Andy Neate

Andrew Simon Neate (born 19 August 1974 in Aylesbury) is a British former racing driver.

Racing career After first racing in karting, he drove in Formula First in 1997. In 1999, he went on to the Formula Opel Europa Cup and a year later he drove in the Ford Fiesta Championship. He drove in some rounds of the Production class for the BTCC in a Team CAM Mitsubishi Carisma, replacing original intended driver Sandro Proietti prior to the start of the season. For 2002, he moved up to the British GT Championship, driving a Marcos Mantis. In 2004, he joined the TOCA tour with both the Renault Clio Cup and the SEAT Cupra Championship. He got a drive in 2005, in the British Touring Car Championship for Team Nuts with Daniels Motorsport in a former works Vauxhall Astra Coupe. He only drove in the final three rounds at Brands Hatch, finishing eighteenth in the championship with one point and planned to enter the final rounds of the 2006 Season in the same car, only to shelve this plan. In 2006, he won the Ford Fiesta Championship title, and finished first in class at the Britcar 24 Hours in a Honda Civic Type R, as well as driving at Silverstone in the SEAT Cupra Championship. A year later, he raced again in the SEATs, Fiestas and the Britcar 24 in a Mosler GT3 RS where he finished second. He drove in two rounds of the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain for Red Line Racing.

2008 accident At the start of the 2008 Britcar 24 Hours at Silverstone, Neate was involved in a serious accident at the start of the race. He suffered terrible injuries including a broken neck from which he spent the next eighteen months recovering. He had missed on a drive with West Surrey Racing in a BMW 320si for the 2008 BTCC Season and was in talks with WSR about driving for them in 2009 prior to the Britcar event, but the deal could not be completed due to his injury. Neate is the Chief Technology Officer for WSR team sponsors Ceravision. At Oulton Park, he finished ninth, but was disqualified for causing an avoidable accident with Andrew Jordan. Neate driving the Team Aon Ford Focus ST at Brands Hatch during the 2011 British Touring Car Championship season. For the 2011 season, Neate switched to Team Aon in the 'Global' Ford Focus, partnering Tom Chilton and Tom Onslow-Cole. 2011 was another difficult year for Neate, he struggled to score points and was involved in many accidents. However, he qualified third at Oulton Park but lost many positions during the first race and only finished ninth, on the last lap he was involved in a major collision with Jeff Smith which resulted in the car of Tom Boardman being written off after he was collected by Smith. At Rockingham, Neate was fined £1,500 for using abusive language towards Alex MacDowall after a dispute over an incident on track. His pace improved during the Brands Hatch meeting, however he lost out on a podium position after losing control of his car.

For the 2012 season, Neate joined the new manufacturer MG team run by Triple Eight Race Engineering alongside Jason Plato. He had another unsuccessful season, finishing sixteenth in the championship whilst his teammate Plato finished third. During the off-season it was confirmed that Neate would not be driving for the MG team in 2013, although he will remain in the championship. On 9 January it was announced that Neate was forming his own team for the 2013 season, and would drive a NGTC-specification Chevrolet Cruze.

The programme wouldn't continue for a second year with the Chevrolet being sold on to Laser Tools Racing for the 2014 season and it would be 2016 before Neate returned to the championship after agreeing a deal to join Team Dynamics in an expanded three-car team. However, Neate would compete in just one meeting before splitting with the team, citing a "lack of full commitment and focus on the job".

Neate rejoined the grid in 2020 with Motorbase Performance in a Ford Focus but endured a tough season that included being excluded from the Thruxton meeting for a clash with Carl Boardley. At the end of the season, Neate re-signed for a second season, hoping that a full pre-season testing programme would provide the chance to fight for improved results on track.

Personal life Neate has a son, Aiden, who is also a racing driver.

In 2014, Neate was fined £1,000 by the Civil Aviation Authority after illegally landing his helicopter at Oulton Park during CarFest North on August 2, 2014. Neate flew his helicopter over a crowd of 25,000 people and landed without permission, causing a Royal Navy display team to abort their routine. At Chester Magistrates' Court in April 2015, Neate pleaded guilty to landing and taking off within 1,000 meters of a large open-air assembly, and failing to produce his pilot's licence and logbook.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results (key) Races in bold indicate pole position (1 point awarded – 2001 all races, 2005–present just for first race, 2001 in class) Races in italics indicate fastest lap (1 point awarded all races, 2001 in class) signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap (1 point awarded all races)

Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Pos Pts Class 2001 Cranfield Automotive Management Mitsubishi Carisma BRH1 BRH2 THR1 THR2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 SIL2 MON1 MON2 DON1 DON2 KNO1 KNO2 SNE1 SNE2 CRO1 CRO2 OUL1 OUL2 SIL1 SIL2 DON1 DON2 BRH1 BRH2 N/A 0 NC 2005 Team Nuts withDaniels Motorsport Vauxhall Astra Coupé DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 MON1 MON2 MON3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 18th 1 2010 WSR BMW 320si THR1 THR2 THR3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 18th 6 2011 Team Aon Ford Focus BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 18th 15 2012 MG KX Momentum Racing MG 6 GT BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO39* SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 16th 79 2013 Team Club 44 Chevrolet Cruze BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 34th 0 2016 Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda Civic Type R BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 DON1 DON2 DON3 THR1 THR2 THR3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 ROC1 ROC2 ROC3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 34th 0 2020 Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST Mk.IV DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 25th 3 2021 Racing withWera & Photon Group Ford Focus ST THR1 THR2 THR3 SNE1 SNE2 SNE3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 OUL1 OUL2 OUL3 KNO1 KNO2 KNO3 THR1 THR2 THR3 CRO1 CRO2 CRO3 SIL1 SIL2 SIL3 DON1 DON2 DON3 BRH1 BRH2 BRH3 30th 0 † Event with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Britcar 24 Hour results