Motorsport world pays tribute to champion McRae

By Martyn Herman

LONDON (Reuters) - The world of motorsport was mourning the death of former world rally champion Colin McRae on Monday after he was killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday.

The 39-year-old died along with his five-year-old son Johnny when the helicopter he was flying in crashed into a forest near his home in Lanark, Scotland.

A six-year-old friend of McRae's son and another man aged 37 were also killed, police confirmed.

"He was a great character outside the car and a tremendous driver inside the car," his former co-driver Nicky Grist told the BBC. "He had so much commitment and oozed talent.

"If it had an engine and wheels he would get in it and drive it to the maximum. When it came to cars Colin had that little something extra special."

Grist was McRae's co-driver when he became the first British world rally champion in 1995 while driving for the Subaru team. McRae was also runner-up in a Subaru in 1996 and 1997 and narrowly missed the title for Ford in 2001.

He won 25 times in the World Rally Championship from 146 starts and picked up 477 individual stage victories.

"I was privileged to have Colin in our team driving for Ford at a time when he was at the peak of his powers," Ford's Rally Team director Malcolm Wilson said in a statement.