MATT NEAL A VIEW FROM THE TOP OF BRITISH TOURING CARS
BryanAdams began his 16-week stretch at number one in the UK singles chart with (Everything I Do) I Do it For You in mid-July 1991. On that same Sunday he topped the list, Matt Neal made his British Touring Car Championship debut.
Much likeAdams, it was the start of an epic run for Neal too which has yet to finish. There have been some speedbumps along the way, but he has been a fixture in the British Touring Car Championship.
He has featured in every season since 2003.
He lifted £250,000 from BTCC organisers by becoming the first privateer in a modern era to win a round outright when he claimed victory at Donington Park in 1999. He has been a factory driver for four teams. He sparked a 15-year-old war with rival Jason Plato. He has overseen Honda’s reintroduction to the championship as a works team. He has taken over the reins of the family Team Dynamics operation and, more recently, has overseen the racing careers of his sons Henry and Will.
With all of that going on, it is a wonder the 6ft 6in driver found time to sit down and tackle the MN readers’question, but we are grateful that he did.
Question: “Why did you choose to start your career in tin-tops? You did Ford Fiestas and Production Saloons before stepping up to the British Touring Car Championship.”
Jack Crowther Via email
Matt Neal: “I did have a passion for touring cars over Formula 1, although I have always had an interest in all forms of motorsport and I am a fan of Formula 1. But I always saw Formula 1 as just unachievable. It is too elitist. Touring cars was more for the man in the street. Sometimes we will sit in a British Touring Car Championship drivers’briefing and someone new comes in and you hear them talk. I immediately think ‘oh, he’s too posh for here’! The touring car championship is more working class. Maybe not working class, but more honest, more real.
“I never thought I would race. I wanted to, desperately, but I never thought it would happen. Some kids now set out with a goal that they are going to be in this category or that category – they want to be in the BTCC by the time they are
