Drivers know: Jason Plato.

2001 BTCC champ Jason Plato lives the life. Loves Monaco, flies his own plane, likes the ladies - and has tastes to match. He also loves being on TV: you'll recognise the Seat Sport driver from Channel 4's Driven and ITV1's Speed Sunday. As the first part of BTCC title sponsor Dunlop's 'Drivers know' series, Jason lets us know a little more about him.

Jason's favourite road story:
There's so many, but the one that comes to mind was a trip last year - horrendous at the time, but priceless. I hate petrol stations and my hatred grows by the day. The whole thing seems to be getting longer - maybe number plate recognition or something, the pumps seem slower - a tedious waste of time - and then you have to stand in a queue to pay for ten minutes. I have a habit of running down to vapours to minimise the number of stops I have to make.

This particular trip I was driving from my parents' to a corporate event for SEAT. It was about 6.30am on a Monday morning on the A12 and my fuel light came on. I thought - OK - another 20 miles or so as I drove past a filling station. Three miles later it died. It was sheeting down with rain. I had no coat - just a fleece. I couldn't believe it. I was running late - so knew it was pointless calling the AA - only thing to do was walk and try to hitch a lift. I left the bonnet up so that people would know I'd broken down, realise I needed lift and stop. An hour later I was still walking - no one stopped - mainly just blew the horn and waved. My disgust for fellow motorists grew. After about 4 miles I got to the next filling station. It had no cans. I even asked all the motorists on the forecourt to give me a lift. Nothing. So I had to call a taxi to take me to another filling station, get a can of petrol and take me back to the car. The car starts fine - but now I'm panicking; I'm over an hour late. I was so wet that the car turned into a stinking steam room. So I phone SEAT to warn them I was late only to be told I'd got the wrong day - it was the following day. I think it will stick in my mind forever as the greatest Plato cock-up (but now I carry a can of fuel).

Jason's nomination for a 'car that deserves more recognition':
It has to be the 2CV. It was my second car - sky blue. I was at college. It cost about ?200. It was almost so uncool it was cool. It cost less than ?5 a week in petrol and the fastest I ever got it was 72mph down a hill. It was marvellous - loads of room and really good fun to drive until I snapped the floor pan in half on a kart track.

Jason's Driver's Drive:
I'm really lucky with my TV work - I get to drive some fantastic cars in amazing locations - Wales, Yorkshire Moors, Tuscany.... I don't think I've got an absolute favourite but probably some of the roads over the Pennines, through Bakewell are amazing. Twisty, with brilliant corners that you can see for miles ahead as you come down a hill. You can really get into a rhythm and get your foot in. The A66 from Scotch Corner to Ullswater's good too.

Jason's favourite music to drive to:
It changes every day or so - but currently Groove Armada

Jason's entry for the Dunlop Collection:
It would have to be my Linn hi-fi. Linn are a Scottish company that make hifis for houses, although they've been commissioned to make their first in-car system for the Aston Martin DB9. Unbelievably you can spend up to ?1 million for the top level system. The entry level isn't cheap at about ?1000 but it's amazing kit. I got my first bit in 1996 and it all integrates as you get more. It does multi-room - keypads in each room for selecting different music and volumes for each room. The sound is like nothing else - it's phenomenal and I'm very passionate about it.

Jason's website nomination:
Take a look at www.sniffpetrol.com - a monthly newsletter - but have a look through the archives too. I especially like Alain Menu's menu spot.

Jason's nomination for design icon:
Michael Graves' kettle for Alessi - it's only a kettle - but it's amazing.