Portrait of Colin McRae

Birthday profile

Colin McRae

Colin McRae, Scottish race car driver (died 2007)

Born
August 5, 1968
Died
September 15, 2007
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1968

About Colin McRae

Colin Steele McRae (5 August 1968 – 15 September 2007) was a British rally driver. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title. At the age of 27, McRae was the youngest-ever World Champion, a record that stood until 2022. McRae's performances with the Subaru World Rally Team enabled the team to win the World Rally Championship Manufacturers' title three times in succession in 1995, 1996 and 1997. After four years with the Ford Motor Co. team, where McRae won nine events, he moved to Citroën World Rally Team in 2003, where, despite not winning an event, he helped them win their first manufacturers' title. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to motorsport in 1996. With 25 victories in the WRC, McRae held the record for the most wins in the series at the time of his retirement from full-time rallying in 2003. In 2007, McRae was killed when the helicopter he was piloting crashed near his home. His son and two family friends were also killed. He became the Scottish schoolboy motocross champion at the age of thirteen.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Colin McRae timeline

  1. He was the 1991 and 1992 British Rally Champion, and in 1995 became the first British driver to win the World Rally Championship Drivers' title.
  2. With 25 victories in the WRC, McRae held the record for the most wins in the series at the time of his retirement from full-time rallying in 2003.
  3. At the age of 27, McRae was the youngest-ever World Champion, a record that stood until 2022.

The world when Colin McRae was born

Colin McRae was born in 1968. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1968

  • #1 song"Hey Jude" – The Beatles
  • Top movie2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Top TV showRowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Best-selling bookAirport – Arthur Hailey

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentBob Beamon shatters long jump record at Mexico City Olympics
  • Top headlineMLK and RFK assassinated
  • Technology milestoneDouglas Engelbart demonstrates the computer mouse
  • Defining fadTie-dye everything
  • Notable inventionComputer mouse (Douglas Engelbart)
  • World population3.55 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderLyndon B. Johnson
  • Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
  • Also wonBoston Celtics (NBA)
  • U.S. population200.7M

1968 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Colin McRae's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19682026
Gas$0.34$3.45/gal
Average home$15,600$435,000
Average income$10,300$67,500
Minimum wage$1.60$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$1.31$11.95
Postage stamp$0.06$0.73
Population200.7M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, eWRC-results, Motorsport Stats, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.