The Colin McRae R4 Performance Car was unveiled last week at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This new car is meant to be a true racer, suitable for rallying, rally cross, circuit racing and ice racing. Developed by 1995 World Rally Champion - Colin McRae, it will be available to customers in the first quarter of 2007.

“The Goodwood Festival of Speed is a paramount symbol of the passion for motor racing”, says Colin McRae, former Rally World Champion and the man behind this project. “I could not imagine a better stage for the first static display of a car which is being conceived exclusively for the pleasure of driving, to accommodate the wishes of professional and amateur drivers and to reignite the passion in motorsport fans around the world”.

The challenge of conceiving a new performance car from a blank sheet of paper started in January 2005, when Colin first imagined building a car that would incorporate the facets able to excite both the driver and the spectator. Six months later the project was launched and by the end of 2005, after much background research and planning, the final specification of the car was finalized.

Today, Colin McRae and his team are proud to show to the world the prototype of their future car for the first time. The Colin McRae R4 will be completed in the forthcoming weeks and will undergo a test and development program between August and December of this year. One of Colin’s first objectives is to achieve the highest degree of reliability and to minimize the running costs in comparison to the modern WRCs. The commercialization of the car will start in early 2007.

Designed by Colin McRae and Dave Plant and built by DJM Race Preparation, the McRae R4’s chassis is based on a steel safety cage with carbon paneling front and rear and a steel-covered cockpit area. Suspension consists of twin wishbones with Proflex dampers. The body styling has been designed by Keith Burden and Tom Webster.

The engine is a normally-aspirated 4 cylinder, 2.5-liter Millington Diamond Engine producing 350 bhp. The transmission will be ensured by a six-speed gearbox, manual or semi-automatic, and by mechanical front and rear differentials with the option of mechanical or active central differential. The car can be produced in either 2 or 4 wheel drive formats.

The price tag of around $240,000 for the "base" model clearly indicates that the R4 was not made for the average enthusiast.