Officials at Subaru World Rally Team USA vehemently deny any monkey business. And when asked whether he intentionally stuffed the car, McRae was quick to say, "Absolutely not...but nobody is going to believe me."
Do we? -EL
A Few Words With the ChampionBy the time I sit down with Colin McRae, there is so much going on around us that it's impossible to get his attention. Among the many distractions is an enticing umbrella girl, popping homemade trail mix. Colin finds his hand on the bag.
CM: "Are these yours, can I have some?"
UG: "Sure yeah. It's just trail mix; cashews, raisins, peanuts, M&M's..."
CM (examining a raisin): "As long as I'm getting cu%&$nts"
Nobody can understand what Colin has just said, but it sure sounded like a vulgar way to describe a certain part of female anatomy.
UG: "Raisins?"
CM: "Cu*%@nts"
(Awkward pause, while Colin, the only person at the table not in disbelief, casually eats the raisin)
Eventually, someone explained that McRae was saying "currants", Scottish for "raisins". When the awkward laughter died down, I had a couple of questions I wanted the definitive answer on.
JT: "Can you give me the step by step on the Scandinavian Flick?"
CM: "The Scandinavian flick is sort of something that has died off, because the cars now are so responsive and they turn exactly when you want them to. But basically, say you're struggling to get the car to turn into a left hander:
When you're coming into the turn and you get on the brakes, you sort of - throw the car the wrong way..."
I think Colin used "sort of" a lot because he knew I was a relative rube and it was an easy way to dumb the steps down.
JT: "To the right"
CM: "Yeah to the right - from the outside it sort of looks like you're going to take a right, then when you come off the brakes, you turn to the left. That sort of lightens up the rear of the car, which allows it to turn and lines you up for the left hander. As you're turning the right way, you're getting back on the gas."
JT: "At the apex?"
CM: "Sort of, yeah, during the left hand turn."
JT: "How do you displace fear? Is there a point in concentration where it just isn't an option?"
CM: "Fear isn't an option, not because the level of concentration is too high, but because there's a level of risk inherent in sports like these - if you haven't accepted that, you're going to struggle. It's a mind game."
JT: "What if I want to learn how to drive a rally car, is it already too late for me?
CM: "If you want to be a professional, you may have to have started at a young age, but to rally, anybody can come and have a go. You can go buy one of these cars tomorrow and enter the Rally America Championship."
JT: "There's nothing to the old adage about teaching an old dog new tricks?"
CM: "I know guys who started in their forties. In a lot of these sports, you simply can't afford to do it when you're younger. It depends on whether you have a feel for that particular sport, not how old you are."
Keep up with a rally legend on his blog: http://www.colinmcrae.com/blog.asp-James Tate