Jason Plato

[sme]

Hei Guys,
Just been re-watching the BTCC year by year and I was just wondering why Plato did not have a drive on 2002?
Even if the team thought he was a complete ****** surely they would want him as the defending champion.
Cheers
Paul

[Kicking-back]

Relations with the team broke down to a point where neither decided it was a good idea to continue.

And there weren't many suitable alternative drives available at the time.

He did some ASCAR racing in 2002 instead.

[luke]

And I belive he had sucsess.

[acf8181]

think it all came about cause he started bouncing off his team mates a bit too much...same with phil bennett in the egg astra.

[touringlegend]

And I think he wanted a career change (to NASCAR) after winning the BTCC. Good idea, big bucks but it never happened.

[touringcarnut]

I think VX were always going to side with their golden boy Muller, I know John Cleland thought he was favoured, I wouldn't be surprised if Plato and Thompson feel the same way.

[sme]

I don't see what's so special about Muller - he got his butt kicked by Plato in 2001, Thompson in 2002 (Thompson managed to kick Mullers butt while doing rallying as well) and in 2003 it took some mechanical misfortune with Thompson and some shoving from Muller for him to get there.

[touringcarnut]

In fairness to Muller, he suffered mechanical failure in the last meetings of both 2001 (a fire under the car) and 2002 (suspension damage).

[sme]

But the reason he suffered that fire under the car was that he ran off the track twice and damaged the car.

[touringcarnut]

But remember that Plato ran off the track numerous times in the same race, and managed to survive all the incidents without sustaining damage, Muller wasn't so lucky. I think it was more bad luck than anything else for Muller.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not Muller's greatest fan by a long shot, but he has had his fair share of bad luck.

[Dani Filth]

Muller is just as good in touring car racing as James or Jason . but he's better then anyone in ice racing

[sme]

Ice racing's for wimps anyway - you guys should come down here to Western Australia and try some of this pea gravel we have here.
Cheers
Paul

[Dani Filth]

ups .. Alain Prost is a wimp .

[acf8181]

Originally posted by Dani Filth
ups .. Alain Prost is a wimp .

well, he's scared of the rain! lol (can't blame him mind, the lack of visibility in single seaters when in a pack is unbelievable - you can't imagine unless you've done it)

[Dani Filth]

i don't think he's scared . just not stupid

[Spinner]

Jason is having a one off drive in the Volkwagen Caddy at Brands Hatch on 2nd/3rd of October.
Full story on www.vw-cup.co.uk

[BootsOntheSide]

I'd imagine that statistically there are more injuries/fatalities per lap completed in the dry than in the wet. The only major crash I can think of as being caused by rain (in F1; this has gone a bit off-topic) was Pironi's.

[Andy Metcalf]

Originally posted by sme
Ice racing's for wimps anyway - you guys should come down here to Western Australia and try some of this pea gravel we have here.
Cheers
Paul

Have you watched much Ice Racing Paul? If not you should go and watch it LIVE and then see what is special about Muller. Besides, I did hear that Muller might be competing in that Bathurst race in Oz, so you will get to see him drive yourself.

[Les]

went and saw Yvan race in Paris - the car control shown was amazing. Wouldn't mind a second visit this winter - anyone got a schedule?

[NoahsGirl]

Here's the reason straight from Jason:

In 2001 Jason became British Touring Car Champion, winning eight races from seven poles. But it wasn’t quite as straightforward as that, for the titanic battle for the title was between Jason and his team-mate, Yvan Muller, and that didn’t always fit comfortably with team politics, particularly as there was no quarter given by either driver on the circuit. Nor should there have been says Jason.

“It was just a case of the best two drivers in the best two cars racing for the title, and it was hard fought,” admits Jason. “It was like Prost and Senna racing at McLaren – it’s what people want to see, real wheel-to-wheel stuff. There is no point being nice to everyone if you are doing all you can to beat them, life just isn’t like that. I left at the end of the season sticking two fingers up to the team, which was a shame because what was important, and still is, was that I had won the title and I’ll always be extremely grateful to the people at Vauxhall and proud that I won the Championship.”