During the development of his Escort MkII McRae talked with Dave and Julie Plant of DJM Motorsport about the problems he had driving other manufacturer’s cars whilst under contract. Building a McRae car would solve that, and so the R4 project was born. The body, designed by Tom Webster and Keith Burden, used some Ford Ka components for the passenger cell, and was manufactured in lightweight composites.
It clothed a strong but light steel chassis and safety cell, designed by Dave at DJM, which supported double-wishbone suspension, fourwheel-drive and a Millington engine. Although it is road legal the R4 was designed to be used in a variety of motorsports.