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The problem with that is that to even get into a half-decent car in F1 you need to be part of a driver stable (Red Bull Development, Ferrari Development, McLaren Young Driver, Gravity or Mercedes) or you need to win or be extremely competitive in GP2.

Gaara and I discussed this in the F1 RDT a few weeks ago. There are so few opportunities for anyone not in one of these programmes it almost isn't worth it.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

I completely agree with you. I just wish I had endless funds to donate to talented drivers who aren't fortunate enough to be in one of those groups, or have a super rich daddy.

I find btcc moderately enjoyable, but trying to make others look silly more so.

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Use the Brands thread

Andy Neate's gone on the rampage on the BTCC forum, quite correct too



"Okay with respect to those mentioned Chris James, John george, Liam etc I'm astounded to have my calibre of driving asssociated with these guys. You have your right to your opinion but it shows how uneducated it is. Are you really serious?

My team mate TOC an immensely talented, respected & experienced touring car driver up until the weekend hasn't had any better results than me in our car, with exception to a few occasions where TC has used his 10 years andexperience and wrung the neck to get some results during the season in a car that has simply not been what we expected or had hoped. The past two race weekends on average I have been the fastest AON driver, at the Rock in quali and in race one & two. At Brands in race trim, I had the fastest Indy lap overall and again the fastest driver in our team in race 2 & 3. In race 3 ok I choaked with 2 laps to go as finishing on the podium in one of the toughest touring car series in the world isn't easy, the realisation I had driven my heart out and I had it in the bag got to me and I made a mistake! However I'll pick myself up and learn from it.

Bottom line I've proved I can run at the front with the very best, and when things are good be a match for my experienced highly talented team mates, I'm nowhere near the finished article but my speed and potential is there to see unless you just choose not too because that is your opinion or you just choose not to look at any of my positives..... Again the aforementioned probably could not achieve the results and perfomamces I put in, in there own respective teams and to put me in their bracket in a nonsense and again as a trend on this ****** forum an insult.

Frankly it is upsetting and annoying to read some of the **** on these forums sometimes because simply some of you are just insulting and don't understand the sport nor have an appreciation for what goes on. This Star Donkey thing is a good example, yes its a bit of fun but it always gets out of hand and again transpires into insults. OK I missed that chance to acheive that massive acheivement at the weekend but one day it will come and then the results in a machine capabel of acheiving the best will come like the preverbial bus I'm sure. Top names in the sport have reminded me of this after the weekend because each and every one of them have been there. Some of these big names came see my potential and it's their opinion I care for. Everyone has told me it's that first one is the hardest but to hear some of these guys say to me they can see it will come means a lot.....

I know what I am capable of, so do the team and so do the people that know me and have watched me win races many times over the long hard slog it has taken me to achieve my goal of making it to the BTCC in the first place. Am I a Jason Plato, Matt Neal etc etc. No quite obviously not but I have the potential to maybe achieve a small slice of what they have. As do the majority of the others on that grid, nearly every one of the drivers in the BTCC are great fast drivers. Forget the money side of things as although the BTCC is on a smaller scale that is the same process right upto F1, nearly every driver in that series is a championship or race winner in the junior ranks and deserves their shot.

If not this year I will get on that podium and win a race in the BTCC. First of all I'll need to beat the other 29 drivers out there, but as a few of you lot on here think.....Ahh that's a doddle, ****** Donkeys!! "

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Well, that was rather angry.

I do remember seeing Neate winning races in other club championships a few years ago, so he's not completely useless. I suppose there have been occasions where he's shown pretty good pace and failed to get a result out of it, but I was more worried about some of his stupid moves. At Donington he spun a car on the straight, nearly turned someone down the Craner's, and then crashed heavily going under the bridge. I do think he'll progress into someone who can score points regularly, but I believe Chilton and Onslow-Cole are still a class above.

As for the original argument, of course I would be racing in the BTCC if I had the money but not the talent of the top guys. You need underdogs like Chris James and John George. If they're keeping someone really good out of a seat then that's another argument, but if they're funding their own drives then good luck to them. James is on a shoe string budget with zero testing miles so I expect he'll get better if he comes back next year. And I think Lea Wood performs fantastically in that ancient Integra. One look at that team's transporter compared to the Honda/Chevy ones will tell you how little money they're racing with!

Neate's got a point and fair play for putting some people in their place, but it does show he's a little insecure if he's getting upset at the ramblings of a bunch of keyboard warriors.

If he is comparable with anyone, I'd say it was Phil Bennett. A reasonable racer who managed to get a few decent results but carelessly wreckless on his day.

Neate being as classy as ever.

I wonder what the chances of Honda and Chevy bringing in another car each for Silverstone. Thomson in a Honda and Menu or Huff in the Chevy?

Currently, we have 30 cars, so full grid.

What would happen if we had 33 cars, and then Plato fails to set a time in qualifying? *angel smiley*

They'll withdraw one of the other Chevy's obviously

Only Chuck Norris would be able to save all of humanity from Plato's rage

Anyone going to Silverstone? Kind of tempted now.

Nope. Korean Grand Prix + Uni work.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Oh yeah. BTCC normally avoids F1 weekends. I may be able to get a hospitality pass though, and don't want to turn that chance down.

Yeah thats quite cool

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Aren't you a fresher? You're not supposed to do any work until half-way throught the 1st term at the very earliest!

Isn't work for the people that get a First?

Well yeah, but I don't wanna get behind at all.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011