jcbc3, on 07 Jul 2020 - 09:28, said:
Niki used his trophies as door stops. And when he had too many, he gave them to the attendant on the local gas station.
I am kind of with Niki on that one. I collected quite a few trophies over several decades of rallying. Ony clubbie level of course, so you couldn't expect much - and you were rarely disappointed in that! Many were wood with a little plaque on it with your name. There were some miniature silver cup type things, but once you've got a couple of those, you don't really need anymore.
The worst were the Kleber Concorde Trophies, that Kleber tyres dished out to motor clubs like confetti in the 1970s. A plastic base with a small badly chromed plastic Concorde aircraft on it, to celebrate Kleber supplying tyres for the Concorde supersonic airliner; they were just cheap, nasty and truly dire and people actively tried to avoid winning them.
A few years back I threw out all my trophies bar about half a dozen nice ones. I left the rest in a cardboard box at the tip. As I left, there were people picking over them in the mistaken impression that they were worth something. It is the memory of the event that matters, not some rotten little token.
I get it that a major event like a GP or Indy or Le Mans wants to have a memorable trophy to present, and that the winners will want a nice keepsake. But how many massive silver cups does anyone want or need? Let alone some of the other monstrosities pictured in this thread? A nice cheque would be far more welcome!
Edited by BRG, 07 July 2020 - 11:24.