On Saturday 3rd August we hosted a BTCC-flavoured #FluxPresents at Snetterton in Norfolk. If you missed it, you can hear the full audio here –
If you prefer you can read the highlights here , or enjoy the full transcript below:
Gavin Caney (host): Welcome to the stage, the reason why we’re all here this evening, to hear from Jason Plato, Ash Sutton and Josh Cook.
Gav: Should we check the mics work to start with?
Jason Plato: It’s alright, yeah
Ash Sutton: Testing
[Josh Cook tries to speak into mic]
Gav: Oh no, we haven’t given you a duff mic have we? Are you sure it’s not turned off Josh? That’s awesome. You might have to share a mic with Ash. Is it turned on? No? Ok. Try Ash’s to see if…..
Ash: Are you testing whether it’s his voice or not?
Josh Cook: Hello [in a funny voice]
Gav: Apologies for that. We’ve had a few mic issues this afternoon so if you have to share, I know you two get on very well, more on that a little bit later. I’m sure you can share a microphone. You can move closer to each other if you want.
[mutterings]
Gav: Let’s start with today, after the summer break. I’m going to be gentle on Ash as he’s already messaged and moaned that he’s hungry and started moaning that it’s 6 o’clock and it’s just right….
Ash (to JP): Are you not hungry?
JP: I’ve had a curry already.
[interaction with crowd]
Gav: [inaudible] you can rip it (the mic) out of his hands when you need it, if you can’t get the other mic working. Are you hungry?
Josh: Yes.
Gav: Well I know we’ve given you a duff mic.
Josh: Yeah, I feel like I’ve been given the short straw here.
Gav: Well I’m very sorry about that.
Josh: But other than that, yeah, I am hungry and I am interested in the sausages.
[laughter and inaudible]
Josh: The food, just to clarify.
Gav: Just for clarity if you two get much closer. So in terms of…..
JP: Can I just say something?
Gav: Of course you can
JP: Can I say, sod the sausages. I’m thirsty. And I’d like a lager please. Have we got any spare beers?
Gav: Has anyone got a spare beer for Jason?
[offer of beer arrives from crowd]
JP: Oh …I can’t drink that shite.
[laughter]
Gav: Has anyone got a bottle please?
JP: There must be some spare bottles of beer. Three spare bottles of beer. Send me.
Gav: If we’d have organised this properly we’d have had working mics and beers.
[Stella arrives from the floor to cheers]
Ash: How we doing Scott?
Josh: Don’t take anything off that man
[Laughter]
Gav: Josh. If you’d like to sporadically try and speak into your mic just to see if it comes to life. We got them working earlier. No? We did have some trouble. We spoke to the people that supplied the microphones who assured us they all worked when we picked them up, but that’s what they all say.
[Crowd noise – turn it on and off again]
Gav: That’s a good shout that
[Crowd noise – if in doubt give it a clout]
JP: Anytime you want to get this show on the road it’s fine by me.
Gav: This is what happens when you work with amateurs.
JP: I’ve got a Nobu lesson at 7.
Gav: We’ll persevere. Apologies. [To Josh] Just don’t let it be your abiding memory of today that you got a duff mic. Anyhow. Back to today, after your five-week break. Jason, how do you feel that today’s gone for you?
JP: Pretty good to be fair. I’m slightly narked at myself that I didn’t get the best out of the car in qualifying. I made a mistake at the last corner which definitely cost me one place on the grid, maybe two. So P4 would have been, we’d have got everything out of it we could, but P6 is ok so, yeah, not bad today. But when I know I’ve cost myself and the team some time then that’s not so good. But it’s all on. We’re at the sharp end of the grid and we can have a bit of a scrap.
Gav: Ash?
Ash: Can we pass this question? [laughter]. I’ll be honest with you, it’s everything we’ve got. It’s not been a great day, it’s P18 on the grid, and I’ve got nothing left to give and I know that the car’s at its full potential. So maybe not where we want to be, that’s for sure….
[Shout of ‘boost’ from the crowd]
Ash: [To punter] I’ll buy you a beer after. It’s definitely not where it needs to be but onto tomorrow and we’ll have a race.
Gav: If you can pass the mic down [to Josh]
[Mic problems/laughter/inaudible]
Gav: We’ll talk into this one for the moment. This is going really well. How about yourself?
Josh: It sounds a bit bad if I’m happy with 19th now after Ash has given 18th such a slating. But we had a really tough morning. Obviously we didn’t do the test, so it’s put us on a little bit of a back foot. But to be so far off in FP2, we had a few issues, the team turned around the car pretty well. Obviously we’ve got a lot of success ballast on board being third in the championship, this is one of the worst places to take weight, so it’s going to be a long day tomorrow. But these three tyre choices that we can have are going to make things a little bit more interesting. It’s going to be another one of those races where I’m going to have to work with this guy [Ash] and carve our way forward.
Gav: This [mic] does work again. In terms of Snetterton itself, you [Jason] go very well here. 13 wins. I mean, what is it about Snetterton [inaudible]
JP: I don’t know to be honest. I mean the circuit is great. We’d all probably agree there’s a lot going on. It’s a long lap, it’s very difficult to piece everything together. It’s been a long time since I’ve…..what opportunities have we missed?….Did you say 13 [wins]? That’s not bad is it?
Gav: Not bad, that’s not bad. So gents. How was your summer break? Because it’s five weeks and I suppose we’re keen to know what sort of stuff you’ve been up to. You’ve [JP] definitely been signing books, I’ve seen that a lot….
JP: No I haven’t been signing books.
Gav: Oh haven’t you?
JP: No I haven’t because they’re not printed yet…
[laughter]
JP: They’re not available until – did I say September 19th, available in all good bookshops, Amazon and all that sort of stuff
Gav: And some bads ones
JP: And some bad ones. Yeah. So I’ve not been signing books. I have been doing some writing…….. and a fair bit of drinking as well.
[shout of dilly dilly from the crowd]
JP: Obviously I’ve been down the gym……which is what my local pub’s called. [laughter] I’ve always wanted to have a pub called ‘The Gym’, it would be great wouldn’t it? – ‘I’m just off down The Gym babe’
Gav: What about you boys, what have you been up to?
Josh: Well I actually had, during the break, just had three weddings on the trot so it was a pretty heavy three weeks of just……. pure fitness
Gav: Congratulations
[inaudible]
Josh: Seeing how many I could get in before the winter
[crowd noise, including ‘who are the lucky brides pal?’ shout]
Josh: I don’t know, I was too drunk to realise who they were
[laughter]
Josh: It was a nice summer. Uh oh, I’m getting the shake of the head from Steph over there. I’m in trouble now.
Gav: Ash, what have you been up to?
Ash: Not a huge amount to be honest with you. Just work. I seem to have worked more this summer rather than anything, but yeah that’s pretty much it. Planned a small holiday, didn’t quite happen, in the doghouse because of that one. Yeah, moving on.
Josh: [to Ash] I really wanted to go and you just wouldn’t take me
[laughter, applause]
Gav: Do you guys miss the racing or do you actually feel like you need the break when it comes? I’ll start with you [JP] if we’re sharing a mic now
JP: It depends how you’re doing. If you’re going great guns then you’re going to miss it. If you’re not, then it’s quite nice to get away, turn the brain off, to do some nice stuff so it kind of depends.
Ash: I agree. It’s so intense, you get so sucked up into the whole ‘race by race’. To have that five-six week breakout, it’s nice to almost hit the reset button … wish I didn’t now….
[inaudible and then laughter]
Josh: Yeah, try that reset button again. Which I need to as well! It’s obviously nice to get a little bit of a break. Sometimes the races come pretty quickly and, maybe you know, not so much for us, but the teams that work really, really hard. We get to cruise on home on a Sunday evening and the guys are back stripping the cars on Monday morning, and it’s really tough for them. So it’s good for them to get a nice little break but you always want to be racing something. It is a bit of a time away, which I prefer not to have, but you know we need it.
Gav: While you’ve got the mic, first half of the season sort of done and dusted. You’re sitting third at the moment going into tomorrow. Has something clicked because you could argue you’re having your best season yet.
Josh: Obviously I moved with BTC this year. I almost didn’t make it back on the grid and to be picked up by them and get a drive pretty late in the day…the cars were built, or fabricated by Team Dynamics, and BTC put the whole thing together so it’s not like the car was just took completed. So they had to build that so we didn’t get any pre-season testing, just rocked up at the first round, and sort of found our feet and figured out how the car works. To come away with a win was great. But we’ve just been consistent, we’ve plugged away and got as many points as we can. Podium, when possible, if not we’ve just got the points. It’s really difficult to learn the car on a race weekend as well as trying to obviously capitalise on getting as many points. It’s been tough but it’s good. I’m having a good time, it’s a good place to be.
Gav: Ash, passing down to you. You’re only a point behind Josh. What’s the aim? To reel in Andrew Jordan in second to try and get yourself on the podium to finish for the year?
Ash: I need a miracle for that at the minute. The season got off to a much better start than what the last two have. [inaudible, talking about Donington] Things looked fantastic. But if you look back at it now, [inaudible] the conditions, they were the bit that were propelling us to the front of the grid. So we got a pole at the opening round, we did not expect that bearing in mind two years ago we were 28th on the grid. So yeah, now we’ve kind of got the bad weather out of the way it’s starting to show the true colours. Look, you’ve just got to knuckle down, we’re still collecting points. Yes the gap is getting bigger between us and Colin [Turkington] for example but yeah, it’s collecting the points and keep chasing to the chequered flag.
Gav: JP. Podium at Croft. Seems like you’ve been on the pace quite a lot more. You’ve had a bit of bad luck as well at times. But sitting 10th at the moment, talk us through how you feel the first half of the season has gone and what you’re thinking about for the second half.
JP: Do you know, we’ve just been settling, just keeping ourselves to ourselves and trying to find the rhythm in the car. Each race we get to we find a little bit more at. I think the first race at Brands when Ash was on pole, we were perhaps a bit unfortunate, I screwed up there. It’s a bit of a shame actually because I think we could have a good result. I think when we get to Croft, I think we are the benchmark in the wet, the car is really good set up, we haven’t quite got the dry set up yet but we’re getting closer. So I think the second half of the year we should have a better run of performance. We’ll spray some pretty rank Champagne, which is good because wouldn’t want to drink the stuff and there’s nothing worse than wasting good Champagne. I think podiums are possible but I want to win some races and that’s the key but we’re not quite there yet.
Gav: Colin Turkington the defending champion leads the way. In terms of BMW, I mean, that’s nine wins for those guys. JP, their car seems sort of the same as everyone else’s really. No complaints from you about BMW?
[laughter and crowd noise]
Jason Plato: Do you know what. It’s interesting. I just say it as it is. It’s a bit like this Brexit debate isn’t it? Facts are facts. And whilst everyone’s entitled to their opinion I’m the one talking about it because I’ve been doing it for a long time. The simple factor is, and I’m not decrying what they’ve done, they’ve done an epic job, but the organisers have done a shit job in equalising the performance [applause]. If you’re looking on BMW’s fans’ site you’re not going to agree with me but the simple facts remain unchanged – this formula has performance [shout of doesn’t work from the crowd] balancing and they’ve got to make sure the balancing is right and it still isn’t right. If you’re not in that car then of course you’d be a knob if you’re not going to try and get it changed [applause]. I’m saying it as it is. Colin Turkington is a fantastic racing driver, so is Andrew Jordan, but you could put Stevie Wonder in that car and he’d do pretty well. [laughter, inaudible comments] If I was in that car I’d be the happiest man alive but I’m not so I’m not. [more chatter]
Gav: I don’t want to throw you two under the bus here as JP has given his views. But can we have your take as well on the situation because it has caused a bit of a stir across the close season, the summer.
Ash Sutton: I completely 100% agree with Jason on that. Maybe he’s got more minerals and he’ll voice that a little bit more than what I would. [laughter] I’ll tuck them away, don’t worry. If you sit there and look at the amount of race wins they’ve had – arguably someone could say that about me over the last couple of seasons, we’ve had a lot, that’s been over the course of the season. We’re halfway through and they’ve racked them up unfortunately…..
Jason Plato: The annoying thing about all this is, back in the years before Ash joined BMR, I spent years planning out with a guy called Carl Faux, the ‘Subaru Project’. We looked at the regulations, and thought ‘there’s a loop there’. Our car, the Subaru, was 100% within all the regulations and they nailed us. They created regulations and took the performance away from the car. Now that BMW [inaudible and crowd comments]. We all spend enormous amounts of effort and sponsor’s money to race and it’s a bit frustrating when actually nine races out of 10, race one and twos [before Snetterton], they’ve won. Really? Effortlessly, and that’s not what you guys want, you want a scrap.
[inaudible as Josh signals he was the other race one/two winner]
Josh Cook: I’m just really happy to be here. [laughter] Being that one that won a race that wasn’t a BMW in race one and two – it was dry and I was on slicks and everybody else was on wets so maybe they should just run wets the whole time? That would be a good idea.
Jason Plato: Do you know what? I don’t want to take the points away but it just needs to be levelled up a bit because we can’t race that car.
Josh Cook: Yeah. Like you say, WSR have done a fantastic job, you can’t take that away from them. It’s just….. the facts are the facts. You can see it clear as day on TV and on on-boards and it’s really tough to race against. Even when we went to Oulton Park and with massive ballast [shouts of undefendable from the crowd] it’s tough to race against. We’ve come here and we’ve got a lot of ballast on and it’s a struggle. You just have to resort to fighting them on circuit. Me and Ash had to do that in race three at Oulton [shouts of undefendable from the crowd].
Ash Sutton: That’s what I was going to, there’s been a couple of occasions. If you look back at race two at Brands, in the opening round, I spent two, three laps defending from Jordan and it was simply drive around the outside in a straight line and pull back in. Surely that speaks for itself? [clapping, inaudible dialogue between Josh and Ash] At Oulton Park, me and Josh had to work together for me to get past Colin and that was purely and simply because of pace.
Josh Cook: Yeah, yeah it was. [laughter] Obviously, anything we can do to separate the BMW from us as much as possible. I just backed Colin up, got Ash through, just to put another car between us to get some more points on them. We’re having to be really innovative with how we try and race these guys because on raw pace we just haven’t got it.
Gav: And while we’re on a roll. Rob Collard had a bit of a pop on Twitter about driving standards. Andrew Jordan’s been in hospital, Tom Chilton told Mark Blundell to retire [crowd noise], so there’s a fair bit going around. Do you have any views, not necessarily on those individuals, just on the driving standards or the way things are going. Because we know there’s been a few bumps over the [mic issues]….
JP: I stubbed my toe at Thruxton
[laughter]
Josh: I’m just really happy to be here
[more laughter and applause]
JP: Actually it might be two toes actually [inaudible]. Terrible. I think driving standards are alright, aren’t they?
Josh: Yeah, I think they’re fine
JP: There’s nothing wrong. And I think that thing about, bless him Mark Blundell, he’s having a tough time. But do you know what…..he’s alright. He’s alright.
Ash: Yeah going back to the driving standards. Like an occasion, race three at Oulton Park. Matt [Neal] is facing the wrong way out of turn one, lots of smoke. Everyone was quite sensible about the situation and all kind of braked nice and early. Instead of steaming in flat out everyone was quite reserved about it. That’s the first time I actually went; ‘Fair play lads, we’ve all worked together there rather than causing a scene’
[Whose fault was that? shout from the crowd]
[crowd noise, laughing]
JP: I think Jake [Hill] actually put his hand up a bit for that
[Damn right shout from the crowd]
JP: If you think about the psychology of it all. Jake was in a brilliant position he’s never been in before, even if he got the undercut on Matt, which he looked like he might , he’s still not going to get the next corner. Matt tried to snuff out his undercut [inaudible due to crowd noise] I think it’s a racing incident. There wasn’t any malice in it. But Matt’s got to put his hand up [inaudible due to clapping]
Ash: I would totally agree with you there. It was all forced upon Jake when, yeah, it was probably classed as a racing incident. We all get hot-headed when we get out of the car and speak what we think. But sometimes people don’t go about things the correct way sometimes.
Gav: And Josh. You’re just happy to be here?
[Laughter]
Josh: I’m having just the best time
[Laughter]
Gav: What a man. These things aren’t all serious. Not only do you get crap equipment, you also get crap segments like this. If you remember at Oulton Park we did Mr and [mic cuts out]. Oooh. Mr and Mrs, which we then said was Mr and Mr between you two [Ash and JP]. If you remember we did some questions. Do you remember that?
Ash: I can’t remember what I did last week [inaudible as both Ash and JP speak]
Gav: If I remember you’d have a few gins [JP] before you came on stage as well. That seemed to go down quite well. So seeing as you’ve both driven with him, this section is called ‘Who Knows Ash Sutton The Best?’
[ironic cheers and laughter]
JP: Well we all know who will know him the best [inaudible]. It’ll be Mr Cook. Maybe you can spill us some really [pause, sly look] secrets stuff about Ash…..
Gav: There’s children in the room
[laughter, inaudible comments]
JP: I’m sure the children are happy to be here as well
Gav: Ooh, I’m sure they are. So you’ll have seen the pictures on the BTCC feed of Ash and Josh, on International Friendship Day. Just having a smile together and a cuddle. So we’ll go with you first Josh because you’re happy to be here. In this low budget quiz with no sort of jingle or microphone that works properly, or anything. But thanks for coming.
[Give us a jingle shout from the crowd]
Gav: Can you try a jingle?
Josh: What sort of jingle?
Gav: Whatever jingle you want.
Josh: Er, Jingle Bells?
[Laughter]
Josh: It’s a bit early for Christmas songs otherwise [crowd noise]
Gav: So, question 1. So I have gone to Ash and asked these questions and he has given me his answers. As to how truthful they are….
Ash: The only thing I will say is he’s [JP] having a sneaky look [at the answers]
[laughter and inaudible comments]
Gav: Unfortunately technology means I need to be near him in case my mic goes down. But that’s fine. We know who you want to win already [Ash] don’t we?
[inaudible talking over each other as Gav shuffles closer to JP]
Gav: I’m moving here JP, I’ve got your back.
Ash: I’m going to move the chairs in a minute and I’ll be sat there.
Gav: So Josh, question one. You want to contact Ash without calling him. What’s the best way to do so? There’s multiple choices so don’t panic. Is it a) What’sApp
Josh: Yes
[laughter]
Gav: It might not be. There’s two other answers. B) Text message or C) Sliding into his DM’s on social media
Josh: All of the above?
[laughter]
Josh: Yeah, What’sApp
Gav: That’s correct, that’s one mark
Ash: Are you keeping a tally of this? Or should we get someone to do this? Should we involve the crowd?
Gav: Do you want to keep a tally at the front? Go on then
Ash: So it’s one to Josh
Gav: My mic’s….it’s back. Question Two. It’s out of season and Ash goes to the bar. What does he order? A…I can’t believe he’s going to get me to say this….
Josh: Amaretto and coke?
Gav: Well he said ‘Sit on My Face or Slippery Nipple Number 2’?
[laughter and cheers]
Josh: He doesn’t order that to the bar [laughter]
Gav: Apparently it’s a cocktail. I don’t know where you two go drinking.
JP: I think you’ll find that’s a home order isn’t it?
[laughter]
Gav: B) Disaronno and Diet Coke or C) Fruit Juice?
Josh: B
Gav: The answer is B so we’re two for Josh. Disaronno and Diet Coke.
[crowd noise, inaudible chatter and shouts of ‘Barmy Army’]
Gav: Question Three. Ash is waiting in a queue to go the toilet. It doesn’t whether if it’s a number one or two. He’s just in the queue. A fan asks for a picture, what does he do? Is he that kind he says yes anyway, does he ask to go to the toilet first, washes his hands and then offers to have the photo taken outside. Or, does he immediately voice his disapproval and refuse to have a picture?
Josh: I think he’d just have the photo straight away.
[crowd shouts]
Gav: What?! It’s the way they look at each other. He just knows. That’s correct as well. That’s three out of three. Excellent. Question four: It’s a race day and Ash wants to get in the mood……..for racing [ironic laughter and cheers]
Gav: Thought I’d clarify that one in quickly. Does he….
Josh: Just touch his ears
[more laughter]
Gav: Does he put his headphones in, turn up the music and get himself pumped? Does he sit in silence, zoning out to get focused? Or c) does he have a laugh with the team?
Josh: I’d say B
Gav: You’d say B? There’s cracks starting to form
Ash: Eh urrrrrrrr [wrong answer noise]
Gav: It’s C apparently
[ironic cheers and oooh’’]
Gav: So what have we got for Josh at the moment [to boy in crowd]?
[shouts of three from crowd]
Ash: You’ve got a pen and paper haven’t you? Great work
Josh: Great work, great work
Gav: Enjoying the dedication. And question five, finally. If Ash wasn’t a racing driver what does he think he’d be? A) A property developer, B) A website manager or C) A crash test dummy
[laughter and crowd noise]
Josh: Did you say if he wasn’t a race driver? [laughter] Crash test dummy
Gav: [mic issue] Oh no, we’re in. He says he’d be a property developer
Ash: You’ve gone down in my estimations, right [moves closer to JP], we’re going back to taking it slow [laughter]
Gav: Three out of five? Is that right. Three out of five. Three to beat. JP. Ash has a bad race. Does he want you to…ignore him for a while because he’ll be moody? Talk to him because he deals best by ranting. Or drop him a message and tell him you’ll call tomorrow.
JP: What was three?
Gav: Three was drop him a message and tell him you’ll call him tomorrow, b) was talk to him as he deals best by ranting or a) ignore him for a while because you know he’ll be moody.
Ash: I have to say this is quite a tricky one
JP: You’re telling me. Probably A. A, is it? You can be a bit moody sometimes
Ash: That is very true. But it is unfortunately…..
Gav: Yeah it’s B. Talk to him because he wants to rant.
JP: Oh is it? [inaudible mutterings between JP and Ash]
Gav: That’s fine. Question Two: It’s a race day and Ash wants a drink. What would his preferred choice be? A) Water…..B)…..just hearing Josh shout milk B) Energy drink or C) Tea or coffee. So it’s a race day; water, energy drink, tea or coffee.
JP: Do you know what, he’s definitely not a coffee man. I think it’s milk to be fair [laughter] I think it’s water, yes…..
Gav: Yeah it is
JP: [To Josh] You know what I nearly said that, I nearly repeated it….
Gav: It’s water. Correct. Yes. That’s one on the board for JP
JP: Bitty
[Laughter]
Josh: That was really well translated that, it could have been a lot worse
[laughter]
JP: Bitty mummy
[laughter, inaudible]
Ash: She’s sat down there Jason, you know that? [points to his mum]
[laughter]
Gav: Hello Bitty. Question Three. Ash is stuck in the pits with audio playing through the speakers on loop and he can’t turn it off. What annoys him more? Your voice, Jason, on Fifth Gear? His mum moaning about him not tidying up? Or Josh Cook going on about his sunburn?
[Laughter and cheers]
JP: It’s definitely his mum catching him with the Kleenex next to the bed [laughter]
Gav: Yes. He said his mum moaning about him not tidying up so that’s two out of three
[Applause]
Gav: So penultimate question. The race weekend is over. How does Ash unwind once he’s home back in the hotel on a Sunday night. And the options are clean [laughter]. A) Does he watch the races back? B) Does he go home and have a pamper session? Or C) does he get a Chinese?
[shouts of ‘Chinese’ and ‘Go on JP’ from the crowd]
JP: He’s a proper driver, he goes back and has a bit of pamperage doesn’t he?
Gav: Is that your serious answer?
JP: Yeeeeah
Gav: No chance, he says he has a Chinese
[cheers]
Gav: The final question, which you need to take this to deadlock [inaudible]. Finally, if Ash had to take up another sport, which of these three does he think he’d excel at most. Women’s volleyball isn’t an option [laughter] A) Boxing, B) a football player or c) a gymnast
JP: He’s quite bendy isn’t he? [laughter]
Ash: Here, how do you know? [laughter]
Josh: Yeah, how do you know? [more laughter]
JP: I was helping his mum clear up one day [laughter]
JP: He’s a gymnast. He’s a gymnast. He’s definitely not a boxer is he?
Gav: Well definitely not. But he thinks he’d be a football player
[Booing from the crowd]
JP: Hold on, hold on, hold on. You strike me as a bloke that has got more than one brain cell so you can’t be a footballer [cheers from the crowd]
Ash: I’ll take that as a compliment
Gav: So the winner of the quiz, am I right, it’s Josh? Yeah Josh wins. Round of applause [applause]. Congratulations. So Josh and Ash, are there any bigger bromances on the circuit than you two?
Ash: Apart from Matt [Neal] and Jason. [Cheers]
Josh: That’s not tough love though.
Gav: Is it Josh and Paul O’Neill perhaps?
Ash: No, I put a stop to that.
[laughter]
Gav: Did you? That’s why I stuck you down there end [Josh] as I was worried you’d clip me around the face like you did on TV. So it’s you two is it? You sort of hold hands around the paddock…
Josh: I mean, we didn’t plan it that way. It just happened
[laughter]
Gav: It’s quite nice. What about you JP, have you got anything on this modern bromance?
JP: Er, no. I try and go out of my way to dislike all my competitors [laughter]. I just find it’s much healthier.
Gav: That’s fair
Josh: I can agree [laughter]
JP: To be fair. I get on really well with Rob [Collard], and always have done, probably because he punched me in the kidneys once as I had him off and I’ve been wary of that ever since [laughter] You know what, I get on ok with Matt now, probably because we’re not sharing the same piece of tarmac I guess.
[Ooooh’s from crowd]
JP: I’d still stick it to him and tin roof him [inaudible]. Did I just say that? [laughter] Just in case that should happen by mistake.
Gav: So this part of the Q&A is over. So round of applause for these three gentlemen.
[applause]
Gav: So I can’t promise the microphones are going to work. And there’s more people here than we expected. So firstly, that’s excellent. Secondly, we’ll try our best I suppose. What I’m going to do is pretend I’m at school and get you to put your hand up and come round with a mic and if you’ve got a question, ask it. The worst that can happen, I suppose, is they say ‘I’m not going to answer it’. Hopefully nobody walks out. But by all means we haven’t had any problems before. You never know do you so we’re going to give it a try. So if you have a pressing question to ask these three, because you don’t want to hear me asking questions all night, we will try our utmost. Again, apologies for the equipment. It’s been hired. It’s nothing to do with Adrian Flux, or BTCC, or anyone else [mic problem, laughter, inaudible chatter]. Right, so, has anybody got any questions? Ok, so I’m going to try and do this a logical way. And go….sort of, I don’t really know where I’m going to go but we’ll try anyway. So if you can take the mic, say who your question is for, unless it’s for all three, and then we’ll go.
Crowd member: It’s for all three. What is your favourite circuit?
JP: Quickfire round, Oulton Park.
Ash: Brands GP
Josh: Donington
Gav: Good question, good answers. Next.
Crowd member: Hi guys, this is for all three. Have you had a Stinking Bishop? [laughter and shouts of what] Stinking Bishop, it’s a cheese.
JP: Ah, yeah, the right stinky stuff. Yeah, it’s a bit too much for that me. Yeah I have tried that. Why do you ask that? Are you a Stinking Bishop person? Do you have a Stinking Bishop?
[laughter and background noise]
Gav: Josh, Ash?
Ash: No
Josh: No
Gav: Anyone in this sort of vicinity? I’ll cut through and try not to stand or kick or do anything so bear with me.
Crowd member: This is a semi-serious question. All three of you have driven the MG6, as I do. Can someone explain to me why, the fact the car is so old and is obviously they’re not as good as they used to be. Why? Because they get engines and new bits and pieces? So why are they not as good as they used to be?
Ash: I’ll quickly just jump in – because I wrote it off here last, a few years ago.
JP: I thought you were talking about the road cars, you’re on about the race cars. Do you know what, I don’t know. Probably because of what Ash said because that car was epic
Josh: He said because he wrote it off when we were here
[‘You wrote it off too shout’ from the crowd, laughter]
JP: You know what, you’re right. I ended up on the roof. Someone roofed me.
Josh: I think it was Matt Neal?
JP: No. It wasn’t. I roofed myself [inaudible]
Josh: Yeah I did it at Thruxton. It’s think it’s probably since they moved from, when they were Triple-Eight they had a lot of investment, they were manufacture backed. Since then obviously they’ve kind of moved away and they’ve had less investment spent on them. There’s a life of the car and by the regulations once it’s out of that then obviously you can no longer use it. So there aren’t the teams willing to invest the money to develop the cooling package, the engine and the set up and it’ll just slowly move down. But I still think it’s a competitive car. It was great fun when we drove it, it was obviously a strong car at the time. It happens in all cars that get older, because obviously the life cycle.
JP: Great answer
Gav: Excellent answer
Josh: I made it all up
[laughter]
Gav: That’s how you win at life isn’t it? Next question.
Crowd member: This is to all of you. Do you say ‘war-ter’ or ‘wart-a’
Ash: ‘Wart-a’
Josh: ‘War-ter’
JP: ‘Wart-ter’
[crowd shouts]
Gav: Next question
Crowd member: If you could race any car, what would it be?
[crowd shouts of BMW and laughing and cheers]
JP: [inaudible] it would be white, with bits of blue [inaudible]
Josh: Rear-wheel drive
JP: Three series, lovely motor. [Laughs] Do you know what? Out of all the cars, I’d like to have a go at the three-seat McLaren, the original F1 car. Not the F1 car, the McLaren F1. Was that the 1990’s would it be? I was lucky enough to drive it on Fifth Gear, it was amazing. I’d like to race in one of those that would be cool
Josh: I’d like to race a V8 supercar in Australia but I don’t think that’ll happen because I heard it’s real sunny down there [laughter]
Gav: Good. I like that. Good answer, good answer
Ash: I’d like a go at DTM, for me, German Touring Cars [crowd noise]
..
Gav: Next question
JP: You lads are young. You can still have a go at these things. I take your point about the sun [laughter]
Gav: You can’t get burnt in a car can you? You can’t get burnt inside a car can you?
Josh: I mean, you wouldn’t have thought so but I manage it [laughter]
Gav: Moving onto the next question
Crowd member: I’ve got two questions for all three of you. The first one is what’s your favourite brand of car?
Josh: Honda
JP: Liar [laughter]
Josh: I’m a big McClaren fan.
JP: Probably Porsche I would say [cheers]
Ash: Subaru [laughter and heckles]
JP: Liaaaaaar
[crowd heckles]
Ash: To be fair, it’s probably a McLaren as well.
Crowd member: Second question. Have you ever sat at your window and looked at the cars passing by and liked all the old cars but hated all the new cars?
[inaudible]
Gav: So he said: ‘Have you ever looked out of your window and seen all the old cars passing by and liked them more and hated all the new cars that are passing by?’
JP: Well that is a good question isn’t it?
Gav: It is a good question.
JP: I think if I’m at Goodwood, without a doubt, yes. If you go down there for the revival there’s some amazing cars and even though they’re 50s and 60s some of them are just epic. But, you know, the prospect of seeing like a Morris Ital [laughter] that doesn’t do anything for me…… or the Austin Allegro.
Josh: I don’t think you can watch a Goodwood Revival race and not really love them. Obviously, didn’t get to do it myself but I watched this guy [JP] wanging around in, what was it, a Cortina? Just amazing. Looked great fun. So you can’t not appreciate it.
Gav: Ash, have you got an answer on that one?
Ash: Yeah, I’ll go with the guys here. Obviously, all the modern cars, technology nowadays it’s all moving on, things are getting better. But you can’t beat jumping back into an old classic, for example the Cortina, and hanging it out sidewards.
Gav: Brilliant. Got another question down here.
Crowd member: Question for Jason and Ash. I’m a big fan of both of you. Last year…..
Josh: Thanks mate
[laughter]
JP: Do you want to rephrase that question a bit?
Crowd member: No worries
[laughter]
Crowd member: I like you as well
Ash: Sounds like you’re backpedalling to me….
Crowd member: Last year you both driv for Subaru….
JP: Did you say driv?
[laughter]
Crowd member: Drove for Subaru, sorry I’m from Norfolk…
[inaudible chat and crowd noise]
Crowd member: You both drove for Subaru last year. Jason seemed to struggle, compared to Ash, last year and because obviously I like both of you as drivers I was looking forward to watching the battle between you both. Jason you always seemed quite near the back and Ash was up the front battling. What was the issue?
JP: I lost the manual
[laughter]
JP: I think for the last two years I was in the Subaru it must have slipped down the back of the sofa or something because I’ve found it again. Do you know what? I think it might be the true answer actually without getting the lawyers running round all over the place. It just didn’t work. Unfortunately it didn’t work.
Crowd member: It didn’t work for you…… and it did work for Ash?
Gav: But it worked for Ash?
Josh: I have to say. I get to see it from an impartial perspective. You cannot question Jason’s pace when you look at 2016 against Turkington [clapping from crowd] you can’t question it, you did pretty well, and you have to use that as a reference as well
JP: I like your answer [laughter] I’m very pleased to be here [laughter]
Gav: Any questions over this side of the room just while I’m here. I’ll try and make my way round.
Crowd member: The question is basically for all three. There’s all the talk about boost issues with BMW, WSR – is there nothing the drivers can do as a whole to deal with it?
Josh: Like……push them off?
[laughter and cheers]
Gav: I think he means, officially is there anything you can do as a body….?
Josh: Officially push them off?
[more laughter]
Gav: No, not officially push them off. Is there anything you can officially do as a body?
Josh: Like a strike?
Gav: Well I don’t know
JP: I thought he said strut. Like we’d strut around.
Josh: Peacock around
JP: No, there’s not, there’s nothing we can do and that’s the frustrating thing. There’s three really happy people in the paddock and the rest aren’t so and it’s down to the organisers to look and see. They handle the data and they either want to do something or they don’t. [crowd shout] Well I’m not sure they don’t, because they have, they’ve done something twice now, but they’re just not looking at the same mathematics as we are.
[inaudible]
Crowd member: What could you do to make F1 more like touring cars?
Josh: Put bigger bumpers on them
[laughter]
Ash: Take the aerodynamics away
JP: Make all the drivers go down the pub
[cheers, inaudible]
JP: And seeing some fans in there rather than scuttling away not wanting to meet anybody.
Gav: Good question. There’s a hand here
Crowd member: This question’s for Jason. What’s been the hardest part about writing your book?
[Jeers]
JP: In all honesty the hardest bit is……..
[crowd shout of spelling and laughter]
Ash: Writing
[inaudible and crowd noise]
JP: Do you know what my editor has been working very hard. I wouldn’t say that. Had you asked me that question three weeks ago I’d have said ‘deciding what stories to go in because there’s only 280 pages and that’s it’. But actually, what was more difficult was trying to pick 55 pictures from since I was 12 which is hard.
Josh: Did they have photos back then?
[laughter]
JP: A few of them are sepia, granted. But the hardest thing is trying to pick 55 pictures out of thousands because each picture is a story and a memory. And also probably the hardest thing is telling the publisher ‘you cannot cut that story out’; ‘well we need to’ and I’m like ‘you can’t’. So, yeah, making sure that everybody that’s played a role in it gets a mention, not just a name, but a story. So that’s probably been the hardest bit.
Gav: Another question
Crowd member: Most of us will agree that Jason is a legend
[round of applause]
JP: It depends how you pronounce it. It can be legend or leg-end
Crowd member: Legend. But also, a question for Ash. What was it like to teach the old dog new tricks?
[laughter and cheers]
Ash: Look at the end of the day. I grew up looking up to this man here. Met him back in 2007 when I’d just won my first British championship in karting. We laugh and joke about that photo…
JP: I have that picture. Why did I not put that in the book?
Ash: I’m not buying a copy now. [laughter] So obviously to go from looking up to someone like that and going ‘that’s where I want to be’ to being sat in the car alongside him, he taught me a load of things on and off the track and I’ll never hold anything against this man. He even helped me at the hardest point of probably what I’d say my career, when it was coming down to that final race [when I won the championship], he was the one that kind of picked me up and said ‘you’ve got this’.
[applause]
Gav: Very nice, very nice. Josh I saw your face drop there when he said he looked up to him. Quite like you I imagine.
Josh: Thanks. I’m just happy to be here
[laughter]
Gav: Any more questions around this sort of area? Right I’m going to come this way because I’m wary of time as well as there’s a band coming soon to set up and hopefully their mics work
[crowd shout]
Crowd member: This is for all three. Rather than a specific car, is there a specific category of racing…..
Josh: Banger racing
[cheers]
Josh: Endurance racing. I’m a big fan of endurance racing
Ash: I’ll stick to the sprint stuff. I don’t fancy sharing a car, especially with someone like him [Josh] who can smash it up
[laughter]
JP: Yeah, I’d like to have a go at the long stuff [inaudible laughter] and shouts of Le Mans. The last time I did I upset my team-mate because I weed in the seat [laughter] and as I was coming into the pits funnily enough. So yes, I’d need to make sure there was a hole drilled.
Gav: Interesting
Crowd member: This is one for you Jason, with you being more experienced shall we say?
JP: Played nicely.
Crowd member: Back when you started obviously the set-ups are different, the budgets are a lot different. What would you prefer being in the car? Would you go back to the 90’s style. Or would you rather be on the NGCT package.
JP: These cars now are tanks in comparison. Touring cars right at the end of their lifespan, 97/98/99 and 2000 were epic, very expensive to run and that’s not a good thing. But they were fantastic to drive. Did you have a go in this before, the Honda [to Josh/Ash]? They’re just brilliant. They’re much lighter than these cars. The turbo engines are really highly strung, tyres are better. Everything just works better. So yeah, I’d like to go back. I’m sure there’s something slightly rose-tinted in front of my eyes maybe.
Gav: Next question down here.
Crowd member: This is for all three of you. What football team do you support?
Ash: Even going back to the whole ‘what would I be if I didn’t race a car’ and me saying a footballer, I don’t really support it so…..
Josh: You just like the fame don’t you?
Ash: No. Well…
Josh: What was it. You don’t like football? You don’t like the fame?
Ash: I’m not very flexible. I can’t remember what the other one was.
Gav: The other one was boxing
[laughing]
Ash: I’m really bad. I’d definitely come out worse
Gav: Josh?
Josh: Erm…..what’s the question again?
Gav: What football team do you support?
Josh: Oh yeah, I don’t support a football team
JP: England? Is that a team [laughter] England girls, England girls. That’s who I support [cheers and inaudible football discussion] They’re called the Foxes.
[calls of the Lionesses]
JP: The Foxes I’m going for
Gav: Good work. Next question.
Crowd member: How fair do you think the penalties are that are given out?
Josh: Are we getting the penalty? Or looking at…..
Crowd member: Different drivers……different things that happen….
Josh: I think all the penalties I get are really unfair [laughing] and the penalties that everybody else gets aren’t harsh enough [laughter] They have a really tough job, they have a really tough job to do what they’re doing. Across the board, I’d say certainly the last couple of seasons, they’ve been really good [crowd interaction] Yeah, genuinely. I mean I’ve been on the receiving end of some penalties before which I don’t agree with. But you have to understand what they do is a really tough job. There’s obviously a lot that goes on and there’s not a huge amount of time between races and I actually think, on average – I don’t agree with the penalty that I got at Oulton Park but I still understand that they have a tough job – and on average, just look at the driving standards, I think they are good and that’s as a result of the penalties that they’ve been giving.
Gav: Ash. You nodded, I think, when Josh started answering. I assume you’re just nodding because he was talking and you were lost in his eyes.
Ash: I’m nodding to sleep
[laughter]
Ash: I’m in agreeance there. The consistency is the hardest bit. Every incident’s different. So, trying to keep the penalty consistent is very, very hard. For example, there was one at Croft, where I tapped the back of Chris Smiley and ended – well I didn’t end his race, but he ended up coming in last. I got a penalty for it and he then went and did the exact same thing to Jack Goff in the next race and received exactly the same penalty. When the incidents are very similar, the result in terms of a penalty, they seem to be very consistent with that.
Gav: JP, anything to add?
JP: Erm, I think it’s a difficult job. I’m not sure I could do a good enough job. I suppose the only thing I would say, regardless, is none of us here would go and get a haircut by them [laughter] because they know nothing about haircuts
Josh: I was really wondering how you were going to get that in
Gav: Next question
Crowd member: If you had to drive, slash, race an electric car
[ironic cheers]
JP/Ash [pointing]: Wow. Wow. That’s enough. Get out, get out. [laughter, applause] Get out.
[clapping]
JP: We sell noise, do we not?
[clapping]
JP: I think electric cars should be illegal. I think we should all be forced to drive [inaudible and clapping].
Gav: Anything else to add?
Josh: Nope. He nailed it
[laughter]
Gav: Our global warming expert has spoken…
JP: Yeah but this global warming is good….
Josh: Not for all of us
[laughter]
JP: I like this sunshine and stuff. It’s nice isn’t it?
Crowd member: If you had to bring back an ex-manufacturer or bring a new manufacturer into the championship, what would it be and why?
JP: Was that bring an ex or a new?
Crowd member: Ex, or a new?
Ash: I’d like to see Ford back properly. They were good in the super tourer days
Josh: Renault
JP: I was going to say Renault
Josh: You looked like you were going to say that, I didn’t know what else to pick so…. [laughter]
JP: I think Renault should be in touring cars again for sure. Peugeot.
[inaudible with crowd noise and shout of Seat]
Gav: Next question.
Crowd member: Who is the most competitive racer you’ve gone up against?
Ash: Rob Collard loves to get his elbows out. Rob for me, he’ll leave you a car’s width but that’s about it
Josh: I think all of the touring car drivers are really competitive. Even when we do the drivers’ parade and we stop there is literally a foot race to the toilet isn’t there? [laughter] it’s proper elbows out, it’s like a pre-race. Everyone is really competitive but as a team-mate I had this guy [points to Ash] and he’s really hard work to race with.
JP: I prefer to say a right pain in the arse to work with [laughter]
Josh: I didn’t want to use that term…
JP: Fit, young, slimline….
Josh: Flexible
JP: Flexible….football knowledge [laughter]
Gav: Another question
Crowd member: There’s quite a few fan groups on Trackside and Facebook so it’s a serious question for Jason. Question is: Barmy Army or Jeff Army?
[crowd noise and shouts]
Josh: I think we should get a show of hands of members before you make your decision….
Gav: I think Jason’s mic has just cut out [laughter] Technical issues?
JP: Do you know what there is absolutely no way I can win this [cheers] and there’s absolutely no way I’m going to answer it [groans and claps]. What I will say is the Barmy Army were the originals [cheers] but that’s not to decry…what is it? [crowd shouts of Jeff Army] Whatever that might mean, you’re both lush
Gav: I think we’ll move on
[crowd shouts ‘Ash answer that one’, inaudible chat]
Crowd member: This question is to all three so it’s a two-part question. If you were given a chance to race with Yuasa Honda [crowd boos] would you take it?
Josh: I feel like I’ve got the best Honda
[cheers from crowd]
Ash: Depends what else is on the cards
JP: Yeah, it would be ‘depends what else is on the cards’. But I honestly don’t think they’d pay what I would want to charge
[inaudible crowd noise]
JP: I can’t ever me imagine looking at Matt’s [Neal’s] dad and taking anything he said seriously.
Crowd member: That was the second part of the question, you have to partner Matt Neal
JP: That would be ok, that would be ok. If he’s listening, his dad would be the bigger problem [laughter]
Gav: We’ll take a question here and then we’ll have to start moving towards the end of the questions unfortunately
Crowd member: If you could change any race on the calendar, what would it be?
JP: What and we can go anywhere?
Josh: I’d want to go Spa. I don’t know which one we’d get rid of. I think we should add another one in
[crowd noise, including ‘lose one gain one shout’]
Josh: You have to lose one?
Gav: You have to lose one, that’s the name of the game.
JP: Some races get two events so we can ditch one of them. What about Cadwell?
[cheers and applause]
Josh: That would be an interesting race wouldn’t it? I don’t think you can get two cars side by side around Cadwell so you’d have to take to the grass to overtake
JP: Or over the top
[cheers]
JP: Maybe we could do like a video game where just on the right-hand side there’s a ramp with like an accelerator pull, we can either go over…
Josh: We should not write rules and regs should we?
[laughter]
Gav: I think it would be quite good. What are we going to put in and what are we going to ditch?
Josh: I think, as I love Thruxton, it’s my home circuit. But this season we’d get rid of one of the Thruxtons and we’d go to Spa
Gav: Ash?
Ash: Agreed
JP: I’d like there to be a race in Barbados to be fair [laughter]. There is a track there.
Josh: Again. Very sunny….
JP: We could go to Iceland
[crowd noise]
Josh: I’d really thrive in those conditions
Gav: Any questions around here as I’m making my way back before we then do the raffle
Josh: Behind you
Gav: Sorry
Crowd member: This question’s for Jason. If you could drive your Chevvy again would you?
JP: Which one?
Crowd member: The blue and white one
[laughter]
JP: I had three blue and white ones. What the 2010 one? That was a belter [crowd shout of Cruise] That was a cruise, yeah, literally [laughing]. Do you know what, I would ride it again. In many many ways I preferred the Lacetti, the one, before because that produced great flames out of the exhaust
Gav: Any questions around here before I move back? We have obviously got the raffle to sort and then we’ve got some prints that can be signed at the end, that are free, and you can get some photos and stuff so as I make my way this way if I walk past you then that’ll be your last chance for a question. Oh, we’ve got one here.
Crowd member: If you went to space, which planet would you go to?
[laughter]
Gav: That’s a good question
JP: That’s a belter
Josh: You can’t say Uranus
[laughter]
Gav: It was set up for that wasn’t it?
[applause and inaudible]
JP: Do you know that’s a great question. Do you believe there are people out there? Do you think there’s other life out? [crowd member says yes] See I think there is definitely something. We can’t be the only thing, the only place where it works, so I’d want to go to the planet where the other things are living
Ash: You never know, there could just be three people sat doing the same thing there
[inaudible]
Gav: With better equipment [crowd laughs]
JP: I’d love to go into space and look back at the earth. That would be amazing. How about you? What planet would you go to?
Crowd member: Mars
JP: Mars?
Gav: Josh. The coldest? As far away from the sun as possible
Josh: Let’s go to Pluto because it’s cold
Gav: Ash
JP: You raaaaannnng? [laughter]
Gav: Ash, do you have a space-based answer?
Ash: I’d go with him [Josh} just because I don’t have to pay for the flight [laughter]
Josh: I thought it was you that was taking me away
JP: While we’re on this spacey stuff. Have any of you seen the space station that flies over? If you haven’t, download this app called ISS and it tells you exactly where it is and tells you where….
Gav: Have you got shares in that app or something? Hell of a plug [laughter]
Josh: You can read about it in his book [laughter]
Gav: Or you can watch a segment on Fifth Gear [laughter]
JP: Hang on, hang on, hang on. If it’s about the book, £19.99. But honestly if you’ve not seen it and then you can see it come over the top. And to think there’s what, 10 people in there and they’re looking and all they say is the big planet. It’s mind-blowing. It always comes over at night and I might have had a drink [laughter] so it might not be as good when you’re sober as it is when you’re drunk [inaudible]. It is amazing
Gav: Next question, probably two questions after this tops
Crowd member: It’s a question for all three of you. Who was your best, and worst, team-mate and you cannot mention Yvan Muller.
JP: Well he’s both, he’s an odd bloke isn’t he? Erm [Alain] Menu back when I started was the best touring car driver in the world, he was brilliant [applause]. This guy [points to Ash] when he’s on fire was very difficult to beat, very difficult to beat. But worst team-mate? It’s the dirty French liar, of course Yvan Muller [applause] Good stories in the book about him [laughter] There’s only one person I’ve thrown under the bus, and not only did I throw under the bus but I drove over him a few times [laughter] Actually it’s a good thing as I throw myself under the bus a few times. He’s a horrible, horrible human being
Ash: It’s a tricky one this one…. because they’re both sat next to me [laughter] ……so I’m just going to stand over here [mic interference] They’ve both got their good traits and both got their bad traits
JP: They do know that was you [Josh] squealing wasn’t it? [laughter]
Ash: But…..it’s whoever gives the best cuddles out of the pair of them [laughter]. They’re both as good as each other. Every driver has his traits and they’ve both pushed me on to where I am now and they’ve both pissed me off as much as each other [laughter]
Gav: And Josh, you?
Josh: Best fun in a year I had was definitely 2016 with Ash in the MG. It’s hard to say who is the worst because everyone has got their different strengths. I don’t know. It’s who you learn off the most and I probably didn’t learn, I don’t want to name any names, but in the second half of 2017 in the MG I didn’t learn very much from my team-mate, so probably them
[inaudible and laughter, JP Irish impression]
JP: I’m only saying it for fun, he’s a nice lad.
Gav: Last question
Crowd member: So all three of you, you’re in a predominantly male environment. How long do you think it’ll be now before we see the first female driver in the BTCC?
Josh: I think Jade’s getting pretty close isn’t she? Jade Edwards in the Clio, she’s doing a good job. I think if anybody deserves a shot at it it should be her [clapping]
Gav: Apologies for those of you who didn’t get a question. But we’re going to move on to the raffle. So if you want to get your raffle tickets out, I’m aware of time……
