TBK-Light.com

Ehh, as much as I hate Plato, I hate that really.

I was worried for him until he got out, then the hatred resumed as normal

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

I don't get the hate for Plato.

If you'd followed the BTCC for as long as some of us have, you would get it. He is the cartoon villain of the BTCC, the Dick Dastardly as it were.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

And I think he knows it and plays up to it most of the time.

And I think TOCA know it and play up to it too, otherwise you can't explain why he gets away with some of the stuff he does yet they clamp down hard on others....

Back in the Super Touring Era I did get the impression he wasn't as talented as the rest of them though (and even the other relic from that era, Matt Neal, is going to end up with double the amount of titles with him before too long and he was running around in a privateer entry back then)

As fun as all the hate is, him and Neal provide a vital role in the BTCC, publicity wise, and I don't think the series would be quite the same without them.

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RIP Birmingham Wheels: here's some of the crash videos I recorded when it was there:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaKIE ... 5t9d5PvoHA

Twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/paulhadsley

It's absolutely embarrassing that that is how people that compete in a professional championship act...they'd shit a chicken if they saw what it's like to travel across the US.

If petrol cost the same over there as it did over here...they'd be shitting chickens too.



A lot of it's residual from when he was being promoted as the face of the series (hosting TV shows etc.) despite getting his arse kicked on a regular basis by Neal and Giovanardi.

And then there was 2011...

But since then he's been kind of alright.

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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.

Average cost of diesel is £1.40 in the UK, which if you convert it over to dollars and multiply it by four(imperial gallon) you get $8.56/gal for diesel.

Average cost of a gallon(US gallon, so 3.7l) of diesel in the US is $3.91/gal.

England is ~400mi tall and ~300mi wide, if we were to put that into perspective on the US, 400 miles is the distance from New York City to the middle of Maine, and 300 miles is NYC to the Canadian border straight up. Say we double the mileage for the US due to the just about double in the cost of the price of diesel...and you've got basically the size of Texas. The run from Bristol to Fontana then back to Martinsville(which they do in three consecutive weeks in March/April) would be the rough equivalent of a BTCC team traveling to ten rounds...and that's if all of them were on the opposite sides of the country from one another.

So again, for them to be bitching and moaning about the travel up to Scotland is simply unacceptable for a professional series.

While the price of petrol / gas per gallon (or litre) is very different between USA and UK, you cannot look at it from the currency exchange perspective. It doesn't work like that. In both countries it is a cost of living and relative to your monthly outgoings.

When I left the UK I had a 3.0l turbo diesel Mercedes which cost 70-80 quid to fill up. I know nowadays that is closer to the 100 quid mark. In the US I have a 2.4l Honda *yawn* and it costs anywhere between $60-80 depending on where in the state I go and what time of the month it is. That difference (ignoring the exchange rate) isn't as big as most in the UK believe.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Race 3 in full:

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That MG held up really well...

- Andrew Jordan received two penalty points for an incident relating to driving standards in race two
- Gordon Shedden received three penalty points and a £500 fine for an incident relating to driving standards in race three

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

At least that's consistent with the penalties at the front. I agree that the younger drivers seen to get harsher penalties though.

Edit: As for Jason, it isn't about 1 incident, it's about everything he's ever done in the series. Yeah there's examples where Shedden and Neal (and others) have been assholes, but Jasons an asshole about *everything*. When he had the best car, he moaned. When he won races, he moaned. When he qualified pole he moaned. When he got hit, he moaned. When he hit people, he moaned. When he was given special treatment, he moaned.

Jason deliberately wrecked another car under SC, whilst marshals were on circuit - something which should've had him banned from the entire race weekend - and he got no penalty, nothing. The same year, someone accidentally tapped him into an off at Brands, in an admittedly silly move, and were DQ'd. Jason was winning races in an MG that he claimed was junk, whilst having the Hondas pegged back to the point they were outdragged by the old out of date Honda, and STILL claiming things were stacked towards the Hondas. And the problem isn't he's done this a few times- it's that he's done this EVERY YEAR. For over a DECADE. And not only this, it's pretty clear most real fans hate him, but BTCC love him because he's marketable, so the commentators give him virtual blow jobs every week, and he gets his face plastered over everything, despite not even being THAT good. Yeah all this talk about how amazing he is, but in reality, he isn't that good. There is always somebody better than him. There is always somebody who is willing to bitch slap him around every circuit in the UK. Whether it is Neal, Shedden, Muller, Menu, Thompson, or Gio-fucking-vanardi. There is always somebody better. And Jason HATES that.

I won't really agree with cheering because someone just crashed. But if it's going to happen, it's going to happen to Jason. Short of Ant Davidson, he is the most self centred, stuck up, whining, cheating bastard that I've ever watched in a race car. That post might be a little extreme, but it's exactly why we can't stand Jason Plato. It isn't one incident. It isn't two. It isn't even 10 incidents. It's a decade of being an asshole. And everybody likes seeing the asshole get fucked. Pun intended.

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theRacingLine.net
SportsCarArchives.com

Yes, because NASCAR runs on similar budgets to the BTCC.

I don't know of any American series with similar amounts of money in it as the BTCC which goes across the entire country.

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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.

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. California in the West, Florida in the South East. Probably as far apart as they can get. And some pretty small budgets in the mid-back of the field.

And if driving to Scotland has a major impact on your fuel budget as a racing team, you might want to reconsider your position of being in charge of finances for a racing team. I know some random guys who drive from as far south as London to Knockhill every year for the race. If they can manage it, I'm pretty sure a racing team can. If they can't, then go get an extra local sponsor for £500 for a single weekend. You might just cover the costs.

ellis, what race are you referring too where JP wrecked another car under SC? I'm racking my brains but coming up with squat.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Knockhill. He spun a car out on the exit of the hairpin whilst coming to the SC (it should be remembered that at Knockhill, the SC lives on the exit of the hairpin, so they were approaching the SC whilst he did it). It might be a different year than I remember, but he certainly done it.

I think I remember this incident, but since its Plato it could be a completely different incident I remember.

Jordan's punishment means he has a six place grid penalty for Knockhill R1.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

The only incident I remember like this is when Plato in a Seat got spun out by a Vauxhall on the exit of the hairpin. But the thing is, he's been involved in so many incidents it is hard to remember each and every one.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Nah that's a different one. IIRC with that one he barged a Vauxhall onto the kerb, and the Vauxhall didn't lift and forced its way back onto the track, which spun him left. In the other one, iirc, he spun a car to the right, which ended up on the tri-oval grass.