., over crest, into hard ., caution dip, . posted by anthill at 6:43 PM on September 15, 2007 [1 favorite]
I don't know the man, but now, here we are, should say something. damn. Uhm.., fly better? Don't involve your children in helicopter expiriments? posted by longsleeves at 6:45 PM on September 15, 2007
Where do you get that this was an experiment? posted by psmith at 6:51 PM on September 15, 2007
.
...and 6 left into the great beyond...
damn, two WRC greats in as many years. posted by spish at 6:58 PM on September 15, 2007
On a day like today, I'm glad I'm not a Codemasters shareholder.
They called it DiRT. Is that a plus, or would more people have bought it now in honor of Colin? posted by graventy at 9:23 PM on September 15, 2007
well done mods, you delete my comments because they have offensive words, but you keep comments which make light of the death of a child from epimprrph or whatever the fuck his name is.
please pm me so we can discuss. posted by Frasermoo at 9:23 PM on September 15, 2007
If I honestly thought there was an afterlife, I'd picture McRae and Burns trading war stories up there on their cloud.
MetaFilter has PMs? I didn't know it was running on phpBB.
I never fail to be amazed at how many race drivers and loved ones of same are seriously injured or killed in helicopter crashes, given that relatively few are seriously injured or killed during the actual racing. Being an auto racer means spending a lot of time in helicopters and light planes being flown hither and yon, to get you where you need to be while avoiding the traffic of people going to see you race (or leaving afterwards.)
Also: . posted by davejay at 9:36 PM on September 15, 2007
May I reassure the less literate MetaFilterers that Colin McRae is NOT the same as Canadian Comedy God Colin Mochrie, because, well, pronunciation, you know.
And the only thing worse than imagining a 5-year-old child in a crashing helicopter is imagining a helicopter crashing INTO a 5-year-old child. Now I have to stare at a pissing elephant for 15 minutes to wash that out of my mind. Here's hoping that someday epimorph someday successfully morphs into something human.
God that's terrible. I remember seeing him in the xgames the past two years and he really stole the show both times, even though he crashed out in both events. He sounded like a great sportsman and a great guy. posted by mathowie at 9:48 PM on September 15, 2007
...how many race drivers and loved ones of same are seriously injured or killed in helicopter crashes, given that relatively few are seriously injured or killed during the actual racing.
Crashes could be attributed to overconfident pilots, but there's a lot more crash protection built into a rally car and it's basically moving in only two dimensions. If there's a major mechanical failure, at least a car has some opportunity to brake or coast to a stop. Not so on all counts with an inherently less stable and more fragile rotary aircraft.
About the xgames performances mathowie mentions: you should really see the YouTube videos of one of them. With a huge lead, McRae rolled his Impreza in the final turn—then CONTINUED DRIVING AS IF NOTHING HAPPENED and finished only tenths of a second behind the eventual winner, who was then shown freaking out at the awesome move McRae had just pulled.
Nicky Grist was in that car, by the way; the two had a brief period where Grist was no longer navigating for McRae, just before McRae left the WRC earlier this decade. Seeing the two together in that xgames heat, even though it was on American television where it undoubtedly went unappreciated by most of the audience, was like a piece of history lifted from his driver's championship seasons. It also gave us a brief hope that we could one day see McRae back in WRC.
The BBC still seems to be reporting McRae as "feared dead" as opposed to "dead," though it appears all but obvious that McRae was on the helicopter (there is no doubt that all the people in the helicopter were killed). Damned if there isn't part of me that fervently wishes "feared dead" means "not really dead, it's all just a big mistake." posted by chrominance at 2:01 AM on September 16, 2007 [1 favorite]
. posted by sebas at 2:29 AM on September 16, 2007
I think people involved in rallying should avoid helicopters for a while if they make anything of this coincidence:
Subaru rally team chief Dave Richards and his wife survived unhurt when their helicopter crash-landed in Essex.
Police said Mr Richards, 55, and his wife, Karen, "walked out of the wreckage" near North Weald Airfield and were treated for shock by paramedics. posted by knapah at 4:43 PM on September 16, 2007
Graventy, the game was released as Dirt in the US but had McRae's name on the European versions. It was really the 4th or 5th iteration of the Colin McRae Rally games that have been out on PC and consoles for the past 5+ years.
Very sad. posted by daHIFI at 9:46 AM on September 17, 2007
posted by gergtreble at 5:36 PM on September 15, 2007