BTCC legend Jason Plato life of cars // The Jonny Smith Late Brake Show

In this episode of The Late Brake Show Jonny chats to BTCC legend Jason Plato about his life in cars; his road car choices, crashes, karting, Michael Schumacher trouser ripping, and how his race driving career kicked off. He also takes a trip down memory lane by getting reacquainted with his 1998 Renault Laguna Super Touring car at the Williams Heritage Centre.
Jason Plato is a two time BTCC champion and has raced in British Touring Cars for over 20 years. Since his debut in 1997 driving a Williams Laguna next to Alain Menu, he has driven over 500 BTCC races. He drove in the famous Super Touring era and has raced Chevrolets (championship winner 2010), Vauxhalls, Renaults, Seats, MGs and VWs.
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.
Jason Plato
BTCC driver 1997-present
Car #11
Races: 599
Wins: 97
Championship wins: 2001, 2010
Poles: 51
Podiums: 231
Fastest Laps: 86
Current team: Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing
2 x 10 sec archive clips of BTCC footage credited to Duke Video (www.dukevideo.com/):
• British Touring Car Ch...
• Duke DVD Archive - BTC...
• BTCC Review 2010 - bes...
• Touring Car
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' KZbin 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: www.dukevideo.com/Touring-Car...
Thank you for watching The Late Brake Show Idol Chat series.
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Filmed and edited by: Mark Hankins - @Inksharkman - InkShark Studio
Thumbnail by: Matt Tarrant Design matttarrantdesign.com
Huge thanks to Williams Racing Heritage Centre ( www.williamsheritage.com/ ) for being so accommodating and willing to let TLBS film inside their stunning facility.
And thank you Jason Plato, you potty mouthed cad.
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Jonny Smith
Creative content maker, car presenter & car pervert for hire since '98
Website: www.carpervert.com
Instagram: / jonnycarpervert
Twitter: / carpervert
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:25 Race stats
1:04 Karting as a kid
1:38 Janspeed is Jason's uncle
1:56 Got a kart as a bad debt
2:15 Jason's dedicated parents
3:00 1997 BTCC debut story
5:05 Stalking Frank Williams
8:44 5 mins begging Williams
9:15 Super Touring Lagunas
9:53 Max Power style mods of the '90s
10:25 1998 Laguna racing
10:40 First car?
11:04 Citroen 2CV snapping
11:31 Renault 19 16v CRASH
12:00 Written off twice in 24hrs
13:27 Lancia Integrale
13:45 Integrale crash story
14:03 'Nasty sex'
15:23 Big boy exhaust on 205 GTi
16:00 Ferrari in 1997
17:25 Jason's Porsches
17:38 Regret selling 993 Turbo
18:27 Old race suit
19:00 No hoarding, no collecting
19:40 Race of Champions (RoC) story
20:30 The only trophy kept
21:25 Swapping helmets with Alain Prost
22:09 Karting with Schumacher
22:55 Schumacher ripping trousers off
24:40 Fighting Michael Schumacher
26:45 Outro and subscribe
27:19 Plato Vs Neal!
#btcc #jasonplato #britishtouringcar #nealandplato

[@BigSkyC0untry]

Jason writing a car off because he saw his parents at it haha!

[@benhadden7038]

Aggressively at it

[@boufent]

Brilliant stories

[@daveadams5932]

"It was an awkward drive home" - what a story, great interview

[@SnoodyMcFlude]

Yeah but it was nasty 🤣

[@danrolph1666]

What a great interview ....... On the ITV touring cars documentary narrated by Matt Neal says one day there'll be the same room.....

[@TheBuccaneer1975]

That was some of the most genuinely relaxed & funny motoring chat I've ever seen - bloody brilliant!

[@stevetaylor7650]

Chris Harris is a good chat

[@Teo-cd6gu]

This should have lasted more, so much fun. It ends so abruptly.

[@johnmull59]

Needs Part 2

[@thebadger05]

.....and part 3,could listen all day, good stuff 👍

[@jo_clarke1960]

With you all there, not a fan of a lot of comedy, I like the funny real life stories and it seems the surface had just been scratched here. Damn good laugh.

[@simes205]

Part 4?

[@Rasscasse]

Agreed. I could’ve easily done another hour of this! Bloody golden this is!

[@techevo]

I’m crying with laughter at the Schumacher story, what a great interview, and definitely not long enough!

[@macman6107]

Same here. Hilarious stuff.

[@billphipps8875]

The Schumacher story had me in tears 🤣🤣🤣

[@jaykay5369]

"Hi, my name's Jonny, I know literally EVERY person of note in the motoring industry."

[@Peteish1]

This needs a part 2, 3 and 4!!

[@YORCC]

This is probably the best interview of a racing driver I’ve ever seen. He just talked openly and it’s great to see he is so down to earth. I’ve always admired him from when I played TOCA. All this does is cement him as a favourite of mine

[@johnennis4586]

Toca was my childhood

[@AidanMillward]

The meeting with Frank story I’ve heard ten million times and it’s still golden.

[@adammcgregor4254]

Why was that not longer. I have not laughed that much for ages. Jonnny and Jason brilliant

[@cheromans]

Absolutely! Bloody entertaining

[@goodwood-rc4nx]

seems to be a second part according to my list check the profile

[@nickclarkuk]

I was once took a technical support call from Jason while he was driving fast in a Porsche . Managed to keep it a secret I knew who he was but I was a big fan . No one else in the office had ever heard of him . Met my girlfriend watching Jason racing 10 years ago :). He’s a character .

[@bikerforever68]

The perfect after dinner speaker,I could listen to Jason’s stories all night,an excellent interview and very entertaining,please can we have a part two? 👍🏻

[@paulperry8800]

One of the warmest, funniest, most interesting interviews of a sportsperson I've ever seen! What a great character and definitely a great of British motorsport. 👍

[@paulcronin551]

He has way more to tell... Certainly need a part 2!

[@jamesyu685]

Johnny can you get tiff on an interview? I'd love to see you guys chat

[@bicyclist2]

I had no idea about any of this. All I knew was that he was a host of 5th gear. Very interesting and entertaining. Thank you.

[@fourutubez7294]

This was THE best Plato interview ever !

[@leecherone7601]

Plato is as crazy as a box of frogs. What another absolutely awesome interview. All of our legends are so respectable towards other drivers and it’s great to hear. Plato, Hoy, Menu, Neil, Thompson, all the best of Touring cars. Brilliant interview. Someone should interview you now.

[@rvne3959]

This is honestly a part of motor racing history. Thanks Jonny.

[@500SLR129]

Best interview ever. A very personal, open discussion. I felt like i was in the room with them. The stories were amazing.

[@Musketeer009]

I love Plato. He's a motoring legend (but a danger to trees) and a nice guy to boot. More of this please Jonny.

[@philmcmillan72]

Legend is an understatement for Jason Plato. I used to love watching him get under the skin of Matt Neal. The mind games in the early 2000’s made BTCC a must watch.

[@Sennaxm71]

Indeed lol Loved those Touring car days. Have you seen Jonny's interview with JP and Matt Neil, even though Matt is smiling about things, you can still see that he's doing it through gritted teeth, and isn't as chilled about it as JP is, for JP, it's over, done with, but Neil is such a sore loser about it all.

[@philmcmillan72]

@@Sennaxm71 I have, and totally agree. I don’t have any issues with MN, he is a talented driver but Jason has the edge on mental war games.

[@Sennaxm71]

@@philmcmillan72I don't doubt Neil has some talent, but I used to get comp tickets for Rockingham through the 2000's when it first opened all through til the last race there, I very nearly drove an ASCAR for team Pole Position back then, but broke my wrist the week before testing, so that was that with my racing career. But I had my young son with me right near the pitlane the day Neil was threatening to punch JP, I have never had any time for the bloke since, very unprofessional. And to be honest he's well known down the pitlane for using other cars as his brakes, so not quite as talented, more a bully that does what he does to get anywhere. You don't see him win much at Goodwood in the classic races where talent is needed just to drive the cars on the limit.

[@andolas100]

soo many awesome story's just one after another I could listen to Jason all day long.

[@Hybrid330i]

Thanks Jonny love this. Ive been doing some work on the Alan Menu Renault which is now here in New Zealand. Unfortunately the car was sold to the current owner without the Williams Datalogger. We were called in to reverse engineer the telemetry architecture on the car to get the dash up and running again. I spent many hours under the hood of it and its, even to this day, and engineering Marvel. Its not lost on me this was the last of a homologated road car at its very best.

[@dships6782]

Seriously!! That chat wasn’t long enough!! I was chuckling along at the stories and then you started to wrap it up. More please!!!

[@brettsta72]

Brilliant. How engaging is Jason, the stories are amazing.

[@tedpalmer1537]

Some absolutely amazing stories, I loved hearing about the other side of Schumacher, watching him race you only ever got to see him as a ferocious competitor.

[@steve-ip6qs]

he was an instructor at a rally school in lincolnshire,he was so good at it calm helpful and so much good advice.i remember the prize for best driver was a season driving backed by shell.he was so calm when i spun a cossy at 90 mph on a bend haha,great memory.RALLY DRIVE was the outfit

[@portman2396]

Weird thing to say but these two make me so proud to be English. Just genuine petrol heads. Genuine people. Could listen to both of them all day doing this. Well played Jonny 👏🏻

[@tjpj1919]

'It was nasty, it was aggressive!' Great work

[@sefikempowermentcoachvilla7843]

Cheers Johnny really appreciated this interview it was awesome 👍

[@daveschilkie465]

Jonny thank you for another great video, all of them actually. I have always liked Jason as a presenter and driver, but this video gave me a new perspective and admiration for him. I had no idea that he was so funny.

[@Wallygjs]

That car was brilliant, I spent hours on TOCA on the PC trying to be Jason Plato. Brilliant interview, please do more of these!

[@SpecR22]

Tape the dog up? Never change Jonny 😂

[@iest-o9k]

This one of the best interviews I’ve ever seen

[@endlessrage4062]

I absolutely love Jason, he’s a complete legend, plain and simple. Some of the finest btcc races since the 80’s. His hunger for victory is something to behold. Bravo, sir. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@Fuzzarr]

I have never laughed so much at an interview in my entire life, absolutely brilliant

[@iainmartin1015]

Such a great bloke. Chatted with Jason for ages after installing a stereo and tracking system in that Ferrari 355.

[@Big.kilogram]

I live in Australia and we didn’t get any btcc here unless you had pay-TV. But Jonny this is by far the best interview I have seen of anyone in motoring ever. And one of the best interviews ever. This guy just has immense charisma and is such a great story teller. Made me feel like I have watched him my whole life, which is wild. Just a couple of incredibly interesting and likeable people on camera. Love it.

[@davidorama6690]

Plato is a charming guy. Could listen to him for hours.

[@Jamesmorley1999]

Had a bit of a rubbish day today with computers winding me up. This was really helpful

[@briero]

That was genuinely one of the most entertaining things I’ve seen in a long time! Jason Plato should do stand up. Bloody brilliant 😂👏

[@lesflynn4455]

This interview is an absolute ripper. Thanks for posting Jonny.

[@mikewilson631]

"My inspiration came from Prost's helmet". Best interview line ever.

[@magnustan841]

Always one of my Fifth Gear favourites, was always the most hilarious and his dogfights with Mr Needell were the best!

[@SRT54]

That was fantastic, haven’t laughed so much in ages. I really miss the Fifth Gear team, was watching a KZbin video of the Jag Estate test the other day. Tiff has it sideways, Jonny and VBH wide eyed with fear and Plato sitting in the back pissing himself laughing. Brilliant.

[@gro9465]

Mmm VBH....

[@sarcodiauk2921]

Tremendous interview ....Plato is an amazing character and driver 👍

[@adr0110]

Two of the best interviews I’ve ever seen, roaring my head off with those stories!! Top Man, thanks very much!! Happy Christmas!!

[@thomashemmings3495]

Hooked on every word, give us more

[@rossburrow2813]

Love this, could watch it for hours. I genuinely Laughed out loud, thanks

[@smith4010]

Great video. He’s a bloody legend ! Thank you !

[@TheCloudhopper]

Jason and Jonny together, yes!

[@sleepindragon179]

Wow 2 in a night. Its beginning to feel a bit like Xmas. Thanks Boss

[@jcdowns]

This is the best interview I think I've ever seen!

[@Egoncalves]

Can't get tired of the Farnk Williams' story... Thanks for sharing

[@loose_unit]

Plato is awesome! I love these interview/podcasts! I am going to grab his book now!

[@marekcegielski1873]

Loved this one Jonny - Plato is a top bloke, could have listened to hours of this!

[@marcuscopley131]

The finest story telling I’ve ever had the pleasure of listening to.

[@gson6867]

That's the best interview I've seen of Plato, laughing out loud on bus getting strange looks, only thing was it wasn't long enough. Brilliant.

[@SterlingMess]

What a great yarn-spinner Jason is! I could listen to stories like these for hours. Brilliant stuff, Jonny & Jason - thank you.

[@tonygilchrist9113]

Great stuff Johnny. Very funny & interesting. You can clearly see the good relationship you have with Jason 👍

[@Be22ThePig]

Plato what a legend, watched him every weekend growing up. How hilarious is he, refreshing to see blokes the way they used to be.

[@mgmarrison]

Another great watch. I’m looking forward to part 2!

[@lygase]

Brilliant clip... Great effort from a pair of Fifth Gear OG's right there!

[@christopherwhitehead8946]

THAT, is the best KZbin interview of all time.

[@The_BenboBaggins]

Bloody brilliant! Super Touring BTCC is easily THE best era of motorsport, JP's an absolute legend of that time! Love it!

[@dayleguy3485]

Brilliant, thank you both for sharing.

[@scottaubrey8392]

Jonny, thanks for these videos. You and Chris Harris are keeping me sane right now! I’ve missed Jason on the screen, to me he holds a similar aura as Tiff Needell (Jason is probably the more successful driver) but you really respected his driving ability whilst thrashing cars around a track and reporting on them. We need some more Plato in our lives!

[@readventurekids]

Brilliant! Just finished the Neal one. Cracking stuff, Jonny!

[@leedsinshetland]

Just absolutely superb... Thank you.

[@robertlloyd7493]

One of the best interviews I have ever seen thanks

[@stevep2111]

Did not want that to end!! Love Plato, never met him although my nephew met him and Needell in one of the Bars on Broad Street Birmingham, my nephew sent me a text to say as much which I thought was to wind me up and I said yeah whatever then my nephew sent me a pic!! Properly jealous!! Fantastic story's!!

[@Sinnistral]

These are ace Jonny 👌 and the Schumacher story was genuinely hilarious! Now, we have a shopping list: Tiffany Dell and VBH please! 🙏😁

[@tbetts56789]

Who? You mean Tiff Needell. STOP GETTING BOND WRONG!!! 😉 Check Lovecars: On the Road on ITV4 if you're UK based or suitably VPN'd.

[@gabifinutzu]

We need more of Plato, what a great man he is🤩

[@jayrob10101]

What ?? Is that it ??? I need more !!! I’ve just disturbed the hospital ward I’m recuperating in, having laughed that hard !!! Absolute class !!

[@TomleyRC]

hahahaha... he's mental. Love it. Now back in about 2017, I had to make a choice between Plato & Neal. I only had time to get one of them to sign my BTCC ticket at Snetterton. I chose Neal, which was probably a wise choice as I didn't have a spare pair of jeans with me!

[@mikers73]

How much of this got edited out? LOVE the stories. Thank you both.

[@FlightmanLHR]

Wonderful. What a great watch, thanks to you both.

[@NeilGrevitt]

What a brilliant episode! Made me smile from start to finish!

[@notyouraveragebikes4316]

"It was the nasty type of mischief that you don't want to see" 🤣🤣🤣

[@ALMX5DP]

Holy cow I didn’t even recognize him at first!

[@rollingtroll]

That's just the beard I think

[@johnschotz1614]

One of the best interviews. Loved it.

[@dannymacarthur13]

Jonny, Jason best entertainment I have had in ages. Brilliant. Thanks

[@sinclap2]

Um...I require more of this, please 😂

[@lukecowell7516]

That era of btcc was truly awesome the Laguna's the cavaliers fucking awesome better than the shite they drive now

[@TheDoosh79]

850 T5 Wagons were beasts!

[@mikev3999]

I'm so sad this video is over. This was absolutely brilliant Jonny. Thank you so much! Cheers from Canada.

[@justinbest9429]

I bloody love Plato! I've always loved his race style, flat out, door handle to door handle, bumping his way to championships, just awesome! Loved him on 5th Gear, loved watching him own a biker in a boggo standard 911 round Thruxton on a Jeremy Clarkson dvd. I think his humour is right up there with the best car programme presenters. That Laguna too, by far the best looking touring car ever made! Unlike the junk we have today that look nothing like the road car! This is when touring cars was totally worth watching! Top video! Thanks Late Brake Show 👍🏻

[@DeBedschbacher]

This is one of my favourite KZbin videos. There MUST be enough stuff on the editing room floor to give us an extended version of it?! This so deserves to be a two-parter...

[@luisfernandes4145]

Almost peed myself!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[@baker6928]

*Jason's a proper old school racing driver, they don't make 'em like that anymore.*

[@timgroves6999]

Thank you Jason, your a proper legend and a great driver to watch. Could listen to your stories all day long. Thank you

[@sh010272]

One of the best interviews I have seen, fantastic

[@1970HondaCL100]

The most astonishing part of this is learning that Jason still answers the phone when Jonny calls.

[@TheLateBrakeShow]

😳

[@jameskey9646]

Twat comment!

[@bobbyd8419]

What’s in Jason’s garage now as he never answered that Question.....

[@SeanHenryLuvsDaDub]

That was absolutely beautiful!! Love the Schumacher stories he was an amazing person.

[@thedr2024]

Great video. Lot’s of fun to watch and listen to. Thank you!

[@MM-qd4km]

And those are just the stories he can share on you tube 🤣👍

[@Rasscasse]

Oh yeah! I hadn’t thought about that! Imagine the stuff he can’t talk about in public, I bet there’s loads of rich stuff!!

[@garethroberts1694]

To be fair I never liked Plato but this interview paints him in a different picture. Really highlights how much money is involved in starting a career in motorsports which in turn makes me wonder why Lewis Hamilton whines so much about how hard it was to get where he is!

[@IdeaBoxful]

Absolutely great interview. Plato was one of my favs, but never got to knew him as a personality until now. Was rolling laughing at his stories. What a bloke! And never knew that Schumacker was such a riot!

[@mcintyreseamus]

Brilliant chat, could watch stuff like this all day.