Who Is Matt Neal?
Matthew Stephen Phillip Neal is a British racing driver who won the British Touring Car Championship three times and started more races in it than anyone else. He was born in Stourbridge on 20 December 1966, came to cars from motocross in 1988 and was British Group N champion in 1990 and 1991.
He spent his first decade as an independent. He debuted in 1991, joined his father Steve’s team, Team Dynamics, in 1992, and won the Independents’ title in 1995, 1999 and 2000. In 1999 at Donington Park he won a race outright in a Nissan Primera — the first independent to do so in the modern era — and collected a £250,000 prize the series promoter had put up for it.
The titles came from a car the team built themselves. Team Dynamics developed a Honda Integra from the road car rather than buying an ex-works machine, and Neal won the 2005 championship with it at the final round, scoring points in every race of the season. He retained the title in 2006 with eight wins, and took a third in 2011 with Honda Racing.
He raced every season from 1991 to 2020. The run ended when Team Dynamics lost its Honda and Yuasa backing and could not field a third car for him; he called the break “not a retirement”. He finished with 63 race wins, third on the championship’s all-time list.
