Johnny McRae was barely walking when his father, Colin, stopped competing full time in the World Rally Championship in 2003-04. But from the moment Johnny was born, Colin recognised that his son could keep the McRae name in rallying. “With me, Alister and my dad all drivers, I guess the odds are pretty strong,” the proud father told me on a quiet moment amid the hullabaloo of a rally service park. “I guess it would give me something to do when I eventually retire.”

On Saturday afternoon, a legend and his heir died when Colin’s helicopter crashed at the secluded family home outside Lanark. As was typical for Colin, he had taken his Squirrel helicopter for a local flight. He used the aircraft like the rest of us use our cars, but he also used it to cut down on travelling and to maximise his time at home with his young family.

For years I carried a draft of Colin’s obituary on my laptop as I covered the World Championship for The Times and Channel 4. And on at least two occasions, I had it ready to file. It seemed likely that a premature death for McRae would come in a rally car after a monumental accident. There was the crash in Corsica when his Ford Focus flew down a ravine and ended upside down in a mangled wreck dripping with fuel. Colin was stuck inside until he was saved by his long-term co-driver, Nicky Grist.

On Rally Australia, he had another bad one. “We went from a hundred to nothing in about 25 metres,” McRae said. “I knew it was going to be a big one. We landed heavily and the steering wheel was wrenched out of my hands. I hurt for days afterwards. When I saw the car, I thought we should not have walked away. Both front wheels were ripped off. It was huge — even by my standards.”

To assuage the dangers of his sport, McRae had a black sense of humour and a knack for a prank. His nickname was Coco (as in clown). “You are never safe,” his mechanics at Citroën said. “Carlos [Sainz, three times McRae's team-mate] is especially vulnerable. During testing, Colin often leaves a car for Carlos at the airport. Except he leaves the windscreen wipers sticking out, the seats lying back and the music very loud.”

To remember McRae for crashing is to appreciate David Beckham only for his set-pieces. McRae was the most naturally gifted rally driver in the world. His ability to place a car exactly where he wanted was legendary. His ability to block out fear instilled fear in drivers less confident. His knack for turning up the speed, when it seemed everyone was at full-chat, to annihilate the opposition was a weapon that won him many a rally.

Three times McRae was runner-up in the World Championship. By his own admission, he threw away the crown on at least two of those occasions; most dramatically on the RAC Rally in 2001, when he clipped a corner on the Rhondda 1 stage, flicking his Ford into a jarring set of spins and flicks and rolls.

The way he became world champion six years earlier was just as dramatic. McRae’s Subaru team-mate, the calm, almost regal Sainz, looked to have the crown on his head with four rallies remaining. But McRae put on a late spurt and closed in on Sainz with two events to run.

On the penultimate rally, in Catalunya, with his drivers first and second in the rally and the title race, David Richards of Subaru — who, extraordinarily, walked away from the wreckage after the helicopter he was piloting home from the Belgium Grand Prix crashed in Essex yesterday — instructed them to hold positions. Sainz, the local hero, was in first and McRae, the fiery young Scot, seconds behind. A gaggle of Subaru team personnel were told to stand in the road to try to slow down McRae. But McRae ploughed on, sending them scattering.

However, on the advice of his father, Jimmy, the former British champion, McRae backed down for the final stages and handed Sainz victory. Furious and feeling robbed, McRae let his driving do the talking just days later on the RAC Rally. Sainz floundered in the mud and rain, while McRae charged on to finish second and take the title. For the first time, Britain had a rallying world champion.

Like London buses, having waited decades for one, another title came to Britain six years later — won by Richard Burns. Burns and McRae could not have been more different. Champion in 2001 after McRae had his crash in Rhondda, Burns was much more of a strategist who would pick up points whenever possible rather than push for the win-or-else option.

Publicly the pair were at each other’s throats, but privately there was mutual respect and appreciation. The thing they have most in common is a premature death: Burns succumbed to a brain tumour almost two years ago.

Danger was one of the reasons McRae gave up rallying. “I think about the danger a lot more than I used to and it starts to take over a bit too much . . . and when you think about it too much that affects the speed you do on the dangerous parts of the stages,” he said soon after Johnny was born. He was already father to Hollie.

On Saturday, motor rallying lost a Boy’s Own hero and a megastar. It also lost its only household name. Through his driving, he was a hero and by selling ten million copies of his driving game, McRae was as recognisable as Lara Croft or Super Mario. Sadly, this superhero was not immortal.

A champion’s life

— Born in Lanark, Scotland, on August 5, 1968. McRae’s father, Jimmy, was a five-times British rally champion.

— McRae became the first British driver to win the World Championship in 1995, taking the title with Subaru.

— The Scot was also three times a runner-up in the World Championship. In 2002, he became the driver with the most wins in the championship, but that mark of 25 has since been beaten.

— McRae competed in both the Le Mans 24 Hours race and the Dakar Rally in 2004. He also tried out Martin Brundle’s Jordan Formula One car in a 1996 test at Silverstone. His last full season in rallying was in 2003, with Citroën.

— McRae’s brother, Alister, has also competed in the World Championship.

— Colin McRae’s last, and 146th, World Championship rally was in Turkey last year, with the Citroën team.

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