Triumph Motorcycles is the latest winner of the prestigious Torrens Trophy. The award was presented to Triumph staff at a glittering event at London’s Royal Automobile Club.
The Torrens Trophy has been awarded since the 1970s to Britain’s greatest achievers in motorcycling and motorsport – riders, engineers, manufacturers and key figures within these worlds.
“We are extremely pleased to award the 2023 Torrens Trophy to Triumph for its great work in the Moto2 World Championship. The company has supplied engines for the entire Moto2 grid over the past five seasons, proving to the world that its engineering and technology can thrive in perhaps the toughest road racing series of them all.”
Moto2 is the final stepping stone to MotoGP, so the grid of 32 riders is packed with hungry young talents who will stop at nothing in the field as they battle their way to the top of one of the most challenging sports in the world.
In Triumph Racing’s five years in Moto2, its three-cylinder 765s have covered more than a million km, setting 95 race and lap records, and 21 different riders have won a Moto2 race.
No other engine has had such a hard time over the past five years! And yet the Triumph 765 has excelled everywhere, delivering outstanding performance, reaching speeds of 186mph on MotoGP’s fastest tracks.
Triumph Racing has thus done a great service to the MotoGP paddock and to the Triumph name, proving that a renowned brand has once again risen to prove itself at the forefront of high-performance motorcycling.
“This award is a real honor and a tribute to the hard work and passion of our Triumph Racing team. Our world-class engineers are always looking for new ways to improve engine performance, from speed, power and torque to speed, cylinder pressure and compression ratio. This has allowed us to make improvements on track every season, from shorter race times to higher top speeds, contributing to closer, even more exciting racing.
“Moto2 is also an excellent platform to demonstrate the durability, reliability and class-leading performance of our 765 triple engines on the road. Over the past five years we have used the racing engine program to make improvements and gain insights that we have used to further develop and evolve our new Street Triple 765 range, which has successfully driven demand and sales around the world . It is a collaboration that we would like to continue until 2029.”
The Torrens Trophy
The Royal Automobile Club has always had a close relationship with the motoring world. The Club founded the Auto Cycle Club in 1903, which evolved into the Auto Cycle Union in 1947. The first motor race for motor cars was held on the Isle of Man in 1905 – two years before the first Tourist Trophy for motorcycles.
The Torrens Trophy recognizes an individual or organization deemed to have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of safe and competent motorcycling in the United Kingdom, or who has made an exceptional contribution technically to the cause of motorcycling in Great Britain to promote, or to have demonstrated outstanding skills at international motorsport events in the United Kingdom.
The Torrens Trophy was first awarded in 1978 in memory of Arthur Bourne, a motor journalist who wrote a column under the name ‘Torrens’. Arthur Bourne was also vice-president of the Royal Automobile Club. This will only be awarded if the Club believes that the performance justifies it.
The Club’s Torrens Trophy Nominating Committee consists of chairman and ex-cyclist Barrie Baxter, Royal Automobile Club chairman Ben Cussons, two-time world champion and former Torrens winner James Toseland, respected motoring journalist and TT winner Mat Oxley, commentator and former racer Steve Parrish, club member Robert Bourne (son of motorcycle journalist Arthur Bourne, in whose memory the trophy is presented) and Queen of Bikers Maria Costello MBE, who holds the Guinness World Record for being the fastest woman on the Isle of Man TT course.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.