Colin McRae’s 1997 WRC test car was for sale and we all missed out

8 June, 2017

Rally fans will know the story like the back of their hand, but for those of us a bit fresher to the golden era of international rallying, here’s why the recently sold test car is so important. The year was 1997 and Subaru was debuting their newly-built Subaru Impreza WRC, a fresh start to meet the new World Rally Car specifications that replaced Group A rules. It sported a livery similar to previous works Imprezas and Legacys, but would prove to be one of the most iconic in Subaru’s rallying timeline.

Chassis 97001, often referred to as “WRC97”, was developed by Prodrive and was the first car built to the new FIA World Rally Car specification that allowed greater design freedom for the teams. Of course, who else to test it other than Colin McRae — who took out championship wins in the previous incarnations for 1995 and 1996. By the end of the 1997 season, McRae had chalked up another manufacturers’ championship, making it three years in a row.

But, while owning the championship car would be something of mythical proportions — we assume that car is tucked away somewhere secure at a Subaru facility in Europe — this car never saw competition and the auctioneer, H&H Classics, was quick to point out that “the car was never an official Subaru WRC entrant”. Yet it still sold for £230,000 ($408,024 NZD)

Why you may be asking? That’s an easy answer, it’s the car used to generate one of the most iconic Subaru rally chassis of all time. A development and test vehicle for Prodrive, McRae spent considerable amounts of time in it to form the model’s tuning, and it was paraded around by the Subaru World Rally Team to show off at press events. Not to mention that he first of anything tends to command a premium, and it’s no different when that first is a Prodrive-developed WRC winner.

Sadly, you can’t have it. It’s already been snagged by an overseas buyer at the private auction to — more than likely — never be seen again. But you can sit there staring at pictures of old wishing you had a spare £230,000 ($408,024 NZD) to blow on these sorts of things. We are too …

The video that H&H Classics slapped together is well worth the watch too — we slow clap any auction house that takes an ex-rally car power sliding and calls it promotion.

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Grand Routier — in the french tradition

10 July, 2025

Sitting in Paddy and Patsy Williams’ Dunedin garage is a stunning example of one of these rare French grand routier sedans. It is a 1949 four-door Lago-Record Factory Berline sedan, to give its full name. Daughter Cath let us know how proud she was of her dad, who had been tinkering away in his garage on this car for so many years.
Without exaggeration, it has been a mammoth task. I first saw this Talbot-Lago in mid 2019. The long-nosed, sweeping, curved four-door saloon, clothed in its misty green metallic paint, was quite breathtaking. There’s more than a little English influence in it, too, harking back to company owner Tony Lago’s involvement in the Clement-Talbot-Darracq era. The long front wings and bonnet, usually multi-louvred, highlighted with artful touches of chrome bling, are typical of the era, but these were indeed luxury length. Interiors provided leather-clad, armchair-style seating and ample legroom, with touches of wood and surprising details such as dainty childproof interior locks — a far cry from today’s lozenge boxes.
Paddy, a retired civil and structural engineer, knows his way around a lathe. He has a well-equipped garage-workshop to assist in any machining tasks along with his other passion for restoring classic motorcycles.

The Great River Road

4 July, 2025

A few years ago my family, knowing my fondness for driving, gave me the book Unforgettable Road Trips: Thirty-Six Drives of a Lifetime by Martin Derrick. Most of the road trips listed take less than a day in places like Scotland, Monaco, and Australia, plus one in New Zealand. Most of these places were too far to go just for a short drive but four of them would take several days. My interest was piqued, and those four drives were added to the bucket list. To date, I have done three of them: ‘Route 66’ (USA 21 days), ‘State Highway 6’ (NZ 10 days) and ‘The Great River Road’ (USA 22 days). You can drive all of them in less time, but you could also fly over them. We wanted a decent immersion in their charms.
The great river referred to is the Mississippi. While the name conjures the deep south, the river actually starts at the bottom of the great lakes, before emptying into the Gulf of Mexico about 3800km later. The great road is more of a concept than a specific strip of tarmac, as you can drive down either side of the river on various routes. Regardless of which side you drive, time should be kept aside for detours to places such as Nashville, which is famous for something or other.

Colin McRae’s 1997 WRC test car was for sale and we all missed out

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