Latest news with #ColinMcRae
Daily Mail
22-07-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Mail
Technician who turned into human fireball when rally car fuel caught alight sues firm for £5m over life changing injuries suffered in incident
A top rally car technician who went up in flames during training for a 1,300-mile desert race is suing one of Britain's top motorsport firms for £5m compensation. Matt 'Bubba' Finney caught fire after being soaked in highly volatile racing car fuel whilst filling up a high performance Prodrive Hunter T1+ rally car ahead of the November 2021 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Mr Finney, 52, was put in an induced coma for three months and went through extensive skin grafts and surgery in Dubai for four months before returning to the UK. Almost four years on, he has launched a massive compensation case against Prodrive Motorsport Ltd, which produces the rally raid machine, seeking damages for the impact his injuries have had on his life. The firm is one of the biggest British names in motorsport, designing and building Aston Martin racing cars and the World Rally Championship-winning Subaru Impreza driven by Scotsman Colin McRae in 1995. It continues to produce high-performance off-road vehicles including the Hunter, and works with Lewis Hamilton 's X44 racing team in the electric-only Extreme E series. Mr Finney also worked on a record-breaking Subaru WRX which lapped the 38-mile Isle of Man course in 17 minutes and 35 seconds at an average of 128mph in 2016. Lawyers for the experienced mechanic, who has been with the firm for over 20 years, claim his accident was down to defective working practices. He was taking part in testing of the Prodrive Hunter T1+ (pictured) in November 2021 in Dubai when a fuel pump sprang a leak Prodrive maintains that the mechanic was himself at fault in failing to wear full protective equipment during testing of the 600bhp turbocharged off-roader, which saw it driven on a 22-mile loop simulating desert conditions before being refuelled. Court documents filed by his barrister James Candlin claim that a 'fountain-like spray of fuel' shot out of the fuel pump after he had attached the nozzle to the car itself. Prodrive, he alleged, had failed to deploy enough crew for the refuelling procedure and had not trained staff comprehensively in the new Piusi Ex50 refuelling pump - which he alleged was not designed to operate above 40C. Mr Finney is said to have slipped on fuel that had spilled onto a tarpaulin sheet on the ground - allegedly sparking the fire. Racing fuels are also 'volatile', his lawyers said. 'Mr Finney attempted to run back to the barrel and pump to switch it off, but slipped on fuel in the ground tarpaulin whereupon fuel or fuel vapour ignited, and he was engulfed in the subsequent conflagration,' Mr Candlin said in the papers. The mechanic was rushed to a Dubai hospital via rough roads, where he was treated for burns to his head, face, chest, back, upper and lower limbs and his throat. Although Mr Finney began a 'phased' return to work, he continued to be dogged by scarring and chronic pain, along with flashbacks and mental trauma, his lawyers say. Mr Candlin continued: 'The claimant has recently been medically certified as unfit for work... but when fit for work since the accident he has been limited to engagements mostly in desk work, rather than hands-on mechanical roles for which he is trained.' Prodrive insists Mr Finney brought disaster on himself by neglecting essential safety procedures, with barrister Vaughan Jacob claiming: '(His) decision to refuel the car while it was hot led to the ignition of the fire'. He added: 'Had he worked with two other colleagues as required, it's likely the pump would have been turned off immediately when it began to leak, and before the leaking fuel ignited.' While Mr Finney was 'valued and highly experienced', Prodrive maintains he failed to properly assess the risks, did not wear the right safety equipment, failed to check the fuel pump connections were secure and did not use the correct fuelling area. At the time of the accident early in the morning, the temperature was below 40 degrees, which meant the fuel pump in use was 'within its safe temperature range', the barrister added. With a trial date still to be fixed, Mr Finney's claim came before Master Gary Thornett in the High Court as lawyers on both sides hammered out what evidence should be heard at the trial. Technical experts are still trying to pinpoint the precise cause of the fire. Addressing the impact of the burns on Mr Finney, barrister Rob Hunter said the trial would also need to hear expert evidence on 'stroke medicine' as the mechanic last year suffered a stroke which may have been triggered by his injuries. 'There's a potential link between his severe burns and that stroke,' said the barrister, adding: 'We think an expert would be helpful in addressing that potential link'. The case will return to court at a later date.
Auto Car
20-07-2025
- Automotive
- Auto Car
How Subaru plans to go electric
Word association time: what comes to mind when you think of Subaru? Easy: a blue and yellow Impreza flying sideways down a rally stage, somewhere around – or possibly just beyond – the limit. Here's something that doesn't come to mind, though: electric vehicles. With the heavy cost of electrification and an influx of cut-price Chinese manufacturers, these are difficult times for even the largest car makers operating in Europe. And for the smaller ones struggling for every sale they can get, it's enough to make you wonder: why go to the trouble? Subaru Europe boss David Dello Stritto understands why you might ask that. 'You could think: 'Okay, we're selling around 30,000 cars a year in Europe and we're doing around 700,000 in the US, so why bother?'' says the Scot. 'That would be a fair question.' Yes, Subaru is far more successful in markets where its utilitarian 4x4s are more in vogue and electrification is less of a hot topic – and its one-time great rallying rival, Mitsubishi, drastically scaled back its efforts in Europe years ago. But with all the commitment of Colin McRae on the ragged edge, Dello Stritto says: 'I'll tell you what, Subaru Corporation has said repeatedly they have no intention of leaving Europe. They want to stay in Europe.' He notes that Subaru couldn't shift its European sales to the saturated American market – which already accounts for around 75% of the brand's volume – and it's struggling in China against domestic firms. But, most importantly, there's pride at Subaru about being a global company. So Subaru wants and needs to be present in Europe – but that creates a challenge. While large manufacturers can now hedge their bets and spread their resources between developing electric and combustion lines, smaller ones such as Subaru can't. It's partly why its early EV efforts, the Solterra and forthcoming Trailseeker, have been co-developed with Toyota.
Car and Driver
15-07-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
Travis Pastrana and Rhianon Gelsomino Teach Us the Art of Co-Driving
Colin McRae, Tommi Makinen, Walter Rohrl. Motorsports fans are familiar with those legendary names. But while rally drivers receive the fame and glory, they don't do it alone. Seated beside them as they slide across loose gravel, launch over jumps, and rocket through dense forests are the co-drivers. These underappreciated motorsports heroes allow those brave drivers to navigate tricky rally stages at full speed. To learn more about what it takes to be a co-driver, we talked with Rhianon Gelsomino, co-driver for Subaru's Travis Pastrana, before strapping in next to the American daredevil for a ride through the tight and twisty rally course at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the Subaru WRX ARA25. There are many paths to becoming a co-driver. Some, like Gelsomino, grow up in a rally-driving family and learn through immersion. "My dad was actually one of Australia's best rally drivers," Gelsomino told us as we waited to clamber into the WRX ARA25. "So I've come up with rally in my life, and my two brothers are rally drivers as well." When her family needed someone to call out the notes for their races, she took the opportunity to ride shotgun. Others train specifically for the job. Her husband, Alex Gelsomino, served as the late Ken Block's co-driver for 17 years and perfected his skills through a rally co-driver school in Italy as a teenager. Rhianon and Alex now lead a co-driver school through Dirtfish, among the top rally schools in North America. "That's how we encourage co-drivers to start learning the right way," she explained. Subaru Rhianon Gelsomino and Travis Pastrana at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Sometimes co-drivers start out behind the wheel before switching to the support role. "A lot of times it would be a driver that runs out of money," Gelsomino said. "With co-driving, you need a suit, helmet, boots, and you can co-drive, whereas the driver needs a car." When drivers begin hitting budgetary constraints in the famously expensive world of motorsports, she suggests they shift their focus. "Learn to be a co-driver, learn what rally is, and then change over to driving when you have the budget," she said. This also helps drivers gain a better perspective of what their co-driver needs to do their job properly. Although the co-driver doesn't actively steer the car with their hands, they do steer it, in a sense, with their voice, and their ability to communicate quickly and clearly with the driver is critical to a good result. That communication ultimately comes down to building trust between the teammates, as even the smallest mistake at over 100 mph on a narrow rally course can lead to a catastrophic accident. The first step is simply getting to know one another. "I make sure I learn a lot about them," said Gelsomino. "What car they're driving, what experience they have, what crashes they've had, what note system they use." Before the rally, the driver and co-driver do a reconnaissance drive of the stage at a much slower speed, and the driver takes notes that the co-driver will then read out when they tackle the event at full speed. "If they're not writing good notes, I can't do my job properly either." Subaru Before Gelsomino joined Pastrana in the Subaru WRX ARA25 for the American Rally Association, she competed in the World Rally Championship. "I'd learned a lot of things about video analysis and pace notes," she explained. "One big thing I worked on with him is using technology to his advantage." She showed Pastrana the benefit of recording their reconnaissance run, or "recce" as it's known among the competitors. "We record it because then we watch it at double speed together to rehearse the stage after the recce, to simulate it." Trading knowledge and preparing together is key to solidifying that trust in the car. "When you've done so much work rehearsing, that trust is built," she said. But some of it is also just innate. "We also have very similar personalities, he's like a brother to me. You find a bond," she explained. "Some people you don't, and you don't tend to continue working with them. You spend hours together, so you want to get along with the person, and you want to enjoy it." The other component to success is ensuring that you're speaking the same language. Every driver has their own style of taking notes. "In America, most drivers who use a one-to-six system, which is one will be a hairpin and a six will be flat out," Gelsomino detailed. "And they'll either say number or a direction: six left or left six, depending on which way they are going." But not everyone follows the same formula. "My brother, who I've done most of my rallies all over the world, he's a one-to-10 system." Subaru Then there are the "accessory words," which give the driver extra context on how to set up for the upcoming corner, and the "trigger words" that warn of big adjustments. The former might include "into" to connect a string of tightly packed corners, or "hug" to tell the driver to keep close to the inside of the corner instead of taking a more traditional racing line. The latter covers phrases like "caution, brake, and max flat." Luckily, when we rode alongside Pastrana on the short Goodwood rally stage, we weren't asked to read out notes. The jovial Pastrana had already completed several runs and was well-versed on the course, all the better since, as we soon discovered, it's quite the challenge to keep up. The launch off the line was violent despite the slick surface underneath, and as the Subaru WRX ARA25 surged forward, its nose pointed skyward, making it hard to judge or position relative to the upcoming turns. Those corners come at you fast, one after another. Pastrana's hands worked just as fast, whipping the steering wheel left and right, shifting gears, and yanking on the handbrake. The forces on your body are intense, from the grab of the harness under braking to the dramatic squat and dive that the long-travel suspension allows, and the feeling of constantly being sideways yet still going straight. As we scythed through the trees, we tried bracing for the corners ahead and keeping an eye on the narrow dirt route, but everything happened so quickly, we could only just hang on. The rapid two-and-a-half-minute run up the 1.5-mile course illustrated the impressive skills required of both rally drivers and co-drivers. Not only were we blown away by Pastrana's artful car control, as he chatted casually over the radio with a big grin on his face, but the immense speed demonstrated the challenge of co-driving, thinking several corners ahead, reading out each direction clearly, and timing it perfectly. Rally is truly a team sport, and while the drivers are the ones whose names get plastered onto video game covers, they couldn't do it without their co-driver beside them. Caleb Miller Associate News Editor Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
Top Gear
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Colin McRae's Metro 6R4 Group B rally car is up for sale, and we must have it
Colin McRae's Metro 6R4 Group B rally car is up for sale, and we must have it Because who doesn't want a bewinged 400bhp racing hatch in their life? Skip 12 photos in the image carousel and continue reading Turn on Javascript to see all the available pictures. 1 / 12 Four decades ago, MG's engineers had a fun day off and created this: a fire-spitting, fog lamp-heavy Group B rascal dubbed the '6R4'. And now, courtesy of Bonhams, your opportunity to own Colin McRae's own 6R4 has just appeared. The steroidal Scrappy Doo of course benefited from a bespoke space-frame chassis and shared but a few panels with the original car, somewhat mercifully. It was designed in collaboration with Williams, who helped to completely revise the internals: four-wheel drive instead of front-wheel drive, six cylinders in place of four and a rear-engine layout as opposed to front. Advertisement - Page continues below At peak configuration, the nat-asp 3.0-litre 90-degree V6 puts out over 400bhp. That engine also gets twin-cam heads modelled on Cosworth's DFV Formula One V8. And as if that wasn't enough, the 6R4 has a five-speed dog-box manual, adjustable LSDs and viscous coupling technology, pinched straight out of Williams' workshop. That wild body was also wind tunnel tested, so those sharp extensions ahead of its nose, the oxygen-gulping vents out wide, and the slick rear wing are all tried and tested for an assault on the World Rally Championship. An assault which didn't last very long, mind, since the Group B class it was built for was canned after just four years amid safety concerns. The 6R4 only competed in the final two years, with a best result of third at the 1985 Welsh Rally. Still, a detuned version of the 6R4 continued to race at national level, winning various titles on the way. It then transitioned over to European rallycross and proved a force there as well, taking the championship in 1992. Advertisement - Page continues below McRae purchased this chassis at some point thereafter and used it as a Course Car throughout the Colin McRae event stages in '98. Unfortunately, it caught on fire while he was toiling away in the garage one day, and moved it on. Its current owner of 16 years has since completed a full restoration job and made a few mechanical changes along the way. These include an ECU upgrade, a new power distribution module and fresh differentials. Not a bad way to spend £250,000, we reckon. Top Gear Newsletter Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Success Your Email*
Scottish Sun
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
Cult favourite car brand teases return of legendary performance model – four years after it was discontinued
While no details have been confirmed, a brief design sketch shown to a Japanese audience has sparked speculation RETURN OF THE KING Cult favourite car brand teases return of legendary performance model – four years after it was discontinued Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SUBARU has hinted at the return of a hugely popular model - some four years after it was discontinued. While the Japanese carmaker is best known today for its practical SUVs and estates like the Crosstrek, Forester and Outback, it still holds legendary status among petrolheads. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 3 Cult brand Subaru has hinted at the return of a hugely popular model - four years after it was discontinued Credit: Matt Richardson 3 A brief design sketch shown to a Japanese audience by their Chief Technology Officer has sparked speculation Credit: Subaru 3 Subaru captured the imaginations of a generation with its success in the World Rally Championship Credit: AP:Associated Press That's because Subaru once dominated the World Rally Championship in the 1990s and early 2000s. With the likes of Colin McRae and Richard Burns at the wheel, Subaru took six WRC titles in the Constructors' and Drivers' champions between 1995 and 2003, cementing the blue-and-gold Impreza WRX STI as an icon. It meant the brand's high-performance Impreza model - which was later renamed the WRX STI - became a big hit and remained in production in various forms until 2021, when Subaru officially discontinued it in Europe, the UK, and North America. The decision at the time was driven by tightening emissions regulations and Subaru's shift in focus towards hybrid and electric models. But that might not be the end of the road for the WRX STI. Earlier this month, Subaru's Chief Technology Officer, Tetsuro Fujinuki, announced that the brand would reveal a new model at the Japan Mobility Show in October. While he didn't confirm any details, a brief design sketch shown to the audience sparked speculation that the WRX STI - or perhaps some kind of spiritual successor - could be returning. According to Japan's Car Watch, Fujinuki said the new model would 'make good use of our current technological assets' and hinted at 'an even more cutting-edge car.' For now, though, there's no official confirmation of a global WRX STI comeback - and certainly nothing concrete for UK fans to get excited about just yet. Still, with a teaser hint like this, Subaru clearly hasn't forgotten its motorsport roots. A brief history of the Mazda MX-5 This comes as Skoda recently showed off a radical, retro-futurist look for the classic Favorit hatchback - a beloved motor that ran from 1987 to 1995. The Volkswagen-owned marque says they've 'drawn inspiration from the brand's rich history to create a modern interpretation' of the little motor, which was once a regular on UK roads.
