive? Would Burns' return to Subaru have ended in fairytale fashion like it promised? How would the two get along? These are questions that will unfortunately never be answered, but their names will never be forgotten by any true rally fan, especially for me as these two were at the peak of their powers in the years I was growing up, so they will always have a very special place in my heart. Rest In Peace Champs. Richard Burns and co-driver Robert Reid on the 1999 Rally Catalunya
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