Dan Eaves (born 3 June 1975 in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

) is a British

auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...

driver. He competed in the

British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA TOCA, formally trading as BARC (TOCA) Ltd, is an organiser of motorsport events in ...

between 2000 and 2005, and again in 2009, winning a total of six races (including a triple-race clean sweep at Thruxton in 2005) and claimed a best finish of third place in the drivers' championship in 2005.

Career

Eaves started racing karts in 1990 before switching to the Halfords MG Midget Challenge in 1994, finishing 3rd. In 1995 he came second in the Caterham K Series Championship. In 1998 he won the Renault Spider Cup and earned a test with the Williams touring car team and the nickname Spiderman because of his dominance in the series. He raced in the National Saloon Cup in 1999 and 2000, finishing 4th in the series both times with a Bowman Motorsport

Peugeot 306 The Peugeot 306 is a small family car built by the French car manufacturer Peugeot from 1993 to 2002. It replaced the 309. Peugeot gave the 306 many updates and aesthetic changes to keep up with the competition, and it was replaced by the 307 in ...

. In 2000 the

ran a Class B for these cars, and Bowman Motorsport under the name of Touring Car VIP Club had Eaves entered 2 rounds in his 306. When Vic Lee took over the team, renaming Vic Lee Racing, Eaves was retained to drive in a new factory Peugeot entry for the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

BTCC, in a Peugeot 406 coupe. This was a transitional year for the championship, and Eaves finished 5th out of a fairly thin field, although he beat veteran team-mate

Steve Soper Steven Soper is a racing driver from Surrey, England, born in 1951. He raced in major sports car and touring car categories in the 1980s and 1990s. He won the 24 Hours Nürburgring in 1987, the 24 Hours of Spa in 1995 and the Guia Race in ...

. For 2002 Peugeot pulled out but the team remained, with

Halfords Halfords Group PLC is the UK's largest retailer of motoring and cycling products and services. Through Halfords Autocentre, they provide vehicle servicing, MOT, maintenance and repairs in the United Kingdom. Halfords Group is listed on the Lon ...

backing and now with Independent status. Eaves won Indy honours ahead of former

Superbike A sport bike (sports motorcycle, or sports bike) is a motorcycle designed and optimized for speed, acceleration, braking, and cornering on asphalt concrete race tracks and roads. They are mainly designed for performance at the expense of comfor ...

racer

Aaron Slight Aaron Tony Slight (born 19 January 1966) is a New Zealand former professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the Superbike World Championships from to , finishing second in the championship twice and third four times. He later competed ...

, and team-mate

Tim Harvey Tim Harvey (born 20 November 1961) is a British racing driver, best known for being the 1992 British Touring Car Champion, and the 2008 and 2010 Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain champion. A household name in the 1990s, Harvey won sixteen race ...

. For 2003 his team-mate was

Carl Breeze Carl Breeze (born 7 July 1979 in Kings Lynn) is a British auto racing driver. He is not to be confused with Hyla Breese, an Australian driver also with British Touring Car Championship experience. His racing heroes include Ayrton Senna, Nelson ...

and later Danny Buxton, this time in a VLR-built 307, and after a slow start he was Independent class winner several times. The team pulled out before 2004, but Dan was given a drive with

Team Dynamics Team Dynamics Motorsport is a UK-based motor-racing team based in Droitwich, Worcestershire; best known for their successes in the British Touring Car Championship, including winning the Overall Drivers title in 2005, 2006 and 2011 with Matt Nea ...

in a

Honda Civic The is a series of automobiles manufactured by Honda since 1972. Since 2000, the Civic has been categorized as a compact car, while previously it occupied the subcompact class. , the Civic is positioned between the Honda Fit/City and Honda Acc ...

. He was 8th in the standings that year, taking his first ever championship win. In

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Eaves continued with Team Dynamics (which was entered as Team Halfords in reference to their main sponsor) racing a

Honda Integra The , marketed in North America as the Acura Integra, is an automobile produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Honda from 1985 until 2006, and then since 2021. It succeeded the Quint as a more luxurious and sport-oriented derivative o ...

. He recorded five wins, including 3 at Thruxton – the first time that one driver had ever won three BTCC races in one meeting. He also won the final race at the

Croft circuit Croft Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Dalton-on-Tees in North Yorkshire, England. The tarmac circuit is long and is based on the lands of an airfield, but has long since moved on from being a basic airfield circuit. The circui ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. He ended the season 3rd in the championship after the fight to take second place in the championship went down to the last race at Brands Hatch. Eaves was in a 3 way fight on point with Yvan Muller and Jason Plato. It ended when he was caught up in a controversial crash caused by a rear end shove from

Yvan Muller Yvan Muller (born 16 August 1969 in Altkirch, Haut-Rhin) is a French auto racing driver most noted for success in touring car racing. He is a four-time World Touring Car Champion, winning the title in 2008 with SEAT, in 2010 and 2011 with Chevro ...

going into turn 1 that also collected

Jason Plato Timothy Jason Plato (born 14 October 1967) is a British racing driver who last competed in the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) for BTC Racing. He has twice been BTCC Champion, in 2001 for Vauxhall and 2010 for Silverline Chevrolet. He ...

. Muller retained second place in the championship on Points and Eaves finished in third place in the Championship, only four points behind the Frenchman. At the end of the 2005 season it seemed a certainty that Eaves would be retained by his team due to his recognised support and wingman to help Matt Neal take the driver title (team orders advantaged Neal), but in February 2006, a disagreement with team owner Steve Neal resulted in Team Dynamics replacing him with

Gordon Shedden Gordon Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a Scottish auto racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Ki ...

for the 2006 season. Eaves SEAT Leon BTCC

Eaves was poised to join Team Clyde Valley Racing in the 2007 BTCC season, when the team were tipped to enter a pair of

bio-ethanol Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a hyd ...

Chevrolet Lacetti The Daewoo Lacetti is a compact car manufactured and marketed globally by GM Korea since 2002. The first-generation Lacetti was available as a four-door sedan and five-door station wagon, styled by Pininfarina—and five-door hatchback styled b ...

s. However, the team did not appear in that year or in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

after a sponsor pulled out. The team entered in 2009 giving Eaves his return to the BTCC alongside Adam Jones in a pair of bio-ethanol fuelled SEAT Leons under the banner of Cartridge World Carbon Zero Racing.Jones, Eaves for Carbon-free Team
However Eaves backed away from the team to allow them to bring in some sponsorship held by another driver

after a frustrating start to the season for Eaves (lack of spares and an underpowered engine) caused him to re-think whether he wanted to drive for the struggling CVR. Problems with the finances of the team meant the team later withdrew from the season. It was speculated that Eaves may return to BTCC in the 2013–14 season with 888 which didn't materialise.

Personal

Dan is married and he has a daughter who was born in 2007 and a son in 2008.

Racing record

Complete British Touring Car Championship results

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded in 2001–2002 all races, 2003–present just in first race (2000 in class). Races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap – 1 point awarded all races (2000 in class) * signifies that driver lead race for at least one lap – 1 point given (2001–2002 just for feature race, 2003–present all races)

References

External links

Profile from btccinfo.co.ukCartridge World Carbon Zero Racing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaves, Dan British Touring Car Championship drivers 1975 births Living people English racing drivers Renault UK Clio Cup drivers Peugeot Sport drivers