{"id":1401356,"date":"2024-02-12T15:36:13","date_gmt":"2024-02-12T15:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/?p=1401356"},"modified":"2024-02-12T15:36:16","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T15:36:16","slug":"how-plato-doorstepped-frank-williams-and-bagged-himself-a-btcc-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/touring-cars\/how-plato-doorstepped-frank-williams-and-bagged-himself-a-btcc-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"How Plato doorstepped Frank Williams \u2013 and bagged himself a BTCC drive"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For any aspiring racer hoping break into an F1 team in 2024, the most likely route is through a team’s junior programme \u2013 but even that’s no guarantee of a grand prix seat.<\/p>\n

Back in the ’90s though, things were a bit more fluid. Before landing on Frank Williams’ factory doorstep, future touring car legend Jason Plato had been through the usual junior racing rollercoaster \u2013 from race wins, to dud teams, accusations of cheating and everything in between.<\/p>\n

Then, after two years of no competition in 1995 and ’96, Plato resurrected his career through the one-make Renault Spider series and thought he was on a one-way ticket to Renault’s BTCC programme, run by the Williams F1 team.<\/p>\n

\n \"Jason\n
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Plato had to go the extra mile to save his racing career<\/p>\n

\n Getty Images\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

But the team owner wasn’t interested, opting for an established name instead. As the tin-top ace explains in the March 2024 issue of Motor Sport<\/em><\/a>, extreme measures had to be taken to save his career \u2013 again.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019d won the series and done my test in the Laguna touring car which had gone well,” says Plato.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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From the archive<\/h2>\n \t\t\n\t\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tArchive<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe determination that drives Jason Plato: \u2018I was banging on Frank Williams\u2019 desk\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\t
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We were to meet in Barnard Castle, the town that Boris Johnson\u2019s Svengali Dominic Cummings visited to test his eyesight during the Covid lockdown. The plan was to bring four…<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMarch 2024\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIssue<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
By\n\t\t\t\t\t\tColin Goodwin<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t\n<\/article>\n <\/div>\n
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“[Head of PR at Reanult UK] Tim Jackson, who\u2019d become a really strong mentor and without whom we wouldn\u2019t be sitting here now, said, \u2018I\u2019ve spoken to Frank [Williams], all good. Leave it to me.\u2019 Next thing I get a letter from Frank saying it\u2019s a no but that he\u2019d like me to come and see him so that he could explain in person why it\u2019s a no. Which I did. He explained that I\u2019d never had a chance of getting the drive because they needed someone with a profile. I went away, called Tim, who said he\u2019d see if he could get me a privateer drive.”<\/p>\n

Plato is renowned for a gung-ho style on track, and this approach has served him well off it too. Plato wasn’t going to settle for a indie touring car drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout two weeks later I woke up really raging and decided I\u2019d go and bloody see Frank and have it out. Security let me in because they recognised me from before. \u2018I\u2019ve come to see Frank,\u2019 I said to reception and they said fine, take a seat. Then scary Nicola, who was Frank\u2019s PA and gatekeeper came down the stairs and said, \u2018What do you think you\u2019re doing? You can\u2019t just do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n \"Jason\n
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Plato’s BTCC career ultimately took in 23 seasons<\/p>\n

\n James Roberts\n <\/p>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

“And then she let out a gem, I think on purpose, by saying that, anyway, Frank wasn\u2019t coming in until lunchtime. So I went and sat in the car park for three hours, eyes glued to the security gate, and smoked myself to oblivion. At last Frank\u2019s car came in and I was out the car sprinting across the car park in my suit with a briefcase with nothing in it. I practically slammed into the side of his car. Frank was in the front seat and just stared up at me while I wondered what on earth I\u2019d done. I pleaded with Frank to give me five minutes; he said he was too busy; I begged some more and he eventually agreed. I think actually that scary Nicola had tipped him off that I was waiting in the car park and what was likely to happen.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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\n \"Product\n <\/div>\n

Motor Sport Magazine Back Issues<\/h4>\n

\n March 2024 | Alain Prost Exclusive | Motor Sport Magazine\n <\/h3>\n
\n £6.49<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/a>\n<\/article>\n
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\u201cAfter 45 minutes of sitting outside his office I was called in. Frank said, \u2018Right, what can I do for you?\u2019 and I just poured my heart out, told him that he didn\u2019t want some failed F1 driver in his team just because the guy had a profile and please, please give me a test, let me have a chance. I can do the job. I was even banging on his desk. \u2018OK, thanks for that,\u2019 said Frank, \u2018thanks for coming but I\u2019ve got to get on.\u2019”<\/p>\n

Though it first appeared as though Williams may have just dismissed Plato’s last-gasp appeal, he soon found out it had the desired effect and was summoned to a test two weeks later at Snetterton.<\/p>\n

The young Brit aced the test, in which he was put up against Gianni Morbidelli<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Jean-Christophe Boullion<\/a> , and was offered a three-year contract at the Williams Renault BTCC team from 1997.<\/p>\n

Plato had achieved his dream \u2013 but that didn’t stop from angling for a win bonus: “Frank leaned forward and whispered, \u2018that\u2019s what we\u2019re f***ing paying you to do,\u2019\u201d he remembers.<\/p>\n

This became the launchpad for an incredible, 23-season BTCC career, encompassing two championships and 97 wins. All after turning up in the Williams car park.<\/p>\n

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Read Jason Plato’s brilliant full interview in the March 2024 issue of Motor Sport\u00a0<\/em>here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jason Plato’s career looked to have run out of gas \u2013 until the future BTCC star took matters into his own hands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":739,"featured_media":1401418,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123783],"tags":[124268,35998],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/739"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1401356"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1401450,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1401356\/revisions\/1401450"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1401418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1401356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1401356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1401356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}