How Not to Be a Professional Racing Driver

How Not to Be a Professional Racing Driver

Summary

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Two-time championship-winning and record-breaking racing driver, Jason Plato is a living, breathing example of what you shouldn't do if you want to become a professional racing driver:

DO NOT
· Almost kill Bernie Ecclestone
· Give Prince Charles the finger on the M42
· Choose fags and booze over the gym
· Steal a JCB in Monaco and end up in prison there - twice
· Make enemies with a 6ft 6" rival who is a black belt in everything

Since joining the Williams Touring Car team in 1997 it's no coincidence that he has had more race wins than Lewis Hamilton and Stirling Moss, competed in more races than Jenson Button and set the largest number of fastest laps ever. But it's also no coincidence that he once spent several days in prison in Monaco for stealing a JCB. He's a rule breaker who has had more than his fair share of near-death experiences, drunken escapades and more. Yet he's still racing.

There is nothing sensible, predictable or considered about Jason, but this is how he became a racing legend.

Reviews

  • Pure entertainment . . . So much fun . . . His journey from outrageous teenage hijinks to the rough-and-tumble of driver feuding tends to prompt involuntary reading noises, be they barks of laughter or gasps at his audacity
    Guardian, Best Sports Books of 2019

About the author

Jason Plato

Jason Plato is one of the biggest characters in UK motor racing, and one of the most controversial. Since bursting onto the karting scene at the end of the 1970s he has gone on to either upstage or upset dozens of drivers, team owners and team managers - not to mention the odd policeman and nightclub owner. Despite that he is the British Touring Car Championship's most successful driver ever having won an astonishing 96 races and two championships, with more race wins than Lewis Hamilton.

Since 2004, Jason has also co-presented the popular motoring magazine series Fifth Gear, which recently aired its 23rd series. Jason is also a weekly regular on James Martin's hugely popular current show, Saturday Morning, on ITV.

How Not to Be a Professional Racing Driver is his first book.
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