16 replies to this topic

[PCC]

I know that many regarded it as funny, but I actually thought the accidental breaking of Max Verstappen's trophy in Hungary was quite sad. It looked to be an exquisitely crafted, unique, hand-made/painted ceramic piece (although the wisdom of making a sports trophy out of ceramic is questionable for reasons now obvious).

 

All of which raised a question in my mind: Have there been many (or any) really memorable trophies in motor sport over the years? No doubt some will come to mind because they're exceptionally ugly or odd, but I'd love to learn about examples that people think are genuinely good. Pics would be great, if possible.

 

I don't think there's already a thread on this, but if there is, please point me there.

[SophieB]

I know that many regarded it as funny, but I actually thought the accidental breaking of Max Verstappen's trophy in Hungary was quite sad. It looked to be an exquisitely crafted, unique, hand-made/painted ceramic piece (although the wisdom of making a sports trophy out of ceramic is questionable for reasons now obvious).

 

All of which raised a question in my mind: Have there been many (or any) really memorable trophies in motor sport over the years? No doubt some will come to mind because they're exceptionally ugly or odd, but I'd love to learn about examples that people think are genuinely good. Pics would be great, if possible.

 

I don't think there's already a thread on this, but if there is, please point me there.

 

Hello, it’s from Racing Comments, but this is an entertaining read:
https://forums.autos...e/#entry9118740

 

e. trophy fun also arising from Lewis querying the absence of the traditional trophy for winners of the British GP some years back

https://forums.autos...hy#entry9131831

[flatlandsman]

Agreed, I think trophies are now little more than a track map on a hideous logo or something, really bad taste in my view"!

 

I too thought that trophy was beautiful, I have been to a few F1 factories and your eyes are always drawn to the better trophies, the big silver and gold ones, that the woefully made, really rather tasteless logo track type ones. I understand why it is done.  But give me a giant armed pot any day.  One way the Americans really do make it far more special in all sorts of racing, is the trophies.

 

I happen to also watch a  fair bit of stuff where trophies get handed down, and they are superb. 

[PCC]

Hello, it’s from Racing Comments, but this is an entertaining read:
https://forums.autos...e/#entry9118740

 

e. trophy fun also arising from Lewis querying the absence of the traditional trophy for winners of the British GP some years back

https://forums.autos...hy#entry9131831

Thank you! Some of those are... ummmm... interesting. That red Santander one looks like a plastic houseplant stuck in a flowerpot. And the Sega....

[AJCee]

Although a different form of racing, The Schneider Trophy always amuses me for its demure understatement and delicate petiteness.

Probably need a stepladder to get up to slam a bottle on that…

For anyone unfamiliar https://en.m.wikiped...chneider_Trophy

[Alan Lewis]

The ceramic trophy has been awarded at the Hungaroring for several years now, though whether it goes right back to 1986 (or even Nepliget Park in '36), I'm not sure.

The "Jack Brabham steering wheel" trophy for the Australian Grand Prix usually comes up in these threads, and it's certainly a handsome creation.

But the most iconic, if not the most conventionally beautiful, has to be the Borg-Warner.

[2F-001]

The so-called “floatile” Johnson's Wax trophies by Venezuelan Alberto Collie are intriguing.

These were awarded for two (??) of the early Can Am series and feature a shell shaped piece which levitated magnetically above a monumental base - a trick which was a trademark feature of his work.

 

I believe they are retained by the Bruce McLaren Trust.

[Claudio Navonne]

Roberto "Bitito" Mieres received a porcelain trophy for his lap record at the 1955 Dutch GP. Customs officials at Ezeiza Airport in Argentina accidentally broke it! I don't know if it was a "memorable trophy", but for poor Mieres it was a broken trophy, as he lamented in a report in Velocidad magazine at the time.

[Henri Greuter]

The ceramic trophy has been awarded at the Hungaroring for several years now, though whether it goes right back to 1986 (or even Nepliget Park in '36), I'm not sure.

The "Jack Brabham steering wheel" trophy for the Australian Grand Prix usually comes up in these threads, and it's certainly a handsome creation.

But the most iconic, if not the most conventionally beautiful, has to be the Borg-Warner.

 

the Wheeler-Schebler Tropy is another impressive one....

 

 

Wheeler-Schebler Trophy | First Super Speedway

[lustigson]

A bit off topic, but I'm not thinking about actual trophies as such, but rather about a person who presented the winner's trophy of the 2006 Turkish GP to Felipe Massa, namely Mehmet Ali Talat, the president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. I knew instantly that there would be trouble for the FIA/FOM. 

Edited by lustigson, 26 July 2023 - 09:44.

[68targa]

Some old school trophies still have some elegance. 

 

https://www.royalaut...tourist-trophy/

[Vitesse2]

Not so much memorable, but memorably recovered trophies. The two Isle of Man TT trophies won by foreign teams in 1939 both made their way home in unusual circumstances. The Lightweight trophy - won by the Englishman Ted Mellors on a Benelli - was retrieved from its hiding place under a chicken coop, where the boss of Benelli had hidden it, after Italy joined the Allied side in 1943, while the main TT trophy - won by 'Schorsch' Meier on a BMW - was found in the premises of a BMW dealership in what was by then the Soviet Zone of Vienna in 1945.

[B Squared]

Memorable for me in that Bob Marshman's family has allowed me to be custodian of his few remaining trophies for the past 20-plus years, including this 42-inch tall award from his only Indy Car victory at Phoenix in 1962. His father George had dismantled or broke up the majority after Bob died. Thanks to this John Isom photo, I was able to reassemble this one from the parts I was presented. Rodger Ward (out with injury) presents Bobby the trophy, Sam Hanks in the background.

 

Edited by B Squared, 26 July 2023 - 11:30.

[Jahn1234567890]

The 1936 Vanderbilt Cup Trophy springs to mind. It was absolutely massive. Here's race winner Nuvolari with the trophy.

 

[amerikalei]

In the US, the 1967 and 1968 SCCA National Championship trophies featured a Giacometti-esque flagman waving the checkers.  I'll try to find a photo. 

[PCC]

I'm enjoying the responses, thank you all. Interesting to see that our notion of 'trophy' includes the idea of a big cup (where did that originate?), but isn't limited to that. I'd forgotten all about the J-Wax Can-Am trophies; I always thought they were quite striking.

 

 A (possibly irrelevant) reference point: arguably the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandparent of the modern trophy is the Monument of Lysicrates, erected in Athens in 335-334 BCE. It commemorates what was (sort of) an ancient Greek version of the Booker Prize:

 

 

The idea of the drum with attached columns and a decorative doodad on top is not entirely absent from the modern trophy.

 

For those who collect such information, this is also the first known example of the use of the Corinthian order on the exterior of a structure....

Edited by PCC, 26 July 2023 - 15:40.

[Emery0323]

 

That large silver Revere Bowl that JYS is holding was the traditional trophy for the USGP at Watkins Glen for many years.

I can recall reading Niki Lauda's "My Years with Ferrari" in which he complained about how useless his F1 trophies were.

The one exception: The Revere Bowl from his Watkins Glen win - He was able to use it as a dog dish!   

 

EDIT: After staring at the background, I'm not sure that picture of JYS is from Watkins Glen, but the picture of Cevert below from 1971 certainly is - The Revere bowl is in the picture.

Edited by Emery0323, 29 July 2023 - 06:26.