Rally driving debut for daughter of tragic world champion Colin McRae

Hollie will make her competitive driving debut in the Roger Albert Clark Rally

When Hollie McRae steps into the rally driving seat next week, the weight of expectation from her family's legacy will be unavoidable.

"I feel like I'm carrying my dad alongside me," the 26-year-old says.

Hollie is about to make her rally driving debut - 30 years to the day since her father Colin McRae became world rally champion.

"There is going to be a lot of emotions, something I don't necessarily think I've grasped the full gravity of yet," she says.

Hollie was just eight years old when her father died, at the age of 39, when a helicopter he was piloting crashed near their home in Lanark.

It was a tragedy that rocked their family and the motorsport world.

Young Hollie with her world champion father Colin McRae

Hollie's five-year-old brother, Johnny, and family friends Graeme Duncan, 37, and six-year-old Ben Porcelli were also killed in the crash on 15 September 2007.

For years afterwards, her mother avoided rally events and it disappeared from young Hollie's life.

But the pull of motorsport became stronger and stronger as the years went on.

"The opportunities kept coming my way and I got tired of turning them down," she says.

"I sat and had a long reflection and thought the only reason I'm saying no is because I'm worried what other people think.

"That's really not a way to live your life."

It's a philosophy that would have chimed with her dad Colin.

His bold motto, "if in doubt, flat out" made McRae a firm favourite with fans.

Colin McRae became world champion in November 1995

Colin McRae became the first British and youngest ever winner of the World Rally Championship on 22 November 1995.

At the wheel of his Subaru Impreza, he was famed for flashy and fearless driving.

McRae even had a massively popular video game, which brought rallying to a wider audience in the 2000s.

Hollie will make her own competitive driving debut at Kielder Forest in Northumberland in the Roger Albert Clark (RAC) Rally.

It is described as "the longest and toughest" special stage rally in the UK.

The five-day event celebrates a bygone era in rallying - with vintage cars of 1960s, 70s and 80s tearing through forests in England, Scotland and Wales.

Colin McRae was famous for his flashy and fearless driving

Hollie will be behind the wheel of a Mini rally car.

"If you'd told me a couple of months ago I wouldn't have believed that it was going to be happening," she says.

"This opportunity to compete in the Mini challenge came up and I thought absolutely, why not.

"They sent over the calendar and it turns out the only weekend I was free was the RAC.

"So I've well and truly gone in head first, but it will be a good experience."

Hollie, at Knockhill racing circuit, has been drawn back to the world of motorsport

The Roger Albert Clark Rally won't be Hollie's first taste of high speed, she comes comes from an acclaimed Scottish motorsport family.

As well as dad Colin, her grandfather Jimmy McRae was British champion five times in the 1980s and her uncle Alister competed at the top level. Her cousin Max is now driving too.

But Hollie had not planned to follow in their footsteps.

She studied to be a teacher and, for a time, was happy enough teaching a class of primary school pupils in Glasgow.

Hollie and grandfather Jimmy, celebrating his 50 years of rallying in 2025

Hollie also has skills in front of the camera, which she picked up while blogging about her university life on Youtube and social media.

After being given the chance to film at a rally event, she decided to abandon teaching in 2022 to focus on motorsport media and presenting.

She set up her own media firm and became a familiar face at rally events.

It seems now like it was a matter of time before she entered a car.

In September this year, she sat as co-driver for her 82-year-old grandfather at the International McRae Rally Challenge at Knockhill.

The event marked her dad's success, 50 years of rallying for Jimmy and 30 years since her uncle Alister triumphed in the British Rally Championship.

Hollie says her mother Alison is "quite excited" as she moves into the driving seat, but this took some getting used to.

She says: "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 is a familiar face at rally events behind the presenters' microphone

Hollie will partner with Jon Armstrong, one of the FIA European Rally Championship's top drivers, as her co-driver for the Mini challenge on Saturday 22 November.

It will be exactly 30 years since her dad became world champion.

"There are going to be a lot of emotions, and something I don't necessarily think I've grasped the full gravity of yet," she says.

"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.

"If ever I do anything in relation to the sport I feel like I'm carrying my dad alongside me.

"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."