Who designed the TR8 and sold it, who ran the British project and BL Motorsport's work on it, who raced it, who wrote about it, and who has kept its records since: a short entry for each.
About the pictureGroup 44's Jaguar XJ-S at Goodwood in 2006
The TR8 had no single father. Its shape came from British Leyland's Austin-Morris studio, its engine from Rover, its launch from Jaguar Rover Triumph's office in New Jersey, and its fame from a racing team in Virginia and four American magazines. The British project brought in Rover's men at Solihull and BL Motorsport's at Abingdon. Everyone here with a record of their own has a card below; the sections say who did what, and the history tells the story they shared.source 1source 2
The wedge was drawn by the Austin-Morris studio under Harris Mann, as the TR Drivers Club and Mike Cook both record, and Triumph's own design for the car lost to it. The TR Register names Spen King as the technical director who led the engineering, and Ate Up With Motor credits Giovanni Michelotti with the convertible's body. The TR8 itself was these men's TR7 with a V8, and their work belongs mainly to the TR7's story.
Jeff Herbert, managing director of Rover-Triumph in England, told Michael Lamm that his staff had done most of the work of meeting the American rules at Goodyear's test facility near Laredo, Texas, as Lamm recalled it in 1999. The Lucas engineer on the TR8's injection, whose name triumphtr8.com spells two ways, was sure, it reports, that the injected engine made the lower of its two ratings.source 3source 1source 4source 5source 6source 7
Michael L. Cook, known as Mike, ran the company's press relations in America and booked the hotels for all three of the TR8's planned launches, the two that were cancelled and the one held in San Diego in March 1980; years later he wrote the car's history for Special Interest Autos and the book Triumph Cars in America. At the launch, Lamm recalled, the company's president, Graham W. Whitehead, told the writers that the United States was British Leyland's biggest market overseas, worth about $2 billion a year, and its vice-president of sales and marketing, Michael Dale, asked each of them what they thought of the TR8. The company's competition department, whose contacts for the SCCA's prize money in 1980 were Mike Barratt in New Jersey and Stephen Froines in California, backed the car in amateur racing.source 1source 6source 8
The right-hand-drive TR8 was planned and stopped by product planning: triumphtr8.com quotes the product planner, whose name it spells Dennis Chick, on the approval of March 1980, the cancellation early in 1981 and the notice of 14 May 1981 that ended the TR7 and TR8. The project's manager, Garry Owen, was copied on BL Motorsport's memo about the development car, and told the project's story in Practical Classics in September 1997. John Micklewright, the plant director at Rover's Solihull works, was the memo's addressee. Martin Cox of BL's press department told triumphtr8.com that, to the best of his knowledge, the press office never prepared a TR8. Above them all was BL's chairman from November 1977, Michael Edwardes, whose cuts, Ate Up With Motor writes, closed Speke, Canley and finally the car lines at Solihull.source 2source 9source 10source 5
Richard Hurdwell, the chassis development engineer of the works rally team from July 1979, wrote the memo of 16 December 1980 that sets out BL Motorsport's work on the British development TR8, NWK 988W; his colleague on its engine is spelt two ways in the sources. The memo was copied to John Davenport, BL Motorsport's director, and David Wood, of its engine side. It credits Brian Owen at Abingdon, with John Moore of Automotive Products (Racing) at Leamington, with the car's ventilated brakes, and Albert Coates, at Solihull, with moulding its front spoiler. The works rally cars that Abingdon built are TR7 V8s, and their people belong to the TR7.source 9source 11source 2
Bob Tullius drove in every race Group 44 ran with the TR8, from 1979 to 1981; the team he founded in 1965 with Brian Fuerstenau, his co-driver in 1979, was Jaguar Rover Triumph's official racing team. Bill Adam, a Canadian, drove for it in 1980 and 1981, with Tullius and in the team's second car, and John McComb, John Kelly and Pat Bedard drove for it in the long races. The team's page has their results. In the SCCA's C Production class, Ken Slagle won the national title of 1981; Lee Mueller and Ron Hunter for Huffaker Engineering and Bruce Qvale for Jaguar Rover Triumph were entered with him in 1980. In Canada, Peter Bulkowski raced a TR8 at Mosport and Trois-Rivières from 1980 to 1983. In rallying, John Buffum won the SCCA's pro rally title of 1979 in a car the American press called a TR8, though it belongs, with the works TR7 V8s, to the TR7. Racing gives the rest.source 12source 1source 13source 14
| Writer | Magazine | The piece |
|---|---|---|
| Thos L. Bryant | Road & Track | The first drive, near Donington, early in 1979, with the Canadian Jacques Duval |
| John Miles | Autocar | "Miles Behind the Wheel: America's TR8", 1979 |
| Fred M. H. Gregory | Motor Trend | "TR8 V-8: A mighty Triumph" and its sidebar, June 1980 |
| Walt Woron | Road Test | The Best New Sports Car of 1980, July 1980 |
| Don Sherman | Car and Driver | The road test of August 1980 |
| Don Green | Probably Motor Trend | A 20,000-mile durability run, 1980 or 1981 |
| Michael L. Cook | Special Interest Autos | "1981 Triumph TR8: Fast and Last", 1996 |
| Michael Lamm | British Car | "1st Drive in the Triumph TR8", 1999 |
Road & Track's June 1980 test carries no writer's name on the pages read. triumphtr8.com calls Autocar's writer John Miles, and once David; the column's own headline gives only his surname. The road tests tell what each of them found.source 15source 16source 17source 18source 14source 19source 6source 10source 20source 1
Much of what is known about the TR8 comes from enthusiasts and archivists. The TR Drivers Club's guide to the cars' numbers began as an article written in 1987 by Paul Towle, a past TR8 registrar, and was updated by Rex Holford and Mark Elbers; Holford also wrote the club's history of the TR8. The club checked the guide against articles by Anders Clausager, once archivist of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. James TenCate of the Triumph Wedge Owners Association pieced together the injected cars from engine numbers in 2012, drawing on Richard Connew's search of the build cards for the 1981 model year, and Gene Thompson wrote the association's pages on the cooling fans and the injection's control unit. Roy Ford, of Triumph's experimental department, saved its TR7 and TR8 records "from the skip", in Canley Classics' words, and passed them on; the experimental fleet's history and the Measham sales are known largely from them.source 21source 3source 22source 23source 24source 25
Canadian racing driver. He drove Group 44's TR8 No. 44 with Bob Tullius in 1980 and 1981, and a second TR8, No. 4, alone in five IMSA races of 1980 (racingsportscars prints no entrant for it then; Group 44 entered No. 4 at Sebring in 1981). With Tullius he won the GTO class at Sebring, Mosport and Road America in 1980, and in No. 4 he won it at the Daytona Finale that November. He later shared Group 44's Jaguar XJR-5 with Tullius.
Shared Peter Bulkowski's TR8 in the 1982 Mosport 6 Hours. racingsportscars prints only the surname.
Was entered in a TR8, No. 48, for the 1982 Trans-Am round at Kent, Washington, but did not start.
American racing driver. He shared Group 44's second TR8, No. 4, with John Kelly in the 1981 Sebring 12 Hours, finishing 20th.
Canadian. He was entered in a TR8, No. 42, for the 1981 Trans-Am round at Trois-Rivières, but did not start.
Shared Peter Bulkowski's TR8 in the 1981 Mosport 6 Hours. racingsportscars prints only this surname.
Drove KJJ Enterprises' TR8 in the 1985 Sebring 12 Hours; it retired without completing a lap. racingsportscars prints only the surname.
Canadian racing driver. He raced a TR8 in the Mosport 6 Hours every year from 1980 to 1983, and in the Trans-Am at Mosport in 1981 and at Trois-Rivières in 1982; his best finish was 15th, 4th in the GTO class, at Mosport in 1982.
public relations manager
Jaguar Rover Triumph's public relations manager in the United States through the TR8's launches, and later its historian: the author of "1981 Triumph TR8: Fast and Last" (Special Interest Autos, 1996) and Triumph Cars in America (2001). James TenCate calls him "Mike Cook (VTR)", of the Vintage Triumph Register.
Shared Peter Bulkowski's TR8 in the 1983 Mosport 6 Hours. racingsportscars prints only the surname.
founder
Mechanic and co-founder of Group 44 Inc.; 1968 SCCA F Production national champion in a car racingsportscars lists as a Spitfire.
engineering liaison
BL Motorsport engineer: chassis development engineer for the works TR7 V8s from July 1979. His memo of December 1980 on a TR8 development car records that the rally TR8 being built for 1981 had been scrapped.
American racing driver. In 1968 he drove TR4As in SCCA D Production, entered by Group 44 according to racingsportscars: 2nd in D Production at Cumberland on 12 May, when TR4As finished 1st to 4th, and winner of the D Production race at the American Road Race of Champions in Group 44's TR4A. He was the 1970 SCCA F Production national champion in a Spitfire, and drove Group 44's TR8s in the 1980 Daytona 24 Hours and the 1981 Sebring 12 Hours.
chief engineer, technical director
British engineer (1925–2010). He joined Rover in 1945 and became its chief engineer in 1959; the Range Rover (1970) is his best-known car, and he also engineered the Rover SD1. After the 1968 merger he succeeded Harry Webster as Triumph's technical director and led the TR7's engineering. AROnline credits him with developing the 16-valve head; Ate Up With Motor credits it to Lewis Dawtrey.
Canadian. He entered the TR8 that he and Peter Bulkowski drove in the 1980 Mosport 6 Hours.
Shared Peter Bulkowski's TR8 in the 1983 Mosport 6 Hours. racingsportscars prints only the surname.
stylist
British car stylist: British Leyland's chief designer in the 1970s and early 1980s, best known for the Allegro, the Princess and the TR7. Trained at engineering school and as an apprentice at the coach and bus builder Duple, he worked with Roy Haynes on the Marina and styled the wedge-shaped Austin Zanda show car (1969). His Longbridge team's wedge became the TR7: he said he went to the United States before drawing it, which made the design more extreme, and that it was meant to have a targa roof, which engineering could not make work. The convertible's prototype was Michelotti's, not his. He died in 2023, aged 85.
Racing driver for Group 44. In 1975, as British Leyland's Triumph team driver, he won the Northeast Division and then the SCCA D Production national championship in Group 44's TR6, at Road Atlanta on 2 November, leading from flag to flag; that September he finished 3rd overall in the Brainerd Trans-Am in the same car. He shared Group 44's TR8 with Bob Tullius and John Kelly in the 1980 Daytona 24 Hours (racingsportscars).
stylist
Turin car stylist. He began his career in 1937 as an apprentice at Stabilimenti Farina; according to carrozzieri-italiani he opened his own design studio in Turin in 1949, the first in Italy devoted only to car design; the TSOA Newsletter of 1966 also dates the studio to 1949. His first contact with Standard-Triumph came in 1957: Harry Webster's obituary in the Telegraph says Webster "discovered" him, while Graham Robson says he was found through Raymond Flower and hired on Webster's recommendation with Alick Dick's approval. His first Triumph design was the one-off TR3 "Dream Car" on a TR3 chassis, shown at Geneva in 1957 according to later accounts; Krause says it followed a chance meeting with Alick Dick at a motor show. He went on to design the Italia (1959–62) on TR3A and TR3B running gear. On his own initiative he drew a one-off body for a BMW 507 chassis, shown at the Turin show in 1959, which BMW has owned since 2005. He styled the Herald (1959), whose separate chassis made the Spitfire possible; answering Webster's idea of a "Herald sports car", he built a single prototype in 1960, code-named "Bomb", and later restyled the car as the Mk IV of 1970. For the TR he styled the prototypes Zest (1958) and Zoom (1959) and the TR4 of 1961, which joined Zest's nose to Zoom's tail and kept Zoom's hardtop with its lift-out panel; the TR4A, TR5 and TR250 kept that body with new detail, and its centre section on the TR6 (1969), whose new front and rear Karmann designed because he was busy. According to his son Edgardo, his work for Triumph ended in the late 1970s with a restyle of the TR7 from coupé to spider; he died in January 1980. No source read links him to the Le Mans or Macau competition bodies.
SCCA national champion in a Spitfire (F Production, 1969) and in a TR7 (D Production, 1979). In 1974–75 he drove Huffaker Engineering's V12 E-Type in SCCA B Production, winning on its debut at Seattle in August 1974.
project manager
Managed the right-hand-drive TR8 project of 1980–81 at Canley and Solihull; he later wrote about it in Practical Classics (September 1997).
American racing driver. He won the SCCA C Production national championship at the 1981 Runoffs at Road Atlanta in "a highly modified TR8", in Mike Cook's words.
founder
American racing driver. He bought a TR3 in 1960 and raced from 1961. In TR4s he won the SCCA national E Production championship in 1962, Triumph's first national class title by the importer's account, and D Production in 1963 and 1964; Triumph gave him one of Kas Kastner's Sebring TR4s. With Brian Fuerstenau and Dick Gilmartin he founded Group 44 Inc. in 1965; it won 14 SCCA national titles and three Trans-Am championships before closing in 1990. In 1968 he raced Group 44's TR250 in SCCA C Production. By the importer's count in September he had six wins in the Northeast Division, enough for at least a tie for its title, and three outside it. He was 3rd in C Production at the ARRC, and he co-drove the TR250K at Sebring. From 1969 to 1974 he raced Group 44's TR-6 in SCCA C Production, 2nd at the 1972 American Road Race of Champions, and showed it on British Leyland's stand at the 1972 London Motor Show; Severson writes that the last TR6 built went to him. In 1974–75 he raced Group 44's V12 E-Type in SCCA B Production: 2nd at the 1974 Runoffs by 0.8 s, and national champion in 1975. He had won the SCCA Trans-Am drivers' championship in 1977 and 1978 with a Jaguar XJ-S. From 1979 to 1981 Group 44, Jaguar Rover Triumph's official US racing team, raced the TR8 in IMSA and the Trans-Am. It won its class on the car's debut, the Watkins Glen 6 Hours of July 1979; Tullius won his class four times in 1979, in IMSA GTO and the Trans-Am, as Car and Driver and Lamm count them, and Group 44's No. 44 won the IMSA GTO class four times in 1980. British Sports Car Hall of Fame, first class (2017).
Sources are given as plain text; their addresses are on the sources page.