It truly saddens me to report that rally star Colin Mcrae has been killed in a helicopter crash near his home in Lanarkshire. Also killed in the accident were Colin’s young son and his friend, and another adult family friend.

The racing world has lost one of it’s truly great participants. Our thoughts go out to all 3 families.

Source BBC

Here we are, back in The Garage after a few days of R & R and the virtual newspapers have certainly piled up at the door. I’ve got close to a thousand posts to sift through to see what has been going on. As we left, PT had just beaten the crap outta Tag. Silly little French Canadian thought he could rough up the hockey player wannabe. Tie Domi has nothing on our boy Paul. I hear there is some other Canadian racer has pissed off his boss and may never see the inside of an F1 car again. Poor Jacques… Will he ever learn to keep his mouth shut?

Until I get some more reading done, let’s chat about the X-Games. Moto-Cross superstar Travis Pastrana has won overall, after Colin McRae had a roll that Nicky Grist figures cost them a second and a half. Must have been a hell of a quick roller. Word has it that Travis & Colin are heading to Vegas to have a Cary Hart do a commemorative tatty.

Thanks to Flat Over Crest for the killer shot above from the X-Games practice sessions. Be sure to visit them for all the news and tons more great shots by lensman Andrew Harvey.

Over at the Toronto Star’s Wheels section, Nika Rolczewski has a great story about 2 single moms from Ontario who have taken on the challenge of desert racing. But this isn’t just any desert race, the Rallye Aicha des Gazelles is a womens only event. The 1,200 km route took them through dry lake beds, ever moving sand dunes and rock strewn quarries.

These brave women made it through successfully and even managed to impress organizers with some agressive driving along the way. For the full story visit Wheels

For more info about women in motorsport, visit Nika’s great site Racerchicks

For more incredible photos of the rally, visit photographer Luis Moreira

Related: Colin Mcrae to race at Xgames

So you’re a former World Rally Champion who no longer has a full time ride. You’ve discovered that it’s a blast to drive in the occasional one off endurance event, but you still need to pay the bills. What to do? Easy, design and build a multi use racer that is affordable enough that your fans will buy to race themselves.

Enter Colin Mcrae, with his new R4. The R4 is designed to be used as a rally car, road racer, ice racer or just about anything else you might want to do. It can be 2 or 4 wheel drive, with a six speed manual or semi automatic gearbox. It will be powered by a 2.5 liter engine capable of a whopping 350 hp.

Look around Colin’s revamped site, he has a forum, signature clothing and his very own blog. Be sure to watch the in car video of Colin and Nicky Grist in Colin’s old 6R4. Those boys have real big stones!

Thanks to Autoblog for tipping me off to this one.

Image created by the talented folks at Paligap

In a brilliant marketing move, ESPN2 has announced that past World Rally Chmapion Colin McRae & long time co-driver Nicky Grist will team up again for the X-games. Arguably the most recognizable name in rally (in North America) Mcrae is sure to draw more attention to these events. While motocross star Travis Pastrana has been spectacular, it will be interesting to see how his talent stacks up against McRae’s considerable experience. Expect to see the largest crowds ever seen at a North American Rally.

Thanks to Jalopnik for tipping us on this one.

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Nicky Grist