I was a huge fan of him, and his achievements.

There seems to be some speculation about the content of the scheduled programme (it was meant to air 28/12/12) Perhaps the BBC’ s oversensitivity regarding ill advised decisions not to air programmes made recently has influenced this.

I’m aware of the tragic circumstances surrounding the loss of life of all those on board and of the official investigations findings regarding the validity of the pilots license and the manoeuvre that led to the crash.

Thing is, I would have liked to see it. I’m just not sure it was appropriate to have given this the go ahead at all.

I’m aware of the reckless stupidity surrounding the loss of life of the three innocent people on board and of the official investigations findings regarding the lack of pilots license and the unecessary low level manoeuvre that led to the crash.

FTFY

some fantastic achievements in rallying but… i ‘m afraid overshadows everything he did.. same as JS’s enourmous charity works are now ignored.. great deeds cannot overcome bad ones i m afraid.

At the time he was a legend in hindsight he was a bit of a knob.

Two small boys died.

Apparently delayed because of copyright and licensing issues according to a post on one of the motoring blogs.

quote]At the time he was a legend…..[/quote]

I may be jumping to conclusions but I am guessing that rbstr/totalshell/pigface never met the guy.

Most of us, thank God, don’t pay such a high price for our mistakes and although I still find the manner of his death inexplicable given his professionalism in other matters, I don’t for a moment think it overshadows his ability or achievements in his chosen profession.

While for the most part I find the varied views of STW refreshing, in this case I am struggling to see any similarity between the case of Jimmy Savile, who was described by the Met as a predatory sex offender and Colin whose family buried him in the same coffin as his son.

Very poor analogy totalshell…..very poor 🙁

No point ratadog, many on here are just female genitalia no point in taking them on. Just hope they don’t own a greenhouse.

He lived life to the full, and clearly was a racing legend.

Two small boys died.

That was the tragedy.

His legend lives on.

I may be jumping to conclusions but I am guessing that rbstr/totalshell/pigface never met the guy.

I did indeed, many times. i used to work for a different WRC team to the one he drove for at the time, i would not profess to have known him though, whatever difference that would make.

I did indeed, many times.

Fair enough, I will have met him less often than you in that case but always found him to be courteous and professional when I did. I met him and his family through covering Rallies as a Doctor and also knew the members of the rescue units that covered his test sessions on numerous occasions all of whom spoke well of the man.

You really are an idiot totalshell.

You could say McRea was irresponsible but not bad.

He was known as Mcrash if I’m not mistaken…

@totalshell, harsh to compare him to the sexual predator JS 🙄

To be honest the bit about this I am most moved about is the burial with his son. If one or more of my children and I are unlucky enough to die untimely together, I would want that for us…

I thought McRae was a legend. Awesome driver! No one however deserves to die because of a mistake. I’m sure whatever manoeuvre he was trying had been done many times before and this time he just got it tragically wrong! Anyone who sits there and calls him, has clearly never lived and has never done anything remotely exciting/reckless in their lives!

Read further down. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-14803595

How many other racing drivers (adrenaline junkies that they are…) have off track incidents?

Jos Vestapen (drink)
Anyone else?……….

wasn’t there a famous motorcyclist/TT racer killed in copter crash?

The issue I have is that if I want to do something reckless or dangerous I’d want to be sure I was the only one it primarily affected not bystanders.

CM might have been a great driver but as a pilot was irresponsable and cavalier

wasn’t there a famous motorcyclist/TT racer killed in copter crash?

Steve Hislop

Burns didnt crash alot yet still won his title.

At the time he was a legend in hindsight he was a bit of a knob.

I met him when he was No2 to Ari, he was very quiet and unassuming. My wife met him through work (she worked for a sponsor); and she thought he was an arrogrant knob.

Either way he was a driving ‘legend’.

Can’t find it, but the video when he switched off the lights in the middle of a night stage due to the fog, and drove on pace-notes is unreal.

How many other racing drivers (adrenaline junkies that they are…) have off track incidents?

Loads! Not sure what your point is?

Unfortunately he, along with others, payed the ultimate price. It’s all very sad.

No there isn’t loads.

How many other racing drivers (adrenaline junkies that they are…) have off track incidents?

Mike Hawthorn.

Some of the puerile remarks on here make me cringe.

The AAIB report published in February 2009, ‘found no cause could be positively determined into the tragedy’

The subsequent fatal accident enquiries findings were based on the camcorder footage from onboard the aircraft. As witnesses stated albeit a windy day there seemed to be nothing untoward with the helicopter. All though on local news at the time there were reports of unusual engine noise from the aircraft on approach to the valley.

The fact that the pilots license had lapsed lends an air of validity to the belief that he was in some way irresponsible.

Furthermore, the lack of any flight data recording devices means there must remain uncertainties surrounding the last moments of the flight. Like I said, the speed at which some seek to condemn without accepting that the facts remain unexplained is surprising.

Four people lost their lives in a horrific accident. I don’t seek to defend the pilot. Just trying to draw your attention to the fact that none of us are in possession of the facts.

I would like to see the scheduled programme subject to any revised edits. I feel it should be shown, and shown in isolation rather than part of the Racing Legends series.

Incidentally, in 2002 former Irish rally champion Bertie Fisher was killed in a helicopter crash along with his son and daughter in an accident in Fermanagh which was blamed on bad weather. It was a Squirrel Eurocopter similar to McRaes.

saw the Jackie Stewart one, when the McRae one going to be show and what channel. cannot remember what side it was on.would like to see that one, he was a legend.

Mike Hawtborn was 50years ago

The AAIB report published in February 2009, ‘found no cause could be positively determined into the tragedy’

Hmmm! It does state that in the conclusion but there is quite a lot of evidence that he flew into the floor whilst (basically) showing off and attempting manoeuvres needing a lot more experience and training. The expiry of licence and type help point the way.

Another one to add to the pot is Graham Hill – no insurance in place when he crashed which was why the Hills had no cash (Damon was a dispatch rider to earn a crust iirc).

Damon would have got into the sport sooner…

Sorry how I read it at the time recklessness not mechanical failure was thr cause.

The issue I have is that if I want to do something reckless or dangerous I’d want to be sure I was the only one it primarily affected not bystanders.

I would be very surprised if it even occurred to CM that he was being reckless or dangerous, especially given who his passenger were. You can tell from the recovered video footage what he was doing and I remember very well as a child doing exactly the same thing as this with a friends Dad who was an ex-spitfire pilot “He (Mr McRae) undertook significant manoeuvring at low level and the helicopter seems to have encountered significant g-loading as a result, to the evident enjoyment of his passengers.

CM might have been a great driver but as a pilot was irresponsable and cavalier

Ok, it ‘possibly’ could been avoidable if he hadn’t been flying low etc. the problem is that they still don’t know what caused the crash and IMO opinion something very odd must have happened as I would have thought CM would have allowed a considerable margin for error given the circumstances.

Hmmm! It does state that in the conclusion but there is quite a lot of evidence that he flew into the floor whilst (basically) showing off and attempting manoeuvres needing a lot more experience and training. The expiry of licence and type help point the way.

Interesting that you conveniently ignore “The ruling states that the accident happened when, due to an “unknown occurrence”, the aircraft deviated from its intended flight path and crashed into trees lining the side of Mouse Valley.!

The report also states that
“Such a precaution would have been entirely reasonable. There was no necessity to enter the Mouse Valley. There were no operational or logistical reasons to enter the Mouse Valley”.
So he took the ‘scenic route’!

Easy to take the moral high ground and lay blame but at the end of the day it was a tragic accident.

The bottom line was, they went for a fun recreational flight, but the inquiry (quite rightly) considers flying incidents in terms of necessity. So, the fatal accident inquiry observed that he could have just flown higher and been safer, which would be a simple point in a commercial flight but less useful in a recreational flight.

Imaging the inquiry into your last bike crash- “This could all have been avoided if instead of going down the fun trail, he’d just stayed on the tarmac- there was no operational reason to be getting muddy, or in fact to be riding a bike at all since you own an Audi”

It is very sad, and the fact that he took one of the kids up without permission was just flat wrong IMO, but there’s a big difference between unnecessary and reckless.

Couple of things:

I would have thought CM would have allowed a considerable margin for error given the circumstances

When he took the Ford ceo for a spin (may have been Nasser) he was asked to drive at 50% as his passenger was very valuable. His reply was it was safer for him to be at 100%.

Not sure about your Mouse quotes – the conclusion of the report I read says that his entry into the valley was deliberate. When in a manoeuvre in the valley with no room for error, something happened and he crashed. All I was trying to point out was that the report says much more than what was posted above.

Not sure about your Mouse quotes – the conclusion of the report I read says that his entry into the valley was deliberate. When in a manoeuvre in the valley with no room for error, something happened and he crashed. All I was trying to point out was that the report says much more than what was posted above.

I can’t quote the whole of the fatal accident inquiry’s findings. I simply wanted to draw attention to the fact that as you say ‘the something that happened’ played a vital role in the crash.
Whether or not the margin for error given by the pilot was enough given the loads the aircraft was under during the manoeuvre is the unknown factor because no data recording can tell us whether there was a failure in any of the systems.

I too, tend to think that because he had passengers he would not take unnecessary risks.

McRae was a good driver but can never be classed as a great. Unfortunately, he had the same failings as Villeneuve in that he just couldnt slow down and contain himself. He had to drive at ten tenths all the time even if the situation didnt require it. To tame this might have taken everything he offered as a driver away but i soon got bored of McRae throwing the car at the scenery. He could have won a dozen more rallies and been champion at least three times had he learnt to drive to finish. The likes of Sainz and Vatenen were just more intelligent.

His death and that of those also in the helicopter is very sad and not really worth arguing about given it solves nothing.

Mike Hailwood was a lengendary racer and was taken out by a truck driver doing an illegal turn in front of him. He was only going for some fish and chips.

Loeb could be classed as a racing legend..

How many other racing drivers (adrenaline junkies that they are…) have off track incidents?

David Purley, who tried to rescue Roger Williamson in the Dutch GP of ’73, went on racing, later survived a head on collision with a wall at Silverstone when his throttle stuck open.
this was what was left of his car:

once his broken legs and pelvis had mended, he returned to racing in the UK F1 series at the end of the 70s. When he retired he moved into competition aerobatics and was killed in an accident in 85 when his plane crashed into the sea.

He (David Purley) was awarded the George medal for bravery for his actions in trying to save Roger Williamson. Marshals didnt even try a hand whilst the drivers kept racing.

The footage is heartbreaking to watch.

David Purley, a racing legend indeed.

David Purley ….

….he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 in) after his throttle stuck open and he crashed into a wall….

Holy Crap !!

McRae episode on this Sun after new TG