Grand Prix Rejects

The end of the world is upon us! Team HARD, aka Tony Gilham's mob have actually managed to WIN a BTCC race!

That was an awesome strategy call to put Jack Goff on wets before the start of the third race. Aiden Moffat finished 2nd in the friggin' Infiniti, while Michael Crees, Mark Blundell and Rob Smith also scored points.

Undisputed ROTR to Team BMR for pitting Ash Sutton as the race was restarting, putting him over a lap down in the fastest car in the field.

I think Nic deserves respect for his performances. I mean how many racing drivers have to compete with the limitations he has?

Have Motorbase found a sponsor to replace Shredded Wheat yet?

And look who's just joined DTM.

I always thought this might have been the right move. Now, prove it.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the wonderful news that Andy Neate is making yet another BTCC comeback. Motorbase are the team stupid enough to take his cash this time.

Barbazza wrote:I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the wonderful news that Andy Neate is making yet another BTCC comeback. Motorbase are the team stupid enough to take his cash this time.

Which is bigger, the budget he brings or his crash repair bill?

dr-baker wrote:Which is bigger, the budget he brings or his crash repair bill?

I think the length of his last stint with Team Dynamics gives us a fairly accurate idea.....

Barbazza wrote:

dr-baker wrote:Which is bigger, the budget he brings or his crash repair bill?

I think the length of his last stint with Team Dynamics gives us a fairly accurate idea.....

So is his budget bigger this time to counteract this? Otherwise where is the benefit to Motorbase?

Andy Neate BTCC Announcement day is the worst day of every year.

Pinkd56 wrote:Andy Neate BTCC Announcement day is the best day of every year.

Fixed.

Pinkd56 wrote:Andy Neate BTCC Announcement day is the worst day of every year.

The only positive to take away from the announcement is that he’s basically funding the jobs of however many people for the next 8 months or so.

Aaaaaand in some incredibly meh news, Stephen Jelley is taking up the third WSR seat this season.

Most interesting thing about this news is that he's bringing his engineer, Andy Miller (formerly of Stewart F1 and Paul Stewart Racing), with him. Other than that, it's all a bit underwhelming.

Pinkd56 wrote:Andy Neate BTCC Announcement day is the worst day of every year.

Oh don’t tell me he’s got another drive this year?. Can’t believe I used to actually like this guy when I first joined the forum 8 years ago. He genuinely drives like he’s playing Toca 2 Touring cars and not in a good way. His antics are less amusing and more head shaking with each passing race he does

The big news this week, Dan Cammish has left Dynamics, and Gordon Shedden is his replacement! Nice to see Shedden come home after his awful WTCR stint, but Dynamics have been in the doldrums the last few seasons so it could be a while before he's back on the pace.

Interesting times at Dynamics all round, it's believed Honda's manufacturer support is about to cease due to the closure of their Swindon plant. Matt Neal still hasn't been confirmed either. If he does return, I can see this season being his last before retirement. Other rumours link Dan Rowbottom and various other pay drivers to the second Honda.

Still not particularly hyped for BTCC this year though, with Cammish out. Ingram in an unproven car, and no sign of Mat Jackson ever coming back, the season seems to be set up for yet another Sutton/Turkington title battle, and we've had quite enough of those over the last half decade for one lifetime.

Londoner wrote:The big news this week, Dan Cammish has left Dynamics, and Gordon Shedden is his replacement! Nice to see Shedden come home after his awful WTCR stint, but Dynamics have been in the doldrums the last few seasons so it could be a while before he's back on the pace.

Interesting times at Dynamics all round, it's believed Honda's manufacturer support is about to cease due to the closure of their Swindon plant. Matt Neal still hasn't been confirmed either. If he does return, I can see this season being his last before retirement. Other rumours link Dan Rowbottom and various other pay drivers to the second Honda.

Still not particularly hyped for BTCC this year though, with Cammish out. Ingram in an unproven car, and no sign of Mat Jackson ever coming back, the season seems to be set up for yet another Sutton/Turkington title battle, and we've had quite enough of those over the last half decade for one lifetime.

With DanCam out, Tingram having to drop to a midtable team, and no sign of Jordan ever returning, it's like 2010 all over again. Nice to see Shedden back in the series but losing Cammish and gaining a paydriver instead is a shame.

Andy Neate being his usual self, and taking Jade Edwards out where she was an innocent bystander, in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jade herself said on Twitter that Neate claimed he had a mechanical failure on the car and if that’s genuinely the case then fair enough

BUT whether it’s true or not the mind boggles as to how the man still gets anywhere near a touring car in 2021. He’s the Mazepin of the BTCC.

Did you also know that his son Aiden now competes in French F4?

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:

Did you also know that his son Aiden now competes in French F4?

Well, I know that now!

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:Jade herself said on Twitter that Neate claimed he had a mechanical failure on the car and if that’s genuinely the case then fair enough

The stewards put three points on his license and fined him a few grand, don't think they're buying the mechanical failure excuse at all.

You know you've messed up big time when even perennial fence-sitter Tim Harvey is laying into you on social media...

Londoner wrote:You know you've messed up big time when even perennial fence-sitter Tim Harvey is laying into you on social media...

So not only has Andy Neate once again shown he’s a god awful driver, he’s also proved what a big fat liar he is too. No wonder we didn’t hear him on ITV

How must Jade Edwards feel? Neate’s car seems to have an unhealthy magnetic attraction to hers because I believe that’s the 3rd time he’s wiped her out of a race since she joined the series

Good news everybody! Andy Neate has been replaced by Jessica Hawkins for the next round of the BTCC!

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote:How must Jade Edwards feel? Neate’s car seems to have an unhealthy magnetic attraction to hers because I believe that’s the 3rd time he’s wiped her out of a race since she joined the series

I can't say much about Neate as a driver or even as a person, and I definitely don't want to go as far as to pull the sexism card on Jade's behalf (because that would be way too easy), but you're right: One could see a pattern here.

dr-baker wrote:Good news everybody! Andy Neate has been replaced by Jessica Hawkins for the next round of the BTCC!

Somewhere I can hear a faint voice calling "karma"!

But in all seriousness: Hawkins deserves this chance, and I would really like to know if that decision was already influenced by her results in the W Series or if certain people have finally noticed the potential in her. I've followed her career since 2015, I believe (more off than on), but even I could see that she has what it takes. She really seems more at home in touring cars than in single seaters, solely based on her results.

Now all I need is a way to watch the next BTCC round... maybe online somewhere. Anybody got suggestions?

Alexandra wrote:Now all I need is a way to watch the next BTCC round... maybe online somewhere. Anybody got suggestions?

I know that it is on ITV4 here in the UK, but in Germany? Sorry, no idea.

dr-baker wrote:

Alexandra wrote:Now all I need is a way to watch the next BTCC round... maybe online somewhere. Anybody got suggestions?

I know that it is on ITV4 here in the UK, but in Germany? Sorry, no idea.

Hmm, then I guess I'll have to be content with the race in 60 seconds, because that's all they show on their official YouTube channel. Oh well, should it be a boring race, then at least it will be over quickly...

https://www.autosport.com/supercars/new ... s/6636935/ - Would be interesting if this came to pass. Also, roll on Jack Mitchell's BTCC debut.

Nick Halstead to sub for Rick Parfitt at Croft.

Paul Rivett of course has just completed a two-meeting stint in place of Neate.

dr-baker wrote:Good news everybody! Andy Neate has been replaced by Jessica Hawkins for the next round of the BTCC!

Looking back up at this post and remembering how much flak Andy Neate has taken over the 41 pages of this thread, I thought I'd take a look at his results.

135 BTCC starts, best result 6th, twice.

If we applied the same criteria for Rejectdom to the BTCC as for F1... he would still be a Reject. For comparison, I've looked through the F1 stats and the Reject with the highest number of starts is Markus Ericsson, with 97, and he at least had the excuse of the machinery at his disposal for never finishing higher than 8th.

How Andy Neate keeps getting hired for BTCC drives is one of the great mysteries of our time. Does he have some extremely damaging information about the bigwigs of the series that would make excellent blackmail material?

dinizintheoven wrote:

dr-baker wrote:Good news everybody! Andy Neate has been replaced by Jessica Hawkins for the next round of the BTCC!

Looking back up at this post and remembering how much flak Andy Neate has taken over the 41 pages of this thread, I thought I'd take a look at his results.

135 BTCC starts, best result 6th, twice.

If we applied the same criteria for Rejectdom to the BTCC as for F1... he would still be a Reject. For comparison, I've looked through the F1 stats and the Reject with the highest number of starts is Markus Ericsson, with 97, and he at least had the excuse of the machinery at his disposal for never finishing higher than 8th.

How Andy Neate keeps getting hired for BTCC drives is one of the great mysteries of our time. Does he have some extremely damaging information about the bigwigs of the series that would make excellent blackmail material?

Not really a mystery is it? Biggest moneybags I’ve seen since the one off Spyro

Of those 135 starts I can only think of 2 where’s he actually been competitive. Race 3 at Brands in 2011 where he blamed the sun in his eyes for losing a podium and Race 3 at Croft in 2012 when he led until his lack of talent plummeted him to 9th.

Bar a 3rd at Oulton Park in 2011 he’s a dreadful qualifier too

Poor old Jade Edwards. It used to be A Neate who used to bully her out of the races. Now it has been Flash who has taken her out several times.

Hidden at the end of an article about Andrew Jordan no longer missing the BTCC:

Autosport wrote:Motorbase Performance Ford racer Andy Neate was given a written reprimand plus two penalty points on his licence ‘for instigating an altercation with a member of another team’ after the first race at Silverstone.

Neate was forced out following a collision with the Ciceley Motorsport BMW of Adam Morgan, and approached Morgan’s father, Ciceley team principal Russell Morgan, following the race.

Happily surprised that Andy Neate had an anonymous weekend today. And Jade Edwards was running as high as 16th out of 28 runners in the early stages of race 1! (Donington)

In the weird and not so wonderful world of WTCR (is it just me bothering these days?) the Lynk & Co shiteboxes, having withdrawn at the beginning of the previous pair of races because of worries over tyre wear (in fairness, there were tyre failures for other cars in both races) have now withdrawn completely from the championship for the same reason in a massive flounce. Good riddance.

This leaves 12 entrants in the upcoming round. It's sad really, the series used to be so much fun in the ETCC / WTCC days but it is now a complete waste of time. They've also cancelled the 3 rounds later in the year in the Far East but the season isn't necessarily over after the final European event this weekend. Or something. God knows, frankly.

Well done Tom Ingram. Finally!

Spectoremg wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 18:05 Well done Tom Ingram. Finally!

I've missed most of this season, but glad to hear Ingram did it. It's been a long time coming!

Spectoremg wrote: ↑09 Oct 2022, 18:05 Well done Tom Ingram. Finally!

Yeah, delighted for Tingram! I'd started to worry that he'd always be the bridesmaid, chuffed for him that he's finally done it.

I don’t know if anyone actually noticed this or whether it was made official but apparently Andy Neate retired from racing at the end of last year to support his son Aiden in British F4. Truly the end of an era.

Freeze-O-Kimi wrote: ↑28 Oct 2022, 14:49 I don’t know if anyone actually noticed this or whether it was made official but apparently Andy Neate retired from racing at the end of last year to support his son Aiden in British F4. Truly the end of an era.

I haven't followed BTCC as closely as previous years, but I noticed he wasn't round because he wasn't banging Jade Edwards out of the races.

Lots of gushing from the click baiters on social media about Nic Hamilton's new spell at Team Hard. Playing devils advocate here (and I mean no disrespect to Nic) if it was a driver without physical issues I think the comments would be less favourable.

Roll on the start of the 2023 British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park this weekend.