DUKE TO PRODUCE OFFICIAL DVD OF McRAE TRIBUTE EVENT

Isle of Man firm Duke, the world-leader in motorsport on DVD, has been asked to produce the Official Review of the 2008 Colin McRae Stages Rally.

Duke will work with the rally organisers, the McRae Vision trust and BBC Scotland – which will televise the event – to create the most comprehensive programme possible about what promises to be a truly remarkable event.

The Colin McRae Stages Rally Official Highlights DVD is expected to feature more than four hours of footage, including high speed action from the stages – making use of 15 in-car cameras – as well as a wealth of bonus features, such as interviews with the legendary names appearing at the September 29th event and a close-up look at some of the historic cars competing, including the Ford Escort Mk2 Colin McRae rallied in the Isle of Man in 2007.

It has been a year since McRae, the first British driver to claim the World Rally Championship, was killed in a helicopter accident along with his son Johnny and two family friends.

Many of the world’s greatest rally drivers wanted to pay tribute to 1995 World Champion McRae and the stages of the annual Colin McRae Stages Rally in Perthshire were chosen as the perfect venue to celebrate an amazing driver, and a staggering career.

The line-up of drivers reads like a who’s who of rally greats, including World Champions Bjorn Waldegaard, Hannu Mikkola, Ari Vatanen and Stig Blomqvist, Colin’s dad Jimmy, a five-times British Champion, and brother Alister. There’s also US rally and motocross star Travis Pastrana, British legends including Malcolm Wilson and Russell Brookes, current WRC competitor Matthew Wilson, McRae’s former co-drivers Nicky Grist and Derek Ringer.

Plus McRae’s former Subaru boss David Richards will be back in the co-driver seat, alongside Vatanen – reuniting the 1981 World Rally Championship-winning partnership.

There will be Manx interest among the 230-plus strong driver line-up as Connor Corkill of Douglas and co-driver Howard Allison of Crosby are due to contest the event in their Mk2 Ford Escort.

Duke Managing Director Peter Duke, who has been invited to attend the event, said his company was honoured to be asked to produce the Official DVD Review of the event.

He said:
‘It is a mark of how widely respected Colin was as a rally star and all-round good guy that this event has brought together some of the greatest drivers in the history of World Rallying, all wishing to pay tribute to him in the best possible way.’

‘Bringing together these great names for a full-speed, flat-out rally through five demanding stages is a unique achievement and we are delighted we have been asked to produce the Official DVD Review.’

‘Colin would be especially pleased that nearly all the champions are driving two-wheel-drive cars at the event which carries his name forward.

‘We intend it to be a comprehensive programme capturing all the highlights of the weekend, so alongside all the sideways rally action we’ll have plenty of close-ups of the cars and interviews with all the big names.’

‘We are so pleased to be asked to get involved in this event as Colin will always have a very special place in the hearts of all at Duke. We worked closely with him in the months before his death on what was intended to be the definitive DVD biography. With his family’s agreement the unseen footage we had shot with Colin was released as the only authorised DVD tribute, Colin McRae Rally Legend, and was met with critical acclaim.’

Duke has a global reputation for producing the finest motorsport review DVDs, including the Isle of Man TT, MotoGP, World Superbike, World Rally, World Touring Car and, for more than two decades, the annual review of the Formula One World Championship.

The Colin McRae Stages Rally Official Highlights is due for release in October, priced £16.99 on DVD and will be available from leading video outlets or direct from Duke Video: Tel 01624 640000, fax 01624 640001 or email mail@dukevideo.com. Visit www.dukevideo.com online.