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<h1>Leinster Trophy</h1>
<h2>History of the Trophy</h2>
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<article class="trophy-history main">
<h2>Trophy History</h2>
<p>The Leinster Trophy is awarded to the winner of the annual Leinster Trophy Motor Race. It is considered one of the most prestigious, historic and beautiful awards within Irish sport. It has been awarded every year since 1934, with a few interruptions. Amongst the winners have been three Formula One World Champions and countless other motor racing greats. The trophy was commissioned in the early 1930’s and was designed by renowned Dublin jewelers Hopkins and Hopkins who were also responsible for the Sam Maguire GAA trophy for Gaelic Football.</p>
<figure class="float-right">
<img src="assets/images/nathan-lepler-club-founder.jpg" alt="Nathan Lepler founder of the Leinster Motor Club">
<figcaption>Leinster Motor Club founder Nathan Lepler</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The trophy is described as a "loving cup" which had become very popular as sporting trophies in the late 19th century after first being used frequently in wedding ceremonies. It is made of 100% sterling silver, an alloy of silver containing 92.5% by weight of silver and 7.5% by weight of other metals, usually copper to prevent tarnishing and impart durability to the otherwise soft pure silver metal.</p>
<p>The original cost of the Leinster Trophy was approximately £1,000 which was sponsored by Rowntree’s the famous Irish confectioner. With the rise in the price of silver since 1930 it is estimated that to make the trophy today would cost over £50,000. The trophy was certified at the Dublin Assay Office which has been in operation since 1637, who hallmarked it with assay marks and the "H&H" mark, before Hopkins and Hopkins presented it to the Leinster Motor Club. Today, the Dublin sporting trophy firm of Patrick O'Kelly Ltd. are responsible for the curation of the Leinster Trophy and all the other Leinster Motor Club trophies (of which there are several notable pieces).</p>
<figure class="float-left">
<img src="assets/images/leinster-trophy.jpg" alt="The Leinster Trophy photographed in 2018">
<figcaption>The Leinster Trophy photographed before the 2018 race.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On Saturday August 4th, 1934 in the village of Skerries the newly commissioned Leinster Trophy was presented for the very first time to Ms. Fay Taylour who had just won the inaugural Leinster Trophy race around the surrounding roads in her German-designed, but Dublin-assembled 1648cc Adler.</p>
<p>The first Leinster Trophy had proved an enormous success with several entrants from across the Irish Sea including a mighty Alfa Romeo that had just placed 3rd in that year’s Mille Miglia and was part of the Scuderia Ferrari stable. To further promote their new racing jewel, the Leinster Motor Club had announced that the magnificent new perpetual cup could be won outright if any driver won in back-to-back years. A clause that formed part of the sponsorship by Messrs. Rowntree Ltd. In general, this would not be a common eventuality due to the nature of handicapped races, but little did the Leinster Motor Club realize that it would only take two more years for this actuality to come to pass.</p>
<p>While the inaugural Skerries Leinster Trophy had been considered a triumph, it was readily apparent that the circuit was unsuitable for car racing with it being so narrow in places that they were designated no passing zones. This was something that Taylour, in the much slower Adler had taken full advantage of by deliberately slowing down in the no passing zones. The Leinster Motor Club therefore moved the race to the comparatively rural roads of Tallaght of south Dublin.</p>
<p>The winner in both 1935 and 1936 was Jack Toohey driving the 993cc “Baby” Ford Special entered by the Smithfield Motor Company. The Handicappers should have ensured that a repeat victory would have been nigh on impossible but wet weather in 1936 hampered the faster cars to such an extent that Toohey was able to win again relatively easily. Thus, in 1936 the Leinster Trophy was presented in perpetuity to the Smithfield Motor Company and for 1937 a replacement trophy would be required.</p>
<p>After only three years of the Leinster Trophy the need for a replacement award was again met by Mr. MacMurtry, General Manager of Rowntree's Ltd. who stepped up to offer a new Leinster Trophy in 1937. Mr. MacMurtry of Rowntree's had vowed that the replacement would be "an even more beautiful Leinster Trophy". It was first presented to Desmond McCracken in 1937 and at every event subsequently until 1977.</p>
<p>The second Leinster Trophy is indeed an impressive award. Larger in width dimension to the original, it is also a "loving cup" and retains the "chased" celtic studs around the cup but is different to the original in many respects. The flat handles are flush to the top of the cup unlike the more "art-nouveau" flourished arms of the original. There is also no lid in any of the photos and it is probable there never was one. The handles of the new trophy are of a more modern design "art deco" aesthetic with its geometric, stylized forms in keeping to the mid-1930s timeframe. The plinth was adorned with individual plaques marking each winner compared to the continuous band on the original.</p>
<figure class="float-right">
<img src="assets/images/1952-winner-desmond-titterington.jpg" alt="1952 Leinster Trophy winner Desmond Titterington">
<figcaption>1952 Leinster Trophy winner Desmond Titterington and his uncle with the 2nd Leinster Trophy atop the bonnet of the Allard J2.</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Sadly, this replacement trophy was lost in a fire at the garage premises of three-time Leinster Trophy winner Patsy McGarrity in Belfast, in or around 1978. Unfortunately consigning the 2nd Leinster Trophy to history. This version of the Leinster Trophy was presented to both Mike Hawthorn, the trophy’s first winner to go on and win the Formula One World Championship, and John Watson, the first Irish Formula One race winner.</p>
<p>In 1978 when future Formula One team boss Eddie Jordan was victorious, a stand-in trophy was used. However, in 1979, the Smithfield Motor Company graciously handed the original Leinster Trophy back to the Leinster Motor Club. The original trophy was then newly engraved to reflect the donation and has been in use ever since, although these days the race winner does not get to take the trophy home.</p>
<p>All winners of the Leinster Trophy since 1934 have received some type of keep-sake replica trophy of their win. In recent years crystal trophies have been awarded to the top-three placed drivers of the Leinster Trophy.</p>
<p>The re-introduction of the original 1934 Leinster Trophy in 1979 must have presented the Leinster Motor Club with some logistical, and probably technical challenges. There was the issue of engraving the names of all the subsequent winners (since 1936) and how future winners would be accommodated for posterity on the trophy. Somewhat coincidentally, the base could fit every winner up to 1978 (Eddie Jordan) and subsequent winners would then be engraved on the reverse side of the cup itself.</p>
<aside class="float-left">
<table class="trophy-errors">
<thead>
<tr class="table-row-title">
<th colspan="3">Engraving Errors</th>
</tr>
<tr class="table-row-header">
<th>Year</th>
<th>On Trophy</th>
<th>Correction</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>1934</td>
<td>Miss F. Taylor</td>
<td>Miss F. Taylour</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1954</td>
<td>D.R. Pyper</td>
<td>D.R. Piper</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1964</td>
<td>J. Pirece</td>
<td>J. Pearce</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1966</td>
<td>John Watson</td>
<td>No Race</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1983</td>
<td>R. Spence</td>
<td>Cor Euser</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1984</td>
<td>M. Guggelman</td>
<td>M. Gugelmin</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1991</td>
<td>Jason Eliott</td>
<td>Jason Elliott</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1992</td>
<td>Wym Eckmans</td>
<td>Wym Eyckmans</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1997</td>
<td>Marcelo Batistuzzi</td>
<td>Marcelo Battistuzzi</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1998</td>
<td>Eric Van Der Linde</td>
<td>Etienne Van Der Linde</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>1999</td>
<td>Thomas Scheckter</td>
<td>Tomas Scheckter</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</aside>
<p>Likely, the original trophy had not been engraved with the names of any winners since 1934 as Fay Taylour’s name on the trophy is misspelled with the more common “Taylor”. More surprising was the inclusion of John Watson as the 1966 winner of the Leinster Trophy. The 1966 Leinster Trophy at Dunboyne never actually took place due to a strike by longshoremen paralyzing Irish Sea ferry services. To make up for the loss of the Leinster Trophy feature race, a race for all-Ireland competitors was held instead. This race, known as the Dunboyne Trophy, was in fact won by John Watson, and the fog of history played a part in what was to follow. Lists of winners in Leinster Trophy race programmes are also replete with errors going back to before World War II so the engraving of winners from 1934-1977 was always going to be problematic.</p>
<p>Watson’s name appearing on the Leinster Trophy in 1979 most likely had other unforeseen consequences. The names engraved on the trophy soon became the accepted history of the event and were used to compile the commonly circulated list of winners in publications and race programmes. In 1992, the Leinster Motor Club celebrated the 50th Leinster Trophy race in a dinner dance while in fact 1992 was only the 49th edition of the race. Ayrton Senna himself even sent a fax of congratulations to Dominic Murphy and Ann Stevens on the occasion of the 50th Leinster Trophy. In addition, the Leinster Motor Club were all set to declare the 2017 Leinster Trophy as the 75th running before switching it to 2018.</p>
<p>The single most contentious result in long history of the Leinster Trophy concerns 1983. Here the trophy records the winner as England’s Russell Spence, the 1983 Euroseries FF2000 and UK FF2000 champion. However, Russell finished in 4th place on the road in the 1983 Leinster Trophy race behind winner Cor Euser, second placed Mauricio Gugelmin and Martin Donnelly who finished third. These data have been verified in multiple sources (Irish Times, Autosport) and have been confirmed by both Euser, who has the 1983 replica in his possession, Martin Donnelly and Russell Spence themselves. A photo also exists of Euser being presented with the Leinster Trophy in 1983.</p>
<p>While there’s other instances on the lead driver on the road not being awarded the Leinster Trophy (most notably in 1987 when Martin Boyle finished ahead of JJ Lehto but was excluded due to tyre regulations) there were no such issues that impacted the 1983 result from all available sources and in multiple interviews with officials, marshals, and observers on the day. As a result, Cor Euser is recognized as the 1983 winner of the Leinster Trophy.</p>
<p>Of the other anomalies appearing on the Leinster Trophy, apologies go out to 1998 winner Etienne (Eric) Van der Linde, 1992 winner Wym (Eckmans) Eyckmans and 1984 winner Maurico (Guggelman) Gugelmin. There are in fact over ten errors in engraving on the current Leinster Trophy.</p>
<p>The Leinster Trophy is part of the great tradition of motorsport in Ireland. From the longevity of the Leinster Trophy competition itself, the famous names memorialized on the cup, to the remarkable machinery and wonderful locations, the tradition and legacy of the Leinster Trophy is unmatched and is thankfully preserved in the beauty and rich heritage of the trophy itself.</p>
</article>
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