Talbot Sunbeam ti 1600cc – Group A, Scottish Rally Championship 1986, Colin McRae & Nicky Jack

Colin McRae was Britain’s most successful rally driver, winning the World Championship in 1995 and taking victory in 25 World Championship events.  Colin’s flamboyant, sideways driving style, whether on the snows of Sweden, the rocky unforgiving roads of the Acropolis or on the ultimate challenge through the Sahara on the Dakar, endeared him to fans and rivals around the world.

Colin McRae Motorsport Ltd & Corgi have teamed up to produce a collection of 1:43 scale die-cast replica models as a lasting memorial to Colin McRae MBE. The full collection of 14 models will be released between 2009 and the end of 2011.

Having competed in his first rally, the 1985 Kames Stages, in a borrowed Hillman Avenger, Colin was eager to go rallying regularly so sold his autotest Mini and paid £850 for the Sunbeam modelled here.  The car’s first event, the Galloway Hills Rally in December 1985, ended in a tree so the winter was spent repairing the bodyshell and fitting a new engine so as to be ready for an assault on the 1986 Scottish Rally Championship.

With co-driver Nicky Jack, Colin entered eight rallies, finished six, came eighteenth in the Championship and was awarded a Jaggy Bunnett Flying Brick for being the year’s ‘hardest trier’.

• Scale:  1:43
• Era:  Modern Classics
• Length:  95mm

• Age Suitability:  14+