The Secrets of the House of 888...

[GTRMagic]

No Bleeding Red I notice... well maybe Red Bull...

Story Here

Originally Posted by The Sunday Telegraph, December 02, 2012

How a the V8 steamroller that is Triple Eight Racing is fuelled

by James Phelps


THE email arrived shortly after Jamie Whincup had sealed Triple Eight Racing's fifth Bathurst title.

It was sent to every one of Roland Dane's 49 employees.

"I gave them the choice of going to Bangkok to watch Jamie in the Race of Champions or a trip to Hamilton Island with their partner," Dane said.

"It was a reward to reflect their achievement of winning five Bathurst titles."

Dane likes incentives.

"Everyone in the business, from top to bottom, is on a bonus plan," Dane said.

He also slams mistakes.

Welcome to the inner sanctum of a team regarded as the best in Australian motorsport.

Triple Eight Racing is a V8 steamroller, winning four series crowns and five Bathurst titles. It is also a team that has led to people calling the sport "boring" because of their success.

THE STAFF
DANE hires the best. Plain and simple. Rival teams privately claim he steals their staff, but everyone wants to work for this team.

They are the Ferrari of the V8 circuit.

Dane receives a steady stream of CVs from all over the world from people wanting to join his all-conquering team.

"We get an average of one a day - one serious CV, whether it be from Australia or overseas," Dane said.

"If somebody hits the right place at the right time they get the opportunity. But not many people leave this place."

While Dane wants the best people in his garage, he his adamant they do not reach their potential until they come to him.

"Any sporting team is only as good as the people in it," Dane said.

"We are the sum total of those parts. You can have individual genius, but they are no good unless they work as a unit. You have to pick the right people and give them the right environment.

"I also reward people when they do a good job. A lot of the people here have been bred, not imported."

They also work hard, with 12-hour days not uncommon for his staff.

"But I try to limit those big days," Dane said.

"It is not healthy.

"But they do it when the have to, still I will lift off when I can."

MOTIVATION
DANE admits he is addicted to winning; that is what keeps him going.

"Because when you lose that, you might as well give it away," Dane said.

"To me, if you are in sport, if you are not kicking yourself when you are not winning, then you aren't doing your job.

"Absolutely I am addicted to winning. The only people that aren't are the people that lose."

Dane stepped back, or claimed to step back, last year when he hired Adrian Burgess to run the team.

"I was burnt out," Dane conceded.

But he is now very hands on again and is showing no signs of relenting.

THE FUTURE
DANE admits he will one day sell his business, but don't expect to see the For Sale sign slapped up out the Triple Eight garage any time soon.

"I love the team," Dane said. "I also love living in Australia and I love Bathurst more than anything else.

"Driving out to Bathurst is the best feeling I have ever had and it is my single biggest motivating force.

"The day we drive out there and I don't think we have a chance of winning, I'll give it away.

"I feel like I am about 28, so I will be good for a little longer."

There is clearly a lot of investment in this team, in its resources, in its people...

[Downoz]

That sums it all up. You get what you work for and they have certainly had a good year or two.

[Mixer]

Good on the guy, the comment about people not leaving is spot on. If the boss leads from the front and rewards performance then the best people will gravitate there, and with success will stay there.

[twinwebbers]

To quote Kung Fu Panda... "There is no secret ingredient!"
Work hard, manage well, reward success.

[mmciau]

And T8 are able to keep any 'negativity' under wraps - very seldom do you hear of any dissent or "hand wringing" from that team.

[Reload]

Originally Posted by mmciau

And T8 are able to keep any 'negativity' under wraps - very seldom do you hear of any dissent or "hand wringing" from that team.

Not that this would have been tested on many occasions over the last few years.

[sweetchuk]

Originally Posted by Roland Dane - in the Daily Telegraph!! :D

"The day we drive out there and I don't think we have a chance of winning, I'll give it away."

Perhaps not the best reality scenario for RD to consider selling up / giving it away.
Not too sure about the actual prospective value of a team to a potential investor / sponsor / buyer, that has been allowed to degrade to a point where, by its own Boss's definition, he doesn't consider it has a chance of winning.

But his sentiment is noted

[Langers]

12 hours a day is considered "working hard"? I would genuinely have thought that 14 - 16 hrs would be considered the norm for engineers and mechanics, and all-nighters when required (again, would imagine those would be be quite often).

Maybe motorsport isn't as tough as everyone makes out after all.

[davester]

Originally Posted by Langers

12 hours a day is considered "working hard"? I would genuinely have thought that 14 - 16 hrs would be considered the norm for engineers and mechanics, and all-nighters when required (again, would imagine those would be be quite often).

Maybe motorsport isn't as tough as everyone makes out after all.

Quality vs Quantity?

888 have the quality (think vision, method, procedures, environment, leadership)... and it all comes from the top. Burnt-out staff via long hours is a poor strategy in a competitive space. If you're consistently putting in long hours then the business model is wrong and mgmt needs to be put under the spotlight. The 888 crew at the base or at the track always arrive fresh.

Credit must also go to FPR, who were the only ones to go toe to toe with 888...albeit at a slightly lower level, but easily ahead of the rest.

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by Langers

12 hours a day is considered "working hard"? I would genuinely have thought that 14 - 16 hrs would be considered the norm for engineers and mechanics, and all-nighters when required (again, would imagine those would be be quite often).

Maybe motorsport isn't as tough as everyone makes out after all.

if you're racing at the front and rarely embroiled in on track incidents, late/all nighters to fix bent cars isn't required, especially when the cars are already fast enough

[Henry]

No matter which way you cut it, 888 are an employer of choice.

They've obviously had their working conditions sorted out from the get-go: they've kept the people they wanted to keep, and attracted the ones they required.

While some might be surprised by the comment that 12 hour days are to RD's way of thinking "long", consider the number of motorsport dramas that have followed the traditional all-nighter, due to fatigue, or just a general haste in wishing to get away from the car and catch some rest.

I was flicking through an older AMC mag, and there was Max McLeod's story from Bathurst 1973, of how the Goss/Bartlett car was essentially doomed, despite its pace: they'd had a late night rebuilding a motor on the Saturday, and it was found in the post-race post-mortem, that in the wee small hours, a tired spanner had installed the impeller of a small electric sump pump - a pump that had the responsibility of keeping the oil pickup flooded in the days of massive Falcon hard top oil surge, before dry-dumping - back-to-front, and so oil surge was a real - and ultimately terminal - drama for the car.

Then there was the late-night omission of a couple of small, but useful bolts from the braking system of the Bottle Magic Commodore at Bathurst in 1997 (and the result was well-televised, not to mention spectacular!).

888 obviously understand risk management and mitigation very well. And so they win. Lots. And everybody loves a winner. So everybody wants to be on the winning team. So they don't leave very often. Sounds like a well-oiled bicycle. Too many teams come off looking like well-boiled icicles.

In any case. If we've just read the "secrets" of 888 success, they're disappointingly logical, and not really news. It's just that much of the time, it requires a fair degree of discipline to ensure everything that needs to happen, happens within the window you have allowed yourself. And it sounds like Roland Dane knows just how to do it.

Smarter, not harder.