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Jason Plato gets to thrash flash motors for a living on Fifth Gear, and perform thrilling stunts on Sky One’s Mission Implausible.

But now his sights are fixed on winning a second British Touring Car Championship.

Keith Collantine talks to the star of the track and screen about how he got his big break, hovering a Harrier and crashing at 150mph.

Touring car star and Fifth Gear presenter Jason Plato eases back in the drivers’ seat of his Seat Leon FR.

There are two Leons in his life – the one he races in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), and the road-going FR model he’s sat in.

But this one may soon be relegated to supermarket duty.

“I’m waiting for my new bit of fun to arrive, but Porsche have let me down. I was supposed to be getting a 911 Turbo in September,” says Jason.

“Typical Porsche,” he chuckles.

Getting started

We’re parked at Britain’s only high speed oval racing circuit - Rockingham Motor Speedway. The vast concrete bowl has fallen quiet while the Seat boys – the only team here – have stopped testing for lunch.

Seat are rewarding four of their most promising young drivers with a test run in the Leon touring car.

Ten years ago Plato was in their shoes – but as he recalls, he had to use a little initiative to impress team boss Frank Williams:

“I was told in a letter that I hadn’t got the drive. Then I woke up one morning in December, full of hell, and decided to go confront Frank,” says Jason.

“I went down there at nine o’clock in the morning in my race suit – I don’t know why! – but they said he wasn’t in. So I camped in the car park and finally he arrived and I got five minutes with him.

“Two weeks later I got an offer of a test – me and two F1 drivers, fastest man gets the job.” Fortunately he was the fastest and he entered the BTCC in 1997.

“Had I not done what I did I wouldn’t be here now. It was a life-changing moment,” says Jason.

He won the BTCC in 2001 and gained a reputation as one of the toughest racers on the track. Now he leads Seat’s assault on the series.

Fifth Gear

Along with his racing exploits Plato is well known for his appearances on Channel Five’s Fifth Gear – which gives him access to a wealth of exotic machinery.

The laid-back racer springs to life with a mention of the Pagani Zonda F he tested for the show.

“The Zonda is just phenomenal – the ergonomics and design are works of art,” he enthuses, hands flowing through the air to mimic the curvature the dashboard.

“You sit in it and, even though it’s a fire-breathing monster, there’s no nasty blind spots and you can reverse it easily – it’s just the best there is,” he beams.

“I also had a go in Harrier Jump Jet which was very special – more people have been into space than have hovered one of those.”

Stunts and shunts

His latest TV adventure is Mission Implausible, a Sky One show where he and co-presenter Tania Zaette are challenged to take on a series of stunts.

“We’ve done street luge with jet engines, surfing on moving cars and swimming through underwater labyrinths,” says Jason, reeling them off like a shopping list.

Back on the race track his stunts tend to be more improvisational.

“I’ve had two of my biggest shunts here,” he says, gesturing towards Rockingham’s dauntingly steep oval lined with concrete barriers.

“That was in the ASCAR series where our average speed was 150mph. Hitting that wall hurt like hell – but the racing was phenomenal fun.”

But oval racing never caught on it Britain like it has in America, and Jason left ASCAR to return to the BTCC with Seat in the hope of repeating his 2001 title.

“We’re a year down the line with the Leon which is a fantastic car. We’ve got some work to do on the engine and aerodynamics – that’s our Achilles’ Heel,” says Jason.

“We should have won this year – we did win the manufacturers’ title but not the drivers’. But we’re in a very strong position for next year.”

BTCC is back

The Seat project is certainly coming to fruition at the right time. After a difficult few years the BTCC is set to return to the heyday of the 1990s when it was second only to Formula One in the minds of motor racing fans.

“The television coverage now is better than it’s ever been. All the events are live [on ITV], viewing figures are fantastic and the racing is very, very close. The size of the crowd at Silverstone was brilliant, says Jason.

With a good shot at next year’s title, the BTCC looking better than ever, and a Porsche in the post, 2007 should be a year to remember for Jason Plato.

You could WIN Jason Plato’s racing gloves.

We have a pair of signed Sparco racing gloves as used by Jason in rounds 25, 26 and 27 of this year’s BTCC at Brands Hatch – where he took two wins and a third. Enter our competition now.

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