Triple Eight Racing

Triple Eight Racing (888 Racing) was a motorsports team formed in 1996 as Triple Eight Race Engineering, which competed in the British Touring Car Championship and the British GT Championship.

The team's original focus was to design, build and race Vauxhalls on behalf of the General Motors brand in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). A close working alliance developed during a decade of success and Triple Eight became Vauxhall's technical partner for motorsport. In 2009, Vauxhall Motors ended its support for the BTCC, however the team continued to compete using Vauxhalls until the end of the 2011 season. From the 2012 season, Triple Eight began to build and race MG6 GT cars on behalf of MG, in a revival of the marque in the BTCC. The following year, the team entered the British GT Championship, running a pair of BMW Z4 GT3s.

Prior to the start of the 2015 season, the team rebranded itself as Triple Eight Racing across all its motorsport programs, introducing a new team name and logo.

Triple Eight was founded by Derek Warwick, Roland Dane and Ian Harrison in late 1996. The team made its BTCC debut in 1997 by running the works Vauxhall team left by RML and providing Vectras for 2 time Vauxhall champion John Cleland and team owner Derek Warwick. The season was not successful with the Vectra uncompetitive because of aerodynamics which had been holomogated for the Vectra model across all Supertouring championships in 1996 and was primarily set up for the faster French, German and Italian tracks; where the Opel Vectra was much more competitive. John Cleland and Derek Warwick finished 12th and 14th in the championship with their best race results being a 5th. Triple Eight finished 8th in the teams' and manufacturers' (as Vauxhall) championships.

1998 would be a much more competitive season, Triple Eight changed the aerodynamic package and the Vauxhall Vectra became a much more competitive car, after the FIA Touring Car Bureau agreed that Vauxhall could homologate a differing aerodynamic package to Opel's. Triple Eight's first BTCC win came at round 5 at Donington Park after John Cleland achieved a great start and never lost the lead. This would also be John Cleland's first victory since his championship year in 1995, and Vauxhall's first since James Thompson at Snetterton 1996. John Cleland would win again at Donington Park at round 12 in one of the best BTCC races ever witnessed. Derek Warwick would also take his first BTCC victory at Knockhill. While the season was successful, it was not smooth. John Cleland suffered a crash at Snetterton with reigning champion Alain Menu causing cracked ribs and heavy bruising causing him to miss the next round at Thruxton. His place was taken by Brazilian driver Flavio Figueiredo. John Cleland and Derek Warwick finished 8th and 9th in the championship. Triple Eight finished 5th in the teams' and manufacturers' award.

1999 saw Derek Warwick retire from full-time racing and to focus on running the team. His place was taken by Frenchmen Yvan Muller moving from Audi. The Vectra went through some changes as well for the season. Ludo Lacroix joined the team in 1999. The season only saw one win from Vauxhall by Yvan Muller at Brands Hatch round 7. Yvan Muller finished an eventual 6th in the championship, however John Cleland had a much harder season finishing 13th and announcing his retirement after 11 successful seasons with Vauxhall including 2 championships in 1989 (Vauxhall Astra) and 1995 (Vauxhall Cavalier). 2000 saw the final year of the Supertouring era and many of the manufacturers depart the BTCC (these included Renault (Williams) – 1997 champions, Volvo (TWR) – 1998 champions and Nissan (RML Group) 1999 champions) leaving Ford (Prodrive), Honda (WSR) and Vauxhall (Triple Eight). Every team increased to three cars. Triple Eight had Yvan Muller, Jason Plato (departing Renault) and Vincent Radermecker (departing Volvo) Ford were the dominant manufacturer throughout the season with all three Fords finishing 1–2–3 in the drivers' championship (Alain Menu – Anthony Reid – Rickard Rydell) with Yvan Muller and Jason Plato finishing 4th and 5th with Vincent Radermecker finishing 10th. Triple Eight finished 2nd and 3rd in the teams and manufacturers award.

Triple Eight competed twice in the Bathurst 1000 in Australia. In 1997, two Vectras were entered for John Cleland/James Thompson and Derek Warwick/Peter Brock, while in 1998, Cleland and Warwick shared a car with Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy driving the second car.

2001 saw the arrival of the new touring car regulation. This system was designed to make the cars much less expensive to build and run. Vauxhall replaced the Vectra with the Astra Coupe for 2001 and would so until 2004. Yvan Muller and Jason Plato retained their seats at Vauxhall and were the class of the field. The title came down between Yvan Muller and Jason Plato in the final race. After an early spin by Plato, Yvan Muller looked comfortable to take the title, until two excursions at Clearways caused an oil leak and fire for Yvan Muller leaving Plato champion. Triple Eight finished 1st in the teams and manufacturers award. 2002 saw the departure of Jason Plato from the BTCC to race in the British ASCAR stock car championship. Yvan Muller retained his seat at Vauxhall and was more determined to take the title. Plato's seat at Vauxhall was filled by James Thompson moving up from egg:sport. The season saw the Astra Coupe again the car to beat against rivals MG, Honda, Peugeot and Proton, however the Astra suffered reliability issues throughout the season. Despite this, Yvan Muller and James Thompson and for much of the season Matt Neal (egg:sport) fought for the championship. In the end James Thompson won the championship from Yvan Muller and Matt Neal. Triple Eight again finished 1st in the teams and manufacturers award.