Colin McRae’s first rally car which he bought for £850 fetches £90k at auction

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The late racing legend Colin McRae’s first rally car which he bought for just £850 has fetched £90,000 at auction. McRae bought the Talbot Sunbeam Ti in 1985 and crashed it into a tree during its first event, the Galloway Hills Rally.He spent the following winter repairing the bodyshell, fitting a new engine and preparing the car to take on the 1986 Scottish Rally Championship.

McRae finished 18th in the Championship and was awarded a “Jaggy Bunnet Flying Brick” for being the year’s “hardest trier”.The car, restored to look and feel how it did during McRae’s first full season in 1986, was sold at Iconic ­Auctioneers – formerly known as Silverstone Auctions – during ­the Silverstone Festival.Widely regarded as “the car that launched McRae’s career", it was sold to a private bidder for £90,000.The Talbot Sunbeam Ti, registration YSG 980S, was part of McRae’s collection of three prized cars, ­spanning his rallying career, that were offered for sale directly by his family.Also included was the Subaru Legacy RS in which he won the 1992 British Championship and the Mk II Ford Escort “McRae” that was the last he raced before he died in 2007 aged 39.

The Subaru was secured by a private buyer for £414,500, after a bidding war against rivals on both sides of the Atlantic while the Ford Escort fetched £157,500.McRae became the first Briton and the-then youngest driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers’ title in 1995.

He was killed together with his son Johnny, five, and two family friends in a helicopter crash. Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.