But that wasnt intentional by Plato he was sideways into the chicane anyway, we were sat at the last chicane and saw it, also he apologised after the race and the 2 seemed to be having a bit of banter after the race and joking about which is what i've been wanting to see for a long time
But that wasnt intentional by Plato he was sideways into the chicane anyway, we were sat at the last chicane and saw it, also he apologised after the race and the 2 seemed to be having a bit of banter after the race and joking about which is what i've been wanting to see for a long time
He was sideways into the corner because he was never going to brake until Matt did and he claimed he was having brake problems, which begs the question even more. At least he was honest enough to admit during the interview afterwords that his intentions were to send Matt over the inside of the chicane meaning he would have to lift off and let Neal back through. Seems to me he tried to do this but just tried a bit too hard. 
Don't think I'm trying to say shunting other cars out of the way is acceptable.
Plato is the biggest cheat in BTCC by a country mile, and im sure Rob Collard will be saying the same when it suits him to. Year after year Plato does the same things, usually he's one of the frontrunners in the 'lets cut the Thrux chicane to catch up' charts, and just like he showed when Neal was lined up to pass him he'll do whatever he cant to try and stop you passing, and if that means shoving you off he'll do that.
Neal is heavy handed and agressive with his moves, but he's not a blatent cheater like Plato. Neal will stick his nose into the inside of the corner and use the weight to force his way through. No, its not gentlemanly, but its certainly not downright cheating nor a single-minded intent to shove you off the track nowever blatent it looks and then pass it off as perfectly normal when asked, yet Plato cries like a little girl when someone does the same thing to him!
I also find it quite ironic that if anyone in here had done the same thing that Neal did at the chicane, people here would be in outrage at the fact that they werent given room, and that Collard just turned in despite Neal being there.
Collard actually had the cheek to brake early for the chicane to allow Neal to get a meaningful overlap with Kane because he was looking fast and likely to pass him, and if anything he braked too much because Neal had a good 50% alongside him midway through the chicane even before they were close to turning left for the middle which resulted in contact. He tried to create something to distract Kane and get him off his tail, and i guess he didnt realise he had Matt there with a decent overlap, he certainly didnt drive like he knew there was a car there.
Now, i'll admit i dont mind Matt Neal, i have no particular favouritism to him, but i have a hatred of Plato's cheating ass, especially the fact that he does it and acts so innocent and screams blue murder when someone does something to him (Chilton @ Knockhill in '98 iirc), so anyone who annoys Plato and employs the same tactics on him to get past is alright in my book.
My loyalty is to Gio though, anyone who's had a meaningful stint in the Vaux car since John Cleland in the very late 80s, Neal hasnt (i'd count meaningful as 2yrs+ or had a decent impact in those mid-pack years between Cleland, Muller & Gio).
Im sure everyone's seen it, but this is the difference between the 2 drivers:
Plato: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNtQsIa2Nw
Neal is a cheeky c*nt, Plato is a cheating c*nt. Anyone who believes Neal is worse than Plato wants their eyes testing, and that includes Collard.
Neal is heavy handed and agressive with his moves, but he's not a blatent cheater like Plato. Neal will stick his nose into the inside of the corner and use the weight to force his way through. No, its not gentlemanly, but its certainly not downright cheating nor a single-minded intent to shove you off the track nowever blatent it looks and then pass it off as perfectly normal when asked, yet Plato cries like a little girl when someone does the same thing to him!
I also find it quite ironic that if anyone in here had done the same thing that Neal did at the chicane, people here would be in outrage at the fact that they werent given room, and that Collard just turned in despite Neal being there.
Collard actually had the cheek to brake early for the chicane to allow Neal to get a meaningful overlap with Kane because he was looking fast and likely to pass him, and if anything he braked too much because Neal had a good 50% alongside him midway through the chicane even before they were close to turning left for the middle which resulted in contact. He tried to create something to distract Kane and get him off his tail, and i guess he didnt realise he had Matt there with a decent overlap, he certainly didnt drive like he knew there was a car there.
Now, i'll admit i dont mind Matt Neal, i have no particular favouritism to him, but i have a hatred of Plato's cheating ass, especially the fact that he does it and acts so innocent and screams blue murder when someone does something to him (Chilton @ Knockhill in '98 iirc), so anyone who annoys Plato and employs the same tactics on him to get past is alright in my book.
My loyalty is to Gio though, anyone who's had a meaningful stint in the Vaux car since John Cleland in the very late 80s, Neal hasnt (i'd count meaningful as 2yrs+ or had a decent impact in those mid-pack years between Cleland, Muller & Gio).
Im sure everyone's seen it, but this is the difference between the 2 drivers:
Plato: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNtQsIa2Nw
Neal is a cheeky c*nt, Plato is a cheating c*nt. Anyone who believes Neal is worse than Plato wants their eyes testing, and that includes Collard.
Well said Paul! While that incident should have been avoided by Neal (and to a slightly lesser extent Collard) it was not entirely Neal's fault.
As for Plato vs Neal, I couldn't agree more. I have always hated Plato with a passion, and that Snetterton video has always been the defining one. Neal certainly isn't the cleanest driver, and it is unfortunate that their roles are starting to reverse (Plato is getting a bit cleaner, Neal a bit dirtier) but Plato is still the worst and an enemy of Plato is a friend to me.
Not that I want Plato to leave, this may be a bit pantomime-y but it's fun when you have someone to jeer and shout about. Especially because his lack of driving ability when there is anyone near him always seems to just cost him the title.
E: Do you remember that other incident @ Snet in 2007? Where Plato got all bargy again and knocked Jackson and Gio off, and Neal cleanly zoomed by the lot of them? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGIDianPBBw
E2: Hey, this is fun, have some more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjJmIdyEd0o --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZPxrAGcil0 --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp3m-vQn2d0
This wasn't his dirtiest, but had by far the worst result: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvSYOT_LnS4
How can anyone like the ****?
As for Plato vs Neal, I couldn't agree more. I have always hated Plato with a passion, and that Snetterton video has always been the defining one. Neal certainly isn't the cleanest driver, and it is unfortunate that their roles are starting to reverse (Plato is getting a bit cleaner, Neal a bit dirtier) but Plato is still the worst and an enemy of Plato is a friend to me.
Not that I want Plato to leave, this may be a bit pantomime-y but it's fun when you have someone to jeer and shout about. Especially because his lack of driving ability when there is anyone near him always seems to just cost him the title.
E: Do you remember that other incident @ Snet in 2007? Where Plato got all bargy again and knocked Jackson and Gio off, and Neal cleanly zoomed by the lot of them? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGIDianPBBw
E2: Hey, this is fun, have some more! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjJmIdyEd0o --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZPxrAGcil0 --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp3m-vQn2d0
This wasn't his dirtiest, but had by far the worst result: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvSYOT_LnS4
How can anyone like the ****?
I hatehatehateHATE Plato. Yet I love to have him in the championship, gives me someone to root against. I also hate Matt Neal, almost as much.
Looks like this season I'll be rooting for Jordan and Pinkney, as Turkington isn't arount anymore. There are also a lot of drivers I haven't really made up my mind yet, as I've never watched them race.
Also, do people in Britain understand the color wheel? or use a different one? because basically every car is some combination of red, blue, black, and white. I kinda hate it.
Looks like this season I'll be rooting for Jordan and Pinkney, as Turkington isn't arount anymore. There are also a lot of drivers I haven't really made up my mind yet, as I've never watched them race.
Also, do people in Britain understand the color wheel? or use a different one? because basically every car is some combination of red, blue, black, and white. I kinda hate it.
Those videos really show the problem in BTCC, and I agree that it's almost all limited to Plato and Neal. Without them I think the whole championship could change for the better.
Bump! 
No Gio for the rest of the championship, he's pursuing drives elsewhere, so James Nash is stepping into the Uniq Racing Vectra beside Glew.
No Gio for the rest of the championship, he's pursuing drives elsewhere, so James Nash is stepping into the Uniq Racing Vectra beside Glew.
wrong decision by 888 imo, just because Nash turned up with more money. BTCC is quickly going down the pan it will just be banger racing for the rest of the season at the front.
Glew gone now, too..
Its about time Super2000 was replaced with something more interesting, not just in the UK but worldwide.
plato's very infuriating for me, hate his driving but have to admire his guts ever since i saw just how heavily bandaged he was racing after that fifth gear fire
BTCC seems to be crap this year the front runners are good but the rest just seems a bit of a shambles. Plato is very good and i think it would be nice to see a good old Matt Neal v Plato battle for the title this year because they seem to get on well now.
I think if Rob Collard does anything this weekend in retaliation to Thruxton race 3 then he should be banned because the last time he got his own back on Matt Neal it ended in a big accident for Matt Neal.
I think if Rob Collard does anything this weekend in retaliation to Thruxton race 3 then he should be banned because the last time he got his own back on Matt Neal it ended in a big accident for Matt Neal.
Entertainment
.One of my mates today said 'he thinks the focus is terrible and they shouldn't race it'.
He went on in qualifying and ended up rolling his car at paddock hill bend. Don't Curse!
Would like to see the focus win, Something as usual will go wrong and most probably ruin there whole day.
I'm hunting on Mat Jackson to win this one.
He's in the middle of the field and most threats are the guy's infront.
First crash: Plato and Chilton.
i reckon first crash will be Rob Collard straight up the inside and into the side of someone because he'll be aiming for MN and undoubtedly take out someone else in the process
He's a strange driver, Some day's he's dirty and other times he is a innocent driver.
Anyone got the time of the 2nd race, Hopefully not in the boundaries of mine
Only watched the second race.. rather boring tbh. Championship is definitely not what it was, a good demonstration of this was having the most, in my opinion, average driver in the world on pole for race one.
Yeh that was another fairly tame day's racing. Not helped by the fact Plato is being all conservative now and constantly thinking about the championship, why can't it be like the beginning of last year where he was just going for race wins, that would liven things up again nicely!
It doesn't quite seem the same this year, it seems to have lost something. They showed a quick clip of th 2009 finale at Brands at one point, and seeing about 25 cars coming along the straight with about 10 in possible race-leading positions was just brilliant. But this year doesn't have the same feel to it.
It doesn't quite seem the same this year, it seems to have lost something. They showed a quick clip of th 2009 finale at Brands at one point, and seeing about 25 cars coming along the straight with about 10 in possible race-leading positions was just brilliant. But this year doesn't have the same feel to it.
“We severely underestimated the impact that our brand exposure would have on the demand for certain products and services in the UK market, so to maintain sponsorship with Triple 8 would actually present us with a series of business problems,” a UNIQ spokesman told this week’s AUTOSPORT magazine.
What a load of utter bollocks. I'm assuming they did no research before deciding to sponsor Triple Eight, perhaps they just thought it was a couple of crappy Vauxhalls in a racing series only a few people watched. When infact it's the most successful team, in the most popular touring car series in the UK, with one of the all time great tintop drivers in their lineup!
What a load of utter bollocks. I'm assuming they did no research before deciding to sponsor Triple Eight, perhaps they just thought it was a couple of crappy Vauxhalls in a racing series only a few people watched. When infact it's the most successful team, in the most popular touring car series in the UK, with one of the all time great tintop drivers in their lineup!
so does that quote mean that they are having trouble because demand for their products is too high?
Yep, they can't keep up with the demand, so they have pulled their sponsorship of Triple Eight. I doubt they even did basic research before getting involved with the team, even looking on the teams website would be enough, or going to a shopping center and asking people who Giovanardi is. The first thing you notice on their website is the list of championships they have won...
2001-2004
BTCC Triple Champions
2005
BTCC Manufacturer Champions
2007
BTCC Double Champions
2008
BTCC Triple Champions
2009
BTCC Double Champions
...I would take one look at that and realise just how much exposure my brand would get if I put giant stickers of my logo on the side of their cars.
okay...yes... but surely that can't be the worst problem a business ever had?
oh noes! we are selling all our products! demand is very high! price can be raised slightly to meet demand! profit is maximized, and the business can expand further with extra funds!
or am I missing something?
oh noes! we are selling all our products! demand is very high! price can be raised slightly to meet demand! profit is maximized, and the business can expand further with extra funds!
or am I missing something?
what a complete f*ck up, though i can understand why they've pulled back, plenty of cases of companies / products who've created a demand they couldn't match and by the time they could the delays had wrecked their reputation.
ah, tinvek makes a good point. Now I see how having advertising that is too successful could possibly be a detriment to the company. hadn't thought of that.
this whole situation is really a shame though...
this whole situation is really a shame though...
Just a quick question, Why isn't Turkington racing?
'Founded in 1951, Turkington's is a leading light in the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland. Turkington's are a diverse, multi-skilled company with an annual turnover in excess of £30m, and have been responsible for many prestigious developments in both the Public and Private sector throughout the UK. They employ over 200 people in a wide range of activities, primarily construction related and including manufacturing and property development.'
Thats the company 'Turkington' Btw.
I Know it costs quite a bit to run a touring car for a year, I Heard that Steve neal was asking for £45,000 for a weekend.
But if that's a family business, surely they can fund him for racing.
'Founded in 1951, Turkington's is a leading light in the Construction Industry in Northern Ireland. Turkington's are a diverse, multi-skilled company with an annual turnover in excess of £30m, and have been responsible for many prestigious developments in both the Public and Private sector throughout the UK. They employ over 200 people in a wide range of activities, primarily construction related and including manufacturing and property development.'
Thats the company 'Turkington' Btw.
I Know it costs quite a bit to run a touring car for a year, I Heard that Steve neal was asking for £45,000 for a weekend.
But if that's a family business, surely they can fund him for racing.
Btcc 2010
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