March 30, 2026 — In the world of elite rallying, more information usually equals more speed. But for Max McRae, the rising star of the British Rally Championship (BRC), the key to unlocking the full potential of his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 wasn’t adding data—it was deleting it.
As McRae prepares for his 2026 title charge, he’s leaning into a “New-Retro” approach to his pacenotes that feels intimately familiar to anyone who grew up with a PlayStation controller in their hands.
The ‘Colin McRae Rally’ DNA
Like many drivers of the digital generation, Max’s foundation was built on the legendary Colin McRae Rally games. His system follows the classic 1-to-6 grading (where 6 is a flat-out flyer). But as he transitioned from the front-wheel-drive Rally4 cars to the monstrous, four-wheel-drive Rally2 machines, the notes became a bottleneck.
“It just became a bit too complex,” McRae admitted. “I just wasn’t taking in the information.”
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The Cambrian Gamble: Revolutionizing the Note
In a move that many called “brave”—and others called “insane”—McRae and co-driver Cameron Fair decided to overhaul their entire communication system during the final round of 2025: the Cambrian Rally.
Not only were they rewriting their “language,” but it was also Max’s first time behind the wheel of the latest-spec Škoda. The goal? Strip away the “fluff” and return to the simplified system his uncle Colin used to dominate the WRC in the 90s.
The result? A maiden BRC victory.
Simplifying for Speed in 2026
The “new” system ditches complex descriptive terms like “flat” in favor of simple plus and minus modifiers. This allows Max to process the road ahead at the blistering speeds required for a Rally2 car without his brain hitting a “data ceiling.”
“You can get so carried away with adding information sometimes,” McRae noted. By going back to basics, he’s found the mental bandwidth to focus on pure physics.
As the 2026 BRC season kicks off, the eyes of the rally world are on the McRae name once again. It turns out that sometimes, the fastest way forward is to look back at the simple lessons learned on a virtual stage decades ago.
