Triumph Motorcycles is the latest winner of the prestigious Torrens Trophy. The award was presented to Triumph staff during a glittering event last night at London’s Royal Automobile Club.
The Torrens Trophy has been awarded to Britain’s highest achievers in motorcycling and motorcycle racing – riders, engineers, manufacturers, and important personalities within these worlds – since the 1970s.
Former racer Barrie Baxter, Chairman of the Torrens Trophy Nominations Committee said: “It gives us enormous pleasure to award the 2023 Torrens Trophy to Triumph for its amazing work in the Moto2TM World Championship, motorcycling’s number two grand prix series. The company has provided engines for the entire Moto2 grid for the past five seasons, proving to the world that its engineering and technology can thrive in arguably the toughest bike racing series of them all”.
Moto2 is the final stepping stone towards MotoGP – the Formula 1 of motorcycling – so the 32-rider grid is packed with hungry young talents who will let nothing stand in their way as they fight their way to the top of one of the world’s most challenging sports.
It doesn’t really need to be said that these riders demand everything and more from their engines, which must therefore be capable of surviving serious abuse. During Triumph Racing’s five years in Moto2 its three-cylinder 765 engines have covered more than one million kms, achieving 95 race and outright lap records, enabling 21 different riders to win a Moto2™ race.
Surely no other motorcycle engine has had such a tough time over the last half-decade! And yet the Triumph 765 has shone throughout, providing superb performance – nudging 190mph at 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 risen again to prove itself at the very forefront of high-performance motorcycling.
Nick Bloor, Triumph Motorcycles CEO added: “This award is a real honour, and a tribute to the hard work and passion of our Triumph Racing team. Our world-class engineers are always looking at new ways to enhance the engine performance, from speed, power and torque, to revs, cylinder pressure and compression ratio. This has enabled us to deliver improvements on track each season, from shorter race times to faster top speeds, which has contributed to closer, even more exciting, racing.
“Moto2 is also an excellent platform to showcase the durability, reliability and class-leading performance of our 765 triple engines on the road. Over the last five years we’ve used the race engine programme to drive enhancements and gain insights that we’ve used to further develop and evolve our new Street Triple 765 range, which has successfully driven demand and sales across the world. It’s a partnership that we are excited to be continuing until 2029.”
First established in 1902, Triumph Motorcycles has been based in Hinckley, Leicestershire for more than three decades, and has produced iconic bikes that perfectly blend authentic design, character, charisma, and performance. With 86,653 motorcycles delivered in calendar year 2023, Triumph is the largest British motorcycle manufacturer.
It’s been a remarkable story of courage and commitment, combined with superb engineering and brilliant knowledge of the marketplace.
The reborn company enjoyed its first significant racetrack success when Jim Moodie won the 2003 Isle of Man Junior TT aboard a race-prepped Triumph Daytona road bike. It was the brand’s first TT victory since a Triumph Trident road bike won the 1975 production TT.
Since then, the company’s machines have won other important international successes, including the USA’s hugely prestigious Daytona 200-mile race.
Triumph’s five Moto2 champions since 2019 are Alex Marquez, Enea Bastianini, Remy Gardner, Augusto Fernandez and Pedro Acosta. Four of these riders will be in MotoGP this year and almost half the current MotoGP grid has scored grands prix victories on Triumph-powered Moto2 bikes – another massive testament to the power of Triumph.
This year Triumph Racing will also enter the motocross world championships for the first time, while also attacking the hugely popular American Supercross and Pro Motocross championships.
Previous Torrens Trophy winners
The Torrens Trophy
The Royal Automobile Club has always had a close association with the motorcycling world. The Club formed the Auto Cycle Club in 1903, which went on to become the Auto Cycle Union in 1947. The first motorcycle race was held on the Isle of Man in 1905 for cars – two years before the first Tourist Trophy for motorcycles.
The Torrens Trophy recognises an individual or organisation considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the cause of safe and skillful motorcycling in the United Kingdom, or to have made an outstanding contribution of technical excellence to further the cause of motorcycling in the UK, or to have shown outstanding skill in international motorcycling sporting events in the United Kingdom.
The Torrens Trophy was first awarded in 1978 in memory of Arthur Bourne, a motorcycling journalist who wrote a column under the name ‘Torrens’. Arthur Bourne was also a Vice-Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club. It is awarded only when the Club feels that the achievement justifies it.
The Club’s Torrens Trophy Nominations Committee consists of Chairman and ex-bike racer Barrie Baxter, Royal Automobile Club Chairman Ben Cussons, double World Champion and past Torrens winner James Toseland, well-respected motorcycle 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 awarded) and Queen of Bikers Maria Costello MBE, who has held the Guinness World Record for being the fastest woman to lap the Isle of Man TT course.
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