I was lucky enough to spend yesterday taking Autocar’s long term Impreza STi up to Prodrive’s test track in order to be one of 1086 Subarus that spelt out the name of the late, great Colin McRae. 
The event did justice to the memory of the rally ace, who died in a helicopter crash on September 15 last year along with his five-year old son Johnny, and two family friends.
Everything turned up, from a mock ‘555’ Subaru Vivio through to McRae’s own 1996 WRC ‘555’ Subaru Impreza.
The real success story was the atmosphere over the whole weekend. It would be too easy to tarnish the gathering with the Impreza’s pervading reputation, but in truth there were hundreds of families and every kind of McRae fan from every generation. 
There are very few, if any, other sectors of the motoring world that have the same sense of community and loyalty you get with Subaru, and it really showed at the weekend when an event that started off as a small convoy organised by a Scottish Subaru club ballooned into a national, record-breaking event.
Everyone was respectful, and most importantly everyone had fun celebrating the too-short life of one of the most popular rallying figures ever.
Subaru, Prodrive, the McRae family and the event’s organisers have every reason to be proud of their achievement. 