Cheshire is one of Jeremy Clarkson's least-favourite counties - mainly because that is where a lot of Premiership footballers and their WAGs live.
Wilmslow is a town in Cheshire that is popular with such people.
Today I took my WAG and children along there for the second ever Wilmslow Motor Show Sponsored by Etihad. They have their own Website.
Being Wilmslow, it had to be posh cars. There were lots of Aston Martins - mostly new ones - but also this lovely example of a DB5:
There were three examples of the BAC Mono there - not a name that would go down well in America. These cars look a lot better in real life:
There were a series of cars with their bonnets open. From the tiny bonnet on this MG SV:
To the huge bonnet on this Mustang:
To the gigantic bonnet on this (admittedly rear-engined) Ford GT:
Dave Newsham's BTCC Toyota Avensis was there:
Actually, that isn't true.
Despite this photographic evidence to the contrary.
This is actually Ollie Jackson's car with Dave Newsham's name and number on it. I spoke to a member of the Speedworks crew who was there with the car. He told me that the team were still working on the Newsham car after the damage it sustained a fortnight ago in Knockhill.
The Police (The Constabulary, not Sting and his mates) were also there letting children sit in one of their cars. They also had a wrecked Renault Megane in which a 21 Year-old lad had died. A woman was there handing out leaflets and telling us the story of what happened. It was night, he was not speeding, he was very slightly over the drink-drive limit, weather conditions were fair, he lost control going around a bend and hit a tree. A Doctor travelling in a car in front saw the headlights disappear and went back to see what had happened - he declared him dead at the scene which is why the car wasn't cut open. The lad's parents donated the car to the Police and it was now being used to highlight how driving inexperience can lead to serious accidents. It was about this point when the woman revealed that we were looking at her son's car.
Wow.
Sort of makes you think after looking at Lambo's, AMGs, Loti, Nobles, TVRs, Bentleys and the like.
Pistonheads today have a story headlined "Kia Want to Race" about how Kia want to get a bit of racing pedigree added to their image. This is in the wake of their sister-brand, Hyundai announcing entry to the WRC.
Hence, "Race Relations" - geddit?
Anyhoo, Kia are looking into Touring Cars in Europe but haven't said exactly where.
The Pistonheads story quotes the MD of Kia UK as saying, "Motorsport is an interesting proposition for us and Touring Cars is an interesting area that we are looking at. It will help set the two brands apart and would help increase awareness of Kia. I would like to see something a little more sporty about the brand."
Now, since the MD of Kia UK is talking about this, then surely the way forward is the BTCC.
The BTCC started for 2013 at Brands Hatch on March 31st. And very enjoyable it was too.
ITV4, as usual, covered the full day. For some unknown reason, they've swapped their co-commentator though. Now, instead of Toby Moody joining Tim Harvey in the commentary box, we have Tim with David Addison.
No, not THAT David Addison, THIS David Addison...
I have to admit that I wasn't familiar with this particular David Addison - but his background experience seems fine and he did a good job at Brands. His preview of the Season can be found here on the ITV Website.
During a break in the BTCC coverage, ITV took the opportunity to promote some more of the Motorsport they will be covering this year - and that now includes the WRC. Only highlights of some races but it is a start - might help to reverse the need for "Rallying Support" - note my last paragraph in that article - someone is listening after all!
And, apparently, Kia's sister-brand Hyundai is joining the WRC - I remember reading that recently.
This looks a lot more exciting than the Kia Cee'd Sportswagon I was reading about in my latest Top Gear Magazine this morning. Kia's car is the latest in a series of estate cars from various manufacturers made to appear more exciting by being given slight variations on the spelling of "Sportswagon" as a sobriquet. The photo comes from today's Autoguide story about a Volvo Racing Estate Show-car. I'm seriously hoping that this is a pre-cursor to a Volvo entry in next year's British Touring Cars Championship - following in the footsteps of MG as a Chinese-owned European car-maker wanting a bit of sporting publicity. We need more manufacturer teams in the BTCC and the paint-job chosen for this car pays homage to the Volvo 850 estates that competed in the BTCC during the BTCC hey-day of the '90s.
The show-car has a 2-litre engine so sticking a turbo on there would fit in perfectly with the NGTC Regulations currently used in the BTCC. So come on Volvo, let's see those wagons roll!
Caught this rather nice article in the online Telegraph this week. It came with this very cheesy photo:
It's about BTCC driver (and reigning champion) Matt Neal teaching his twin sons, Will & Harry, to drive now that they have turned 17.
William and Harry!!
I hadn't though of him being a Royalist. I also hadn't thought of him as being old enough to have kids old enough to drive. He's only about my age!
His sons will have an excellent teacher and it looks like he is trying to keep their feet on the ground including some professional lessons as well. I'm not as sure of the car choices though, a sporty Corsa and an old Beetle with no seatbelts. The former will cost a fortune to insure and the latter has no seatbelts.
I've not mentioned the BTCC much this year - but I haven't missed a race and they have been just as exciting as every recent season. I've not watched any f1 meanwhile and am not missing it in the slightest.
The BTCC last weekend was at Rockingham and much rain caused much sliding off but there were no major disputes - unlike last year when this excellent picture was taken:
I don't usually credit the pictures I find on the 'Net but this is worth a link and a mention of Life Exposed Photography as this picture perfectly captures Matt in full-on anger mode where no other picture of the incident I've found does.
Here, Matt is launching himself at Jason Plato after a serious shunt in qualifying. Good! - we like some passion in our racing drivers. Jason is wisely keeping his helmet on given that Matt practises martial arts and is considerably bigger than him. Meanwhile, their dads are in the picture trying to make sure it doesn't get any worse.
A very un-cheesy photo - but, then again, racing-driver Matt Neal will be nothing like family-man Matt Neal - I hope! And it looks like it is family-man Matt Neal that Wills & Harry have as their driving instuctor.
I was beginning to think that this was a moot argument because the Fifth Gear website had not been touched since February 1st with a car news item on the Ford B-Max. Now I know things motoring newsy have happened since then so I was worried that Fifth Gear might have been no more - it was threatened with extinction a few years back so I guess there is always a chance of decomissioning.
But today, the Fifth Gear News site points at a picture of Tiff and Jason and states that a new series is coming. There's nothing in the Radio Times about it but I guess we're not having to wait too long because Vicki in her article says that they are filming it. Still a bit of doubt as to whether or not Jason will actually be part of it - he must be quite busy now with his BTCC commitments.
Whether he is present or not, Vicki's conclusion is one I have to go with - and not a million miles from what I came up with back in 2010 - both shows are good - both shows are different - and long may both continue.
Well, take a look at this for starters. In particular, check out the comments bit. All those "This comment has been referred for further consideration."s are a tribute to what the BBC thinks of its audience. That particular blog, by Mark Thompson about the Creative Diversity Network Awards would not have been of interest (and would have not received a single comment) had it not been found by F1 fans desperate for some answers to our ongoing questions stemming back to that fateful day in July when the BBC reneged on its promise (and signed and budgeted for contract) to televise F1 in full until the end of the 2013 Season. That Blog has only been read by F1 fans and a moderator called Heather Taylor - I bet the DG hasn't read it - I wonder if he actually even wrote it. Heather Taylor clearly has no interest in F1 and can't be bothered to find out what the fuss is about. In at comment 29 she wrote:
"Thank you for your continued comments. I am one of the editors of the About the BBC blog (which is why I commented earlier). I wanted to explain why some posts have been removed.
We have in place a set of House Rules: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/moderation.shtml#house and if the comment is off topic, we remove it. This isn't to censor. It's so we can focus the conversation on the topic of the blog post.
We do have a team that handles feedback and complaints. If you would like to complain about F1 or any other item, you can complain to the BBC here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/"
Except, as had already been pointed out to her, there has been no response from the literally (and yes, I am using that word correctly) tens of thousands of complaints and questions raised by this shady deal. And as for keeping the conversation on-topic, there was no converstation on-topic - nobody (and yes, I am using that word correctly) was interested in the CDN Awards. She even had the audacity to remove one of my comments - well here it is again:
"I think that, generally, The BBC does a good job, on screen at least, of displaying diversity. The three awards you have received seem to back this up. Of course, you must never get complacent and when opportunities arise to fill new gaps, care must be taken when filling them.
For example, now that Sky have raided your Formula 1 talent pool, albeit leaving you with a diverse Englishman, Irishman & Scotsman, this is a perfect opportunity to expand out and maybe get a Welshman.
On the subject of awards, I see your F1 coverage had earned you the FIA Broadcaster of The Year Award – congratulations - that makes you the best in the World. I believe that Ben Gallop flew out to Delhi and collected it for you. I suppose that is why he has been too busy to respond to the latest 750 or so comments added to his update on the F1 coverage in 2012. I presume that he is back now so will soon be able to answer those very valid questions therein. I admit that in my comment added to your BBC Annual Report & Accounts Blog, I did rather cheekily suggest in August that Colonel Gadaffi would be found before Ben Gallop – sorry about that, I’m sure Ben was busy working on his update – after all, the 8000 comments added to his initial blog were requiring careful consideration.
Anyway, good luck on the Diversity and FIA Awards next year, although you may need to give Sky the majority of any F1 award and keep the highlights for yourself. Channel 4 picked up two CDN awards, wouldn’t it have been nice to have some sort of collaboration with them?"
Me at my sarcastic best, I think you'll agree? And - I'd tried to be a bit on-topic as well!
Now, if you are wondering where the Hell this all stems from, why weren't you reading my Blog back in July when the BBC/Sky F1 Deal was announced by the BBC's head of F1, Ben Gallop? I posted thus. I treated it rather light-heartedly as I saw it as an inevitable bit of Sky TV's plan on taking over all sports broadcasting. Little did I realise just how dirty the deal was and just how much reaction there would be to it.
A week later, things had moved on apace and I posted again. Ben Gallop's announcement Blog had been closed for comment with 8145 angry comments therein and no sight of Ben himself. Ben's boss Barbara Slater also disappeared off the face of the Earth (but did allegedly briefly reappear to enjoy the hospitality at one sunny Grand Prix)
By the start of September, things had moved on again. I returned from my Summer holidays and posted this. Sky TV produced a "trailer" for the Belgian Grand Prix. I put "trailer" in quotes because it was an unashamed advert for Skybet encouraging people to bet on everything from the eventual winner to the time of the first crash - absolutely disgusting and nothing a public-service broadcaster like the BBC should be forcing their customers to watch. Tony Jardine was involved. I think he did F1 for Radio 5 and know is a Scouser. Being a Scouser should endear him to me but this advert was shameful in both content and quality and he seemed quite ignorant - making quite basic mistakes in F1 knowledge. Sky also unveiled Georgie Thompson (any relation to Mark?) - she had just been convicted of drink-driving after a bit of bad parking in her Porsche - so an excellent choice for a motorsports presenter then.
Things had seemed to swing a bit more in our favour though as a few MPs and one in particular (a Lib Dem of all people!) put on a bit of pressure to get some answers from the BBC and from Bernie Ecclestone. Not particularly successfully but at least someone reasonably high-up was listening to us. Thank you Don Foster MP - although I'm not sure "Don in Bath" is a good title for one of your Webpages.
Bernie, meanwhile started coming out with all sorts of random rubbish:
Then Ben Gallop reappeared! He added this update. More nonsense and no proper answers. The Blog was quickly hidden but has still currently managed 850 comments - my main one is at number 292.
Next came Sky stealing the BBC Talent including Martin Brundle who intimated that he might have stayed if they hadn't handled the whole announcement so badly. They've also nicked ITV's Steve Rider (but not for F1 presentation) so I don't know if he'll still be fronting the BTCC next year. The BBC then nicked Ben Edwards from ITV's BTCC coverage but I'm sure Tim Harvey (who's signature sits on a print of a drawing of two Volvo 850s in my hallway) will cope well with another partner in the commentary box.
Then came Mark's turn...
Jump to 2 hours and 7 minutes to see a bit (although nowhere near enough) of squirming as Mark Thompson struggles to justify not inviting Channel 4 to the table - lots of umms and errs. Shame that the questioner, John Whittingdale feels he has been forced into asking about it "just before we finish". If all you can see is a big white square then you are probably using Microsoft Internet Explorer - try Mozilla Firefox instead - it's much better.
So still no answers really, Ben's gone back into hiding and the BBC are still not listening.
I'll not be following F1 next year - I'll still be watching the BTCC, of course though - but who will be sitting in that seat next to Tim Harvey?
This is where ITV need to be smart and hire...
MURRAY WALKER!He's an old man now, so probably not up to jet-setting around the World but still more than up to a few hours work on assorted weekends around Britain. He's extremely knowledgeable - he makes a few howlers but they add to the fun - Tim would keep the facts straight. He's done BTCC Commentary before - he isn't under contract to the Beeb and he would draw in casual and commited fans alike. COME ON ITV - YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO!
Fifth Gear returned to our screens a-week-ago-last-Friday. I completely missed it. I guess either I don't watch enough Channel 5 (quite probable) so missed their trailers or they haven't been plugging it much (quite possible). Not even noticed anything on their website although it's mostly just the news section that I go straight to anyway while looking for interesting stories I can comment on for my Blog.
I finally caught up with the episode I missed on the i-5-Player-on-Demand thingy tonight.
I noticed on episode 2 which I managed to catch OK that there was no sign of Jason Plato. He also doesn't appear in episode 1. I hope that is just because he was busy coming third in this year's BTCC and that he will return to our screens soon.
Anyway, I digress.
One thing that Fifth Gear have always done well is interesting Crash-Tests. This was no exception, launching a Ford Focus at 120mph into a concrete block.
The results are sobering...
And if the video's knackered - I don't trust embedding stuff from Channel 5 - use this to get at it.
Before you check this out be warned that you should probably give up just after the Ford advert and as soon as you get bored with Tony Jardine.
That video is Sky's preview for the Belgian Grand Prix which happened last weekend and unfortunately is an indication of what some F1 fans will have to put up with next year.
It is simply encouraging people to gamble with a little help from Skybet.
Sorry to keep harping on about the dirty deal - it's not as though I can't live without F1 - I firmly believe that the BTCC is a more exciting and more accessible racing championship - however, the way the BBC has handled this - and still refuse to discuss it - is downright disgraceful and is what annoys me so much.
They are also censoring their own Blogs and tweets from their own presenters and gagging their presentation team from mentioning the deal during their programmes.
This chap on the right (No, it's not that Grant Mitchell from Eastenders) is being called before a select committee of MPs to answer some questions about the deal. He is Mark Thompson, the Director-General of the BBC.
Speaking as a fan who contacted his own MP on this subject, I am delighted that, at last, we may get some answers.
It may be too late to save F1 - viewing figures and advertising revenue will plummet - but at least it won't feel like the BBC, an organisation I once admired, will have gotten away with this scot-free.
Ooh, sense the bitterness!
I've also been quite impressed by the Mirror, they seem to be the only press organisation who have been on our side. It was also them who broke the story that Bernie Ecclestone said that he would have done a deal with Channel 4 but the BBC blocked it.
There's a story on the BTCC site today about a race happening between one of the BTCC Ford Foci and an ice-cream van. It won't be as straightforward as you'd expect though because this ice-cream van is a 200mph ice-cream van owned by Jody Scheckter.
This race will be happening on Sunday as part of the Snetterton rounds of the British Touring Car Championship together with a host of support races all of which will be free to view in Britain on ITV4.
This contrasts sharply with how the British F1 fans are being treated. I reported last week about the deal done with Sky and since then the backlash has been amazing and the silence from the BBC has been deafening.
The BBC tried to justify it with a Blog posted by their head of F1. This Blog quickly got beseiged with 8415 comments before the BBC shut it with the rather arrogant announcement:
"This blog is now closed to comments.
If you do wish to make a formal complaint about this announcement, or any aspect of it, you can do so at the BBC Complaints website (bbc.co.uk/complaints).
This blog was kept open to comments for longer than usual because of the volume of responses coming in and the clear interest in the subject matter. However, this blog is designed as a place to debate topical issues, rather than a forum that stays open indefinitely.
We are grateful for the high levels of interest in this issue, and the time it has taken everyone to comment here. We have explained the reasons behind the announcement in the initial blog post, and at this stage there is nothing more to add - but we have reviewed the comments and we thank everyone for them.
Sport Hosts"
The vast number of replies to that Blog are articulate and condemn the BBC for this deal and are looking for a better response. Reply number 5555 is particularly good.
At the same time, a petition on petition-buzz was started. This currently has 30,228 signatures.
The Hungarian Grand Prix came and went last weekend with scant mention of this backlash - it was obvious that the presentation team were unhappy but had been told to toe the party line which seems to be keep schtum. This even applied to the post-race red-button forum which is where the fans are supposed to be able to air their views.
The deal stinks for many reasons. One recurring argument is that the BBC could have let the whole F1 rights go to another free-to-air channel so everyone would be able to see all of the races but rather than allow one of their competitors have that, they would rather do a deal with the organisation they have just spent the last three weeks questioning the ethics and morals of.
If that is true, it seriously stinks and heads should roll.
The official response from the BBC is still being eagerly awaited.
Jake Humphrey posted a Blog entry which has now taken over as the place to post your complaints. It's currently sitting there with 1146 replies.
There is now also an Parliamentary e-petition currently with 6097 signatures (including mine) but I'd be surprised if that reaches the 100,000 that is required to get a debate in the House of Commons.
The BBC have let Murray Walker comment but he is not a BBC employee and reluctantly accepts the deal - he also, rather surprisingly, seems to imply that he can't afford Sky TV.
On many occasions within Metro's Car Blog I have discussed and compared F1 & BTCC. I know which I'll be watching next year.
Overall, the lack of coherent responses by the BBC Sport management to the very real arguments being put is disgraceful.
To quote rock-band Foreigner, they're, "As cold as ice".
Last September, I reported how Ben Collins had joined the BTCC. Then, a week or so later, I reported how he had also joined Fifth Gear.
Now, both of these fine events are back in full-swing for 2011 and there's no sign of Ben in either. Well, almost no sign - he was interviewed at the last BTCC meeting and said how he was hoping to compete next season.
He also popped up briefly - as himself! - on a repeat of Top Gear I caught on the Dave Channel the other day. It was the episode where they played football using Toyota Aygos. If only we'd spotted the clues at the time - the other competitors were Russ Swift and his son - an obvious choice for throwing small cars around impressively - and a load of touring car drivers. As they were being introduced, each one's achievements in Touring Car racing were being read out, then they got to Ben who they quickly skirted over.
For those of you reading this and thinking, "Who The Hell is Ben Collins!?"
You obviously haven't read the post from September!
Well, I'll tell you again, but only because I'm such a nice person.
Ben Collins was Top Gear's tame racing driver, The Stig.
Not the first Stig, the black one - that was Perry McCarthy.
And not the current Stig, born in a stable (or cattle-shed depending on your favourite Christmas Carol) in Bethlehem. I'm not going to speculate who the current Stig is but I will confidently say that it isn't me.
Or my wife.
Or Sir Terry Wogan.
Or Ben Collins.
Now, where was I before you interrupted me asking who Ben Collins is?
Ah yes, what is he up to nowadays?
According to his Website, he's doing some Le Mans racing and some Volvo driving. He did mention the Le Mans stuff in the BTCC interview - he's working with RML who are Jason Plato's BTCC Team although the car is Honda based so Steve Rider wanted to talk about Matt Neal's team.
Apart from that, he's been promoting crisps - hence the photo above.
No, not you, you dozy bint. You're enough of a reason to avoid ITV2 on your own. Go away!
No, not Eddie either. The Chinese Grand Prix was good, with a particularly impressive drive by Mark Webber to get on the podium from 18th on the grid and a nice win for Lewis too.No, not the country of Jordan. Apparently Sebastien Ogier won but I had to go onto the WRC Website to find out. No, I'm talking about this innocuous looking chap here - Andrew Jordan. He won one race and came second in another of the three at the Donington Round of the BTCC. The meeting will be mostly remembered for the carnage though. In race two, Jason Plato had a very spectacular crash...and race three saw considerably more carnage albeit not as spectacular as that one. Those interested (in the UK at least) can watch the races here.
God, I wish that were true. She's an extremely irritating freak. I can't be the only person who genuinely doesn't give a toss what Katie does next.
But, as ever in my Blog, she isn't what this post is about.
No way baby. I'm referring to the fourth round of the World Rally Championship which hits the country of Jordan on Thursday. Did everyone follow the first three rounds?
Of course not. Even The Dave Channel has given up on it this year. That may or may not have to do with a deal with ESPN but what, for all I know, may be a very exciting championship is getting zero mainstream coverage in the UK. And this is the year that was supposed to be more exciting with new rules, regulations and cars and even a third manufacturer team. This team has provided the only mention I've heard this year, when they press-launched the new car:(it's the one on right)
I complained last November and things have not improved - if anything they are worse - the sport has lost a golden opportunity to gain some popularity here in the UK - ESPN money is probably false economy and if people are not that interested, ESPN will also then lose interest.
Anyway, it's about time I did a motorsport review given that we've already had two Grand Prix and one round of the BTCC.
The first Grand Prix, in Australia, was the usual dull opener - mostly processional but, like last year, the second race was much better. The highlights were off-track though, with Vitaly Petrov getting his Lotus-Renault-Lada-JPS-Racing airborne:and Eddie Jordan wearing an even worse shirt than this one from last year:
At least there is one Jordan I don't change channel to avoid.
The use of the new flaps helped and there was some skillful overtaking but still not as much as in...
...the BTCC. The end of the first day of 2011 BTCC saw a similar situation to F1 with the reigning champion comfortably ahead but all evidence is that the BTCC will be as tight as ever and it is still my favourite competition.
Even if one of the cars does look like the sort of thing Jordan would drive.
The World Rally Championship comes back to Wales tomorrow - but you'd be excused for missing it - where is all the TV coverage of what used to be a really big event? For us in the UK, there will be, as has been for the rest of the Season, a fairly decent highlights/summary show on Dave after the event. But, if you want to catch more up-to-date (including some live) coverage, you'll need to tune in to the Welsh-language broadcaster S4/C. This is OK if you've got the right satellite or cable package, but for those of us without the urge to pay for such services, you need to be lucky enough to live in Wales or, like me, near enough to the border to pick up this channel.
Is rallying now so unpopular in Britain that none of the major broadcasters have any real interest? Has it really gone the same way as Showjumping and Rallying's sister sport Rallycross? I remember well as a child every Christmas watching "The Horse of the Year Show" on BBC1 from Olympia with Harvey Smith and David Broome and Alvin Schockemohle all trying to jump over "The Wall". I also remember Rallycross on a Saturday afternoon on Grandstand with lots of Minis, Escorts and Porsche 911s with plastic windscreens with little holes cut in them so that the drivers could still see when they were covered with mud. Rallycross still happens, check out their website - it just doesn't get the exposure.
The WRC has just about everything the other branches of motorsport has including pretty girls and a dominant champion in Sébastien Loeb. In fact, Sébastien's achievements are pretty remarkable - he has already claimed the WRC Driver's Championship this year and this is something he's now achieved for the seventh consecutive season. Incidentally, here's a quiz question based on a fact I learnt today: What has Sébastien Loeb got in common with Gabby Logan? Answer:They both used to be gymnasts. Maybe he should trail a pretty ribbon from his car? Then again, maybe not.
What the WRC doesn't have, though, is a Bernie Ecclestone/Alan Gow character in charge - I don't even know who is in charge of the WRC. Everyone knows who Bernie is - and what he continues to achieve as a grumpy 107 year-old (I may have his age slighty wrong there) is amazing. A younger, more Australian version of Bernie is Alan Gow who has just signed a new contract to keep him in place for three more years. Alan has steered the BTCC through difficult times and continues to see it thrive - including TV deals with ITV4 and introducing new rules to make it cheaper to compete.
Which brings us back, yet again, to Rallying. Whoever is in charge has done similar things to the car specifications/regulations and already attracted a third manufacturer in Mini (Sorry that should be MINI!) which will make a nice change from the leader-boards always reading Citroën, Citroën, Citroën, Ford, Ford, Citroën after each race. Now we need to sort out some TV deals - in the UK at least. Some big foreign stations already seem to be on board: TF1 in France, RTL in Germany, Network Ten in Oz.
So where are BBC Sport and ITV4? Channel 4 and five both did excellent work with cricket coverage in the past - let's have some mainstream channel showing live Rallying please.
News today that Ben Collins who recently outed himself as The Stig is to take part in the final race-meeting of this year's BTCC. This has got to be a very good move publicity-wise for him, his book and his adopted team, Airwaves BMW - it got a mention in my Blog after all. Having three cars should also help consolidate their current third position in the BTCC Teams Championship.
ITV will be pleased with the extra publicity too - I wouldn't be surprised if, instead of "Collins" on the back windows of the BMW, it said "Stig" - but that would just be rubbing the noses of the BBC and Top Gear in it.
As long as he doesn't crash badly - or come last - it will probably enhance his reputation which, in my opinion, needs a bit of enhancement at the moment. I, and I suspect a lot of Top Gear fans, have been pretty annoyed at the way he has cashed in on his Stigness. Although beforehand, a lot of people believed that Ben Collins was indeed The Stig, you could never be 100% sure until the story broke about his book-deal and series producer Andy Wilmin commented thus.
I certainly won't be buying the book.
It's a shame and I hope Top Gear get another tame racing driver as a direct replacement - I'm sure Jeremy will come up with a suitably amusing explanation and I look forward with much anticipation as to how they handle it.
Finally, here's a picture of The Stig in happier times, test driving a vehicle that both my sons have driven. It carries a Fiat badge but I think that's a case of re-badging someone else's product.
That's what I'd have said over the pit radio today if I'd been Tom Onslow-Cole in the third BTCC race at Silverstone today.
As usual, the BTCC provided lots of good racing action and thrills and spills (crashes) with Plato and Neal coming together as usual and Plato storming off in anger at the end - very entertaining.
In the first BTCC race of the day, Onslow-Cole was leading from his team-mate Chilton when he pulled out of the way to let Chilton past. This is not unusual in BTCC where you get an extra Championship point for leading the race for a lap so team managers will ask their drivers to swap position for just one lap in order to get the extra point. There are none of the silly rules about team-orders in BTCC that cause annoyance and confusion in F1.
Anyway, you would expect Chilton to make way after that lap for Onslow-Cole again - but he didn't. At the post-race interview, they both came up with a consistent story about Onslow-Cole messing up a gear change so letting Chilton through to avoid a collision while he regained his momentum - honest racing so no need to concede the position. This seemed plausible.
Then, in the second race, Onslow-Cole was leading from his team-mate Chilton when he pulled out of the way to let Chilton past. Hmmmm. Chilton went on to win and a fine bit of barging by Rob Collard knocked Onslow-Cole down to the third step on the podium. This time, they admitted a bit of team orders claiming that Chilton was faster because he had been more cautious early on so his tyres were in better nick.
Race three saw Onslow-Cole take the lead from the popular, very likeable Scouser, Paul O'Neill. Chilton couldn't get past O'Neill, possibly because he was carrying some extra weight (success ballast) or possibly because he isn't as good a driver as Tom Onslow-Cole but this meant that team orders would have been very silly so Onslow-Cole won the race fair and square and should really have won all three.
As previously mentioned, there is nothing actually wrong with team orders in BTCC, but surely it makes more sense to favour the guy doing better in the Championship?
Tom Onslow-Cole is now running second in the Championship and would be a lot closer to the leader, Jason Plato if the team hadn't interfered - so why did they? It's not as though Chilton has a very powerful sponsor is it?
Probably not a fair fight this, because I only watched the highlights of the Grand Prix whereas I watched all of the first three rounds of the BTCC.
The Grand Prix actually had a bit of action at the start and it was good to see the Red Bull cars doing so well. Webber showed (once again) that he is not quite up to the pace of his team-mate so once Vettel passed him, there was a bit of a procession then to the finish line. I am very pleased that Vettel won, especially since I've gone off McLaren since Ron Dennis has spoken out in favour of the Tories. It was Schuey's turn to have mechanical problems this time and he was joined soon after by Alonso so that's left Massa leading the Championship for Ferrari.
Meanwhile, over at Thruxton, it was very good to see Fabrizio Giovanardi back after it looked like he wouldn't be competing although the current champion Colin Turkington was notable by his absence - it seems crazy that he couldn't get the sponsorship deals sorted when two other drivers, one of whom I'd never heard of, did manage it. The first race was slightly processional, but the second and third, maybe because ballast had been added, were much better. The second involved a "coming together" of old rivals Plato and Neal but I think they shocked everyone by being really nice about it and even joking before shaking hands. In the third race, Neal had another "coming together", this time with race-leader Rob Collard. It took them both out and since Rob is another who manages to have more than his fair share of "comings together", words were shared that were not so friendly. While there is definitely a place for the nice guys like Turk and Gio, the sport also definitely needs the passionate guys like Neal, Plato and Collard and, from the past, the likes of Muller and Cleland.
As I said, it was never going to be a fair fight, but I'd still put the BTCC on the top step of the podium any day.
...this happens! This is good news. Plato against Neal always leads to interesting arguments. Chevrolet will be guaranteed to win the manufacturer's title (because they are the only entrant!) but maybe it will encourage others back.
Neal's new car in its new livery looks suspiciously like a manufacturer entry as well:
It's actually being run by his father's Team Dynamics but obviously with a lot of support from Honda Racing.
OK, let's break that down shall we? BTCC - Brilliant!, Tom Chilton - OK, The Sun - Crap!
BTCC I've been a big fan of the British Touring Cars Championship for many, many years now. I regularly went to the Oulton Park rounds and still would if my family shared my interest and I also saw them in Ireland when they raced there.
My interest grew as I became more and more disillusioned with Formula One. As a child, the British and Monaco Grand Prix were the highlight of my sporting year, seriously overshadowing the FA Cup Final or Five Nations Rugby (it was pre-Italy) both of which were important to me. But, as the Seasons rolled on and the commentators said at more and more circuits, "This is not a good circuit for overtaking" I discovered the BTCC - a competition where overtaking, and even barging-out-of-the-way was a regular event. This was helped by great, cantankerous characters - John Cleland stands out: The racing was at it's peak towards the end of the last Century with factory teams from Ford, Volvo, Renault, Audi, Alfa, Nissan and more taking part.
Since then, the factory teams have all pulled out - Vauxhall were last to leave last year. This has not proved to be too much of a problem though as the independent teams have filled their places very neatly and the characters still exist - I love the inter-play between Matt Neal and Jason Plato - you can tell they really don't like each other very much and that is brilliant.
Formula One has improved a lot as well since Lewis first appeared - and here the entertaining needle and banter is between Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard presenting for the BBC - still needs more overtaking though.
Tom Chilton Tom started driving in the BTCC at the age of six. OK, maybe slightly older than that but too young to be any good and too immature to understand what was required. I'm probably a bit jealous here because I never had chances like that when I was a teenager although it would have probably terrified me at the time if I had. Since then, obviously, he has matured and had a few race-wins. Last year he was unlucky in that he had a particularly uncompetitive car for most of the Season - only coming good at the very end.
He fancies himself as a bit of a playboy and has appeared nude in Cosmo and appeared as a contestant on that game-show presented by Paddy McGuinness where 30 women check out blokes for a date. I'm not convinced he's had the success yet to warrant the playboy status. I've read his article on the Sun Website which wasn't easy because there was a fault either with their page or my laptop so it kept jumping to some weird search error. The article was somewhere between mediocre and OK which is all you need for a tabloid and I couldn't get his "cheeky video" to run at all.
The Sun Living in Merseyside, I'm supposed to hate The Sun for the lies they printed about Hillsborough. As it is, they did eventually apologise and you have to remember that the team working there now have nothing to do with the ones who published the lies - it's a bit like punishing someone for what their grandfather did. I wouldn't expect their circulation to start rising in Liverpool, though, the hurt was felt very deeply but I would like to see a Scouse boycott of Radio 5-Live, it is there where the original perpetrator and still Hillsborough-denier Kelvin Mackenzie is allowed to ply his trade.
The reason I don't buy The Sun is the same reason that I don't buy any tabloid newspapers - they are all aimed at gullible people who can't read very well. They publish gossip about people I don't care about like Jordan or Mufti from The Sugarbabes, they publish opinion as though it is fact, and they try to scare the public about things they need not really be worrying about (TV News is bad for that too).
So there you go - three articles for the price of one!
