In this episode of The Late Brake Show Jonny chats to BTCC legend Matt Neal about his life in cars; his road cars, Max Power, crashes, motocross, superstitious pants and how his race driving career kicked off. He also gives Jonny a tour of his British Touring Car Championship Team Dynamics workshop.
Matt Neal is a three time BTCC champion and is celebrating his 30th year in British Touring Cars. Since his debut in 1991 driving an E30 M3 BMW Matt has driven over 700 BTCC races. He drove in the famous Super Touring era and was the first independent team to win a race (1999 behind the wheel of a Nissan Primera) and be gifted £250,000 for the accolade.
Matt Neal and Jason Plato have collectively spent over 50 years racing in BTCC. They are veterans, legends and notorious rivals. Over the years much paint has been swapped between the two of them on track, and off-track things have almost come to blows. Even if you don't follow the British Touring Car Championship closely, there is no denying the high octane closeness and unpredictability of this series.
Matt Neal Stats:
BTCC driver 1991-present
Car #25
Races: 719
Wins: 63
Championship wins: 2005, 06 and 2011
Poles: 17
Podiums: 160
Fastest Laps: 52
Current team: Halfords Yuasa Racing
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Filmed and edited by: Mark Hankins - @Inksharkman - InkShark Studio
Thumbnail by: Matt Tarrant Design https://matttarrantdesign.com
Archive 9.5sec of BTCC footage credited to Duke Video ( https://www.dukevideo.com/ ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUCv0cmMG8U&t=24s
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS1z_RrHSBaL20GLFdVolWgGf_M__RBpV
We have contacted Duke video and have used the Duke video clip(s) after careful research into the legalities surrounding 'Fair Use', knowing that we have used the clip(s) in a factual, reportage way to validate the discussion point made by the person(s) involved in the original footage. We have used a short a clip as possible to validate said point. We have also used the clip in the confidence that it will act in a positive transformative way to the original clips; with that in mind, please check out the original 'Duke' YouTube links above and please support them as you are supporting us. Many thanks to Duke and to you, our viewers.
To purchase Duke downloads and dvds: https://www.dukevideo.com/Touring-Car/BTCC
Huge thanks to Matt Neal and the https://teamdynamicsracing.co.uk/ crew. You didn't have to say yes, but you did. This video goes out on Matt's birthday, so happy bday.
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Jonny Smith
Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since '98
Website: http://www.carpervert.com
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jonnycarpervert
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:48 Race stats
1:35 Matt's Dad racing
2:39 Cowboy hat and kart
4:00 Renault 5 Turbo racing
4:23 6 wheeled Jaguar!
4:45 Matt's first car
5:11 Mk1 XR2
5:25 Modified Golf GTi
5:52 Matt's BMW E30 M3
6:46 Matt likes hearses
7:22 Motocross riding
8:08 Starting Rimstock business
8:32 Matt's first race car - Fiesta mk2
10:10 Steve Neal - Matt's Dad
10:35 First Touring cars - E30 M3
10:45 Skyline race car
11:49 BMW M3 E30 for 1992 season
12:10 30 years in BTCC
12:20 Tyre wars
12:42 Winning £250k as an independent race team
13:20 Mental strength & motivation in competing
14:50 Massively superstitious Matt
15:35 Mazda crash story
16:07 LUCKY PANTS
17:00 Huge crash 1994
17:50 Max Power Primera days
18:17 Max Power arsing about
18:55 The winning 1999 Nissan Primera
19:12 BTCC 1995 Mondeo & his baby sons
19:32 Worst race car of his life
20:05 Nascar with Plato!
20:20 Workshop walkabout
20:30 2020 Civic race car
20:59 2021 hybrid race car build
21:44 Henry Neal's Civic race car
23:12 Porsche race car and old piano
24:44 V10 BMW M6
24:18 Not Matt's favourite Type R
24:43 FK8 Civic Type R bare shell
24:57 Lotus Cortina shell
25:12 Matt's Honda NSX
25:58 Honda's biggest problem?
26:18 Outro
26:49 Neal Vs Plato!
#btcc #mattneal #britishtouringcar #nealandplato