It’s no secret that Jason Plato doesn’t cope well with being an also-ran.
Bumbling around at the back of the field is no place for a two-time BTCC champion and the competition’s winning-most driver, let alone a man who retains a steely will to win.
So Sunday’s return to form at Croft, where Plato shared a podium with teammate Ash Sutton in their revitalised Subaru Levorgs, was a timely boost ahead of the mid-season break and provides much-needed hope for the rest of 2018.
“It’s brilliant to be back in the mix…”
That’s how it’s done, eh @jasonplato ? pic.twitter.com/ips52X5XXd
— Adrian Flux (@adrianflux) June 24, 2018
“It’s brilliant to be back in the mix,” said Plato, who qualified just over a tenth of a second behind Sutton and followed him home in race one at the Yorkshire circuit.
“I discovered again what makes me tick and just being competitive, being in with a shout, getting stuck in, that’s why I’ve done it all my life.
“When you are miles away from that feeling and it doesn’t matter what you do in the car, you are just not competitive, it’s just terrible. It was a real tonic and a real lift, and a very positive weekend for the team.”
“…well done and thank you to Swindon and the team..”
Having admitted to some low moments in recent weeks, as engine and performance problems have left him stuck nearer last than first, Plato was quick to praise the efforts of engine builders Swindon and the Team BMR engineers.
“I’ve been pretty critical and blunt, but I’d like to say well done and thank you to Swindon and the team – they’ve worked really hard together to find something,” he added. “When praise is due, I give it.
“I probably went off the boil during the awful period when we were at the back of the grid, when you know you are going to be 28th or 29th – I’m sure a couple of tenths of a second leaves the system.
“I knew stuff was wrong and until we sorted it out we weren’t going to be competitive. When you’ve got all the experience I’ve had, it was hard to dig deep and try to find those last little bits in such an uncompetitive car.
“I was driving with one arm tied behind my back and a rucksack with a ton of lead. I knew I was not going to win a race until I got my arm back and the rucksack’s off.”
A promising start – but then a drive-through penalty
After finishing second behind Sutton in race one, regaining a place from Andrew Jordan lost at the start, Plato suffered a drive-through penalty in race two for jumping the start, eventually clawing his way back up to finish 14th.
“I’ve not done that for maybe 15 years,” said Plato. “I was so fired up for race two, I could smell the opportunity of a victory and because of the dreadful place we’ve been in for the last 18 months I probably got a bit too pumped.
“Ironically, I used to be on the rule committee with the MSA and I tabled an idea that the jump start penalty is draconian – I suggested that if someone doesn’t get an advantage from it then let it go.
“If they do gain an advantage, the person who’s gone early squares it off and gives a place back or it’s a drive through.
“They didn’t like that idea but I think it’s a better solution. It wrecks your race.”
Going from 29th on the grid to 2nd in just two weeks…
So how, exactly, does a car go from 29th on the grid at Oulton Park to 2nd just two weeks later at Croft?
It led Plato’s long-standing rival Matt Neal, who qualified down in 15th, to bemoan in a Tweet: “Think I’m gonna go scout to see if Subaru dropped their genie lamp out the back of their garage?”
Tough qualy @Croft_Circuit for us today….. think I’m gonna go scout to see if Subaru dropped their genie lamp out the back of their garage? 😔😃🙏🏽🧞♂️
— Matt Neal (@MattNealRacing) June 23, 2018
As ITV’s Tim Harvey pointed out during coverage and on social media, flagging up speed trap data that showed the Subarus still languishing near the foot of the table, it wasn’t all about a slight increase in boost.
“The performance didn’t come from the boost,” said Plato. “We were given a 20 millibar boost increase, which will give us something in the region of 3bhp, maybe four.
“It was given because Swindon had TOCA down at the factory and showed them there was an anomaly with the way the boost on the car is presented to them.
“Because of the harmonics of the engine we have a boost wobble where it goes up and down at certain points in the rev range and in their calculations they had not factored that in.
“They agreed the baseline boost was slightly out, and not to our favour, and that was why we were given 20 millibars. It’s nothing, and our performance really didn’t come from that. It’s just fake news.”
“We really got our car sorted on set ups and balance…”
Four other factors played a part in the car’s improvement, not least the nature of Croft as the rear wheel drive circuit on the calendar combined with two ballast-free cars, a perfect set-up and chassis, and changes to the problematic cooling system.
“We really got our car sorted on set ups and balance,” said Plato. “It was the best it’s been since day one, at least on my car.
“In addition, the team had found some areas with the cooling system and duct work at the front end where we were losing some speed.
“The team changed the point at the front of the car where it sucks air into the engine and then changed the layout of the intercooler and did some heat treatments on it and the turbo.
“The lower you can get the temperature of the air leaving the intercooler, by making it more efficient, the more free horsepower and torque you get.
“All these little changes gave us a decent improvement in our average temperature, which also means we can push the wastegate to work harder, giving us a flatter boost curve and more power.”
Having said all that, you didn’t need a speed gun to see the Adrian Flux Subaru Racing Levorgs still falling behind in a straight line, and Plato wasn’t getting carried away with Sunday’s resurgence.
“Let’s not get carried away, we’ve made some steps forward but the big thing at Croft was both me and Ash got our chassis working really well,” he added.
“The chassis, plus the circuit, with it being very rear wheel drive friendly, flattered our performance. In clean air we can do a really good lap time, but the lap time is coming from how well the car brakes and corners, making up for our losses in the straight.
“Once we get in traffic our performance disappears as you can only go as fast round corners as the bloke in front, and we’re still losing ground down the straight.
“One really good illustration came in race three. I just could not get past and then Rob Collard in the BMW breezes past me down the straight and within two laps he’s on his way and overtaken another six or seven cars.
“It’s very frustrating when you’re sat in the car and Collard drives past like I was a bus and he was in a car.
“Look at my performance in race two. I got back up to 12th, but every car I overtook was into the hairpin and that was the only opportunity I had.
“The rest of the lap was just catching up through the corners what I’d lost down the straight. The hairpin follows a series of slow corners, so I could get into a position to overtake – all the other standard overtake positions weren’t available because I was too far back.”
All of which means that, as things stand, the Subarus are capable of putting in a good lap time on a rear wheel drive circuit with clean air ahead of them.
But more improvements will be needed to keep the car competitive on less favourable tracks, with an ongoing overheating problem top of the agenda for the BMR engineers.
“In traffic we have an overheating problem, which is our problem to solve,” said Plato. “If we do fix that we will go faster in a straight line because some of the lack of straight line speed is because of overheating.
“The water temperature is too high and when it gets above 90C the ECU starts taking ignition advance out of the system – it detunes the engine to keep it safe and keep it going.
“In the last race my engine topped 140 degrees water and 150 degrees oil. When we do sort it we will still be the package with the least horsepower, but we can make some decent gains between now and the next race in our cooling and that will be lap time and straight line speed.
“Maybe because of the weight advantage we have at the moment, if we get the set up and cooling right, I think that will give me and Ash an opportunity to be on the front two rows in most of the races going forward and, if we’re at the front and get clean air, we can do a lap time.
“If we’re on the front row, we can score points in races one and two and get on the podium, but we can’t come from fifth, sixth, seventh and get to the front at the moment.”
Getting ready for the Dunlop tyre test at Snetterton
Next stop for the team is the two-day Dunlop tyre test at Snetterton July 11 and 12, ahead of the BTCC’s 60th anniversary meeting at the Norfolk track at the end of the month.
“I left on Sunday night positive and looking forward to the tyre test,” said Plato. “I’m buoyant because we’ve got some things to go at which will improve our performance.
“We’ve got enough brains there, and we can make a decent step forward which should see us competitive for the rest of the year, at least in qualifying and in races one and two.
“If I can nail a couple of wins we’ve rescued the year a bit.”
And while the young guns have hoovered up a fair few wins so far this season, Plato said the old guard still had plenty of offer.
“You read all that nonsense that I’m too old,” he added. “I’m not going to lie to myself – I know when I’m in the car what I feel. The moment I feel I’m not fast enough anymore I will retire.
“But that isn’t the case. Motor racing is a mental sport, not a physical sport. It’s an indoor sitting down sport and I get out of the car and I’m fresh as a daisy. It’s a mental game and it’s about racecraft, experience, feeling the car and relaying to the team what you want it to do.”
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