Peugeot 309 1900cc, Group N, Scottish & National Rally Championship, 1988

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.

Peugeot Sport equipped three young British drivers with Group N (the production car class) 309GTIs for the 1988 National Rally Championship, Englishman Warren Hunt, Welshman Iwan Roberts and Scot Colin McRae.  They were christened the ‘Young Lions’ by Peugeot team boss Des O’Dell and much was made of the rivalry between the three by Peugeot’s marketing team.

Although all three were undoubtedly quick, McRae and Ringer were usually the quickest, and duly won the Group N class of the National Rally Championship in a busy year for McRae which also included victory in the Scottish Rally Championship.  Their prize for winning was a full works drive, McRae’s first, in a 205GTI on the RAC Rally.  Despite an early off track excursion McRae and Ringer were leading their class on one of the coldest RAC rallies for years when an engine mount broke, holing the car’s radiator in the Penmachno forest.

• Scale:  1:43
• Era:  Modern Classics

• Age Suitability:  14+