THE daughter of motorsport legend Colin McRae is set to make her racing debut 30 years after he became world rally champion.
Hollie McRae, 26, will take the wheel next week at the FIA European Rally Championship.
She was just eight when her father died in a horror helicopter crash near their home in Lanark.
Hollie’s five-year-old brother, Johnny, and family friends Graeme Duncan, 37, and six-year-old Ben Porcelli were also killed in the tragedy on September 15, 2007.
Hollie developed a love of racing but turned down opportunities over fears over public opinion.
But she has agreed to attend the championship event on November 22 and will make her competitive driving debut at Kielder Forest in Northumberland in the Roger Albert Clark (RAC) Rally.
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It is described as “the longest and toughest” special stage rally in the UK.
The five-day event has vintage cars from the 1960s, 70s and 80s competing through forests in England, Scotland and Wales.
She said she will be in control of a Mini rally car along with co-driver Jon Armstrong.
She added: “There are going to be a lot of emotions and something I don’t necessarily think I’ve grasped the full gravity of yet.
“It will, I suppose, be the closest I’ve ever felt to experience even the slightest bit of what my dad might have felt 30 years ago and I just need to enjoy it.
“To be able to do it on the RAC rally, on this weekend, 30 years since he won the championship himself, it is something very special.”
Hollie said her mother Alison has been supporting her racing ambitions.
She added: “When I first started getting involved in the sport and getting passenger runs, mum was like ‘Oh god, not another one, what are we going to do now’.
“But I think that she does trust that I’m doing it for the right reasons, I’m going out to have fun, I’m going to be safe and all of this sort of stuff.
“She is my biggest supporter, so I hope she’ll be able to come along and cheer on from the sidelines.”
Hollie’s had been teaching primary school pupils in Glasgow but swapped in 2022 to focus on motorsport media and presenting.
She set up her own media firm and became a familiar face at rally events.
MacRae won the British rally championship in 1991 and 1992, and then triumphed by winning the world title in 1995, becoming the first Briton to do so and its then-youngest winner.
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Last year a museum showcasing the career and sporting achievements of rally star McRae was set up at his former motorsport headquarters in Lanark.
The building was transformed to display his trophies plus memorabilia ranging from helmets and framed race suits from throughout his career to racing publications and the video games in which he featured.
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