29 May, 2005: On this day 20 years ago Craig Lowndes delivered Triple Eight Race Engineering its first Supercars race win at Eastern Creek, a breakthrough moment that launched one of the most successful partnerships in the sport’s history.


Just 10 races into his debut season with Triple Eight, Lowndes broke a two-year winless streak and secured the team’s maiden race and round victory less than two years after Roland Dane acquired Briggs Motor Sport. At the time, few could have imagined this win would mark the beginning of the most successful dynasty in Australian touring car history.

To mark the occasion, a 1:18 scale model of the #888 Betta Electrical Falcon was released - one of six Lowndes models produced in 2005 - and it remains a significant piece for collectors, celebrating the start of Triple Eight’s rise to dominance.

18208 - 2005 Ford BA Falcon - Craig Lowndes - Team Betta Electrical's Inaugural Round Win

Curiously, the season version of this car tends to fetch higher prices on the resale market, despite having nearly 50% more units produced - a quirk of the collector world! The current Diecast Detective Prices for the Inaugural Round Win model are $245/$174 and for the season model, $395/$217 (New/Used).

Could we see renewed interest in the original Triple Eight Falcons in 2026 as the team returns to the Blue Oval? It’s a strong possibility as new Red Bull Racing Mustangs get released, collectors may well look back to complete the story with earlier Ford-era models.