Early years Born in
Stourbridge, Neal started out in Motocross but moved into cars in 1988, driving in the Ford Fiesta XR2i category. He was the British Group N Champion in 1990 and 1991. He also co-drove a
BMW M3 to victory at the 1990
Willhire 24 Hour race at
Snetterton.
British Touring Car Championship (1991–2001) Ford Mondeo at
Silverstone during the
1995 British Touring Car Championship season. Neal made his BTCC debut with Pyramid Motorsport at the
Silverstone round of the
1991 BTCC season driving a BMW M3. He finished 13th in his first race before returning to the series two rounds later at
Oulton Park with the
Auto Trader Techspeed Team in another BMW M3. After that race he would race for the team two rounds later at
Donington Park. For
1992, he joined his father's
Team Dynamics team driving the BMW M3 which
Will Hoy had taken to the championship title the year before. The car was badly damaged in an accident forcing Neal to switch to the new
BMW 318 for the final race of the season. Neal won the Total Cup for drivers without manufacturer support in
1993, before joining
Mazda for a season cut short by a huge crash in round five at
Silverstone. He rejoined Dynamics for 1995, remaining for several years and he occasionally humbled the big names, as well as winning the Independents' title three further times in
1995,
1999 and
2000. .In 1999, Neal caused a sensation by winning a race at
Donington Park in a
Nissan Primera, the first Independent to do so in the modern era, winning him a £250,000 prize from BTCC series promoter
Alan J. Gow. He took a further win a year later, having been considered a driver to cause a surprise in the championship. The championship's regulations changed for 2001, and Neal briefly joined
Peugeot Sport UK before sitting out most of the season to race in the
European Touring Car Championship.
British GT Championship (1998) Neal drove a one-off appearance in the
British GT Championship during the 1998 British Grand Prix-supporting race. He finished third, sharing a Porsche 911 GT1 with
David Leslie.
European Touring Car Championship (2001) After racing in one round of the British Touring Car Championship, Neal switched to the European Touring Car Championship's Super Touring category with RJN Motorsport and their
Nissan Primera starting with Round 5 at
Magny-Cours. He finished the championship placed 14th in the drivers standings on 266 points, taking one win in the final round in
Portugal.
Return to the BTCC (2002–2003) Neal returned with
egg:sport in
2002 driving a
Vauxhall Astra Coupé alongside
Paul O'Neill. He finished third in the championship, ahead of his teammate on 145 points. A one-off appearance in the
ASCAR championship at the end of 2002 saw him running as teammate to his future rival
Jason Plato. For 2003, he switched to
Honda Racing to drive a
Honda Civic Type R, the start of long and mainly undisturbed relationship with
Honda. Once again he finished third in the championship ahead of teammates
Tom Chilton and
Alan Morrison.
Back to Team Dynamics (2004–2007) title in
2006. Neal rejoined Team Dynamics (now with
Halfords sponsorship), finishing 5th in the overall Drivers Championship and 4th in the Independents Championship. For
2005 the team developed a
Honda Integra from its basic road-going form, which was an unusual move as independent teams have historically raced ex-works cars, but the team's efforts were rewarded as Neal eventually took the drivers' title in the last round at
Brands Hatch. Dynamics, as
Team Halfords also clinched the Teams and Independent Teams Championships. Neal finished every single race in the points, the first driver to do so since the calendar expanded to 30 races per year. -run
Honda Civic at
Snetterton in the
2007 BTCC season. In
2006, Neal drove the No. 1 Honda Integra and captured the championship again with a string of consistent finishes; 4th place in round 28 being enough to clinch his second title. After 2 years without a mechanical failure, Neal had a suspension failure before the start of the final race. BTC-spec cars such as the Integra were no longer eligible for the main
2007 title, so Dynamics switched to a Honda Civic, using some of their existing running gear but doing development themselves. Neal won the third race of the season, but overall the
SEAT and Vauxhall entries were faster, leaving Neal unable to fight for the title. A huge crash in race 1 of the second meeting at Brands Hatch left him briefly hospitalised; the lost points from this saw teammate
Gordon Shedden outpoint him to finish 3rd overall, with Neal 4th. He attracted controversy during the season's final race, in which
Fabrizio Giovanardi and
Jason Plato fought for the drivers' title. Having signed on as a Vauxhall driver for
2008, Neal let Vauxhall drivers Giovanardi and
Tom Chilton through without a fight, but did not do the same for
SEAT driver
Jason Plato, ensuring Giovanardi would win the title.
VX Racing (2008–2009) In his first year for
VX Racing in 2008, Neal took just one win at Rockingham, while teammate Giovanardi took five wins on the way to retaining his title. He finished the year fifth in the standings. After a strong start to
2009, winning the opening race at Brands Hatch, he failed to win again all season, finishing fourth in the standings behind Giovanardi.
Honda Racing (2010–2020) at
Brands Hatch in the
2011 BTCC season Neal returned to Team Dynamics for the
2010 season, now racing under the Honda Racing banner alongside former teammate
Gordon Shedden. Neal lost out in the drivers championship to
Jason Plato late in the season but he helped
Honda Racing take the Manufacturers and Teams Championships. Neal stayed with Honda in
2011, with the
Honda Civic now using a 2.0
NGTC Honda engine built by Neil Brown Engines. For much of the season the Civics had an advantage over the rest of the field and after a closely fought title battle with his teammate, Neal took his third drivers' title – after 2005 and 2006 – for the Honda Racing team at the final round at
Silverstone, this helping his team to secure the Manufacturers and Constructors title. In
2012, Neal drove the new NGTC Honda Civic. He took the first ever win for an NGTC car in the British Touring Car Championship in the second race of the season at Brands Hatch. Neal won two more races at
Oulton Park and with teammate Shedden taking the other win,
Honda Yuasa Racing Team became the first team to win all three races in a day since
Team Aon won all three races at
Silverstone in
2010. He finished the season second in the championship behind teammate Shedden. Neal stayed with Honda for the
2013 season alongside Shedden. Prior to the Silverstone round Neal broke his finger in a martial arts accident but was passed fitted to race by a doctor He underwent surgery before the season finale at Brands Hatch,
Alain Menu tested for the team as a possible substitute for Neal in the event he was unable to race. Neal finished the year 4th in the championship, two places behind teammate Shedden. round of the
2017 British Touring Car Championship. Neal was again paired with Shedden for the
2014 season, this time driving the new
Honda Civic Tourer. Neal was placed 9th in the overall standings. For the
2021 season, Neal made no appearances on the BTCC grid for the first time since his debut in 1991, after Team Dynamics lost backing from Honda and
GS Yuasa and obtained sponsorship from Cataclean: as a result the team fielded Shedden and Cataclean-backed driver
Daniel Rowbottom as their 2021 line-up. According to Neal the team secured a sponsor to field a third car for him, however this was scuppered when other teams objected to the plan. He described the enforced break in his BTCC career as "not a retirement".
Australia Neal has competed at the
Bathurst 1000 on four occasions; in
1997 and
1998 with
Steven Richards in a
Team Dynamics Nissan Primera, in
2000 in a
Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore VT with
Paul Morris. Withdrew from
2001 where he was due to co-drive with Paul Morris due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks a month before the race and in
2008 in a Paul Morris Motorsport
Holden Commodore VE with
Boris Said. He also drove with Morris at the
2001 Queensland 500.
Other activities Neal lives in
Shenstone, Worcestershire. Neal has appeared on
Top Gear multiple times. He first raced in the Historic People Carrier race in Series 5. He participated in a football match using
Toyota Aygos in Series 6 driving for
James May's team. He raced a
Mitsubishi L300 motorhome in the tenth series during a motorhome race. Neal appeared once again in Series 12's Bus Race, driving an
Optare MetroRider. He then appeared in Series 14's airport vehicles race. In Series 20, episode 2 he drove a
Mercedes-Benz E-Class in a taxi race. Elsewhere Neal has worked alongside
Martin Haven as a co-commentator on
Eurosport's coverage of the former
World Touring Car Championship since 2010 and currently the
World Touring Car Cup. In May 2009, Neal gave both the
Beijing gold medallist and
2008 World Cycling Champion,
Ed Clancy and double World Cycling Champion,
Rob Hayles, masterclasses around
Oulton Park in a
Vauxhall Astra 888 road car, prepared by Triple Eight Engineering – the team behind VX Racing. In March 2015, Neal drove for Milltek Sport in their diesel Golf in the Mugello 12hr race finishing second in class, a week later driving a 500Hp 1979 Bastos Chevrolet Camaro with David Clark, he won the Gerry Marshall Trophy race at the Goodwood Members Meeting. During his 2021 sabbatical, Neal linked up with
Jason Plato for a live recording of a BTCC-themed podcast. Since retiring from motorsport, Neal continues to run the Team Dynamics business, as well as dedicating his online presence to right-wing and anti-immigration movements. ==Fitness==