Colin McRae

“I played football at school - but it was something you had to do up in Lanarkshire. But my first love was always motorcycles, and at the age of 11 I went into the Scottish schoolboy motocross trials.”

“Racing through the Kalahari was fantastic and Nairobi is one of my favourite places. In the northern climate, Sweden in February on snow and ice is spectacular.”

“People often ask me if I can justify the amount I earn, and I say I get paid that much because someone thinks it is worth their while to pay me that much, and if I they didn't they'd soon stop. That said, no one's more surprised at the money thing than me.”

“My dad insisted I got a trade. He had a plumbing business. So you are looking at a qualified heating engineer.”

“Rallying is a sport in which accidents do happen. You have to respect the conditions you face.”

“There's one part of the forest in Wales, it's like a natural bowl, and when we drove into it last time, it was getting dark. And as you came over the hill you could see fireworks being set off, the whole place was lit up and you could see this huge crowd all jumping up and down and cheering.”

“If you're too methodical, too fearful, you're not going to win. But the clever thing is to make the calculation correctly about where and when to go over the top. You've got to know when to push it and when to come back.”

“I'll watch a bit of Formula One, and motorcycle racing. I've always had an interest in all motorsports, and I still ride bikes.”

“At the end of the day, I got involved in all this because I enjoy driving cars and driving them as fast as possible. If I was going to be remembered for anything, I would like it to be for that.”