The International Trophy is a prize awarded annually by the British Racing Drivers' Club to the winner of a motor race held at the

Silverstone Circuit Silverstone Circuit is a motor racing circuit in England, near the Northamptonshire villages of Silverstone and Whittlebury. It is the home of the British Grand Prix, which it first hosted as the 1948 British Grand Prix. The 1950 British Grand ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. For many years it formed the premier non-championship

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

event in Britain, alongside the

Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the start or end of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers from Formula One, World Rally Championship, IndyCar, NASCAR, sports car racin ...

Brands Hatch Brands Hatch is a motor racing circuit in West Kingsdown, Kent, England, United Kingdom. Originally used as a grasstrack motorcycle circuit on farmland, it hosted 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986 and currently hosts ...

History

The event was instituted by the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) in August 1949, sponsored by the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' newspaper, for cars meeting contemporary

Grand Prix motor racing Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition, has its roots in organised automobile racing that began in France as early as 1894. It quickly evolved from simple road races from one town to the next, to endurance tests for car and ...

regulations. The BRDC drew the name from that of an extinct event formerly held at the

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

circuit in the early 1930s. The first Silverstone event was the first to use the former airfield's perimeter roadways rather than the main runways, a circuit layout that persisted for over forty years. With the introduction of the new

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, in 1950 the International Trophy became a non-championship race held to Formula One rules. The 1950 event was again held in August, but from 1951 onwards – apart from 1957 – the International Trophy was contested in April or May, near the beginning of the World Championship season. The timing of the event often attracted many top teams and drivers, allowing them to practise in racing conditions before the season became too serious. From 1952 the trophy was also sporadically opened to drivers in the

Formula Two Formula Two (F2) is a type of Open-wheel car, open-wheel formula racing category first codified in 1948. It was replaced in 1985 by Formula 3000, but revived by the FIA from 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season, 2009 to 2012 FIA Formula Two C ...

category, as well as being run to F2 regulations in those years that the World Championship was also. 1978 saw the 30th running of the International Trophy, and the last under these rules; with the increasing complexity of F1 cars it simply became too expensive for teams to contest non-championship events. From 1979, the trophy continued as a Formula Two-only event. When F2 was replaced at the end of 1984, the trophy switched to the new

Formula 3000 Formula 3000 (F3000) was a type of open wheel, single seater formula racing, occupying the tier immediately below Formula One and above Formula Three. It was so named because the cars were powered by 3.0 L engines. Formula 3000 championship ...

rules from 1985. In turn, it was replacement of F3000 by GP2 in 2005 that ended the International Trophy as an event for cutting-edge racing cars. Since 2005 the trophy has been awarded to the winner of a race for historic F1 cars at the annual

Silverstone Classic Silverstone Festival (previously known as Silverstone Classic) is an annual three-day Festival featuring historic motorsport, live music and family-friendly entertainment at the Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix. The event attra ...

race meeting.

Winners of the International Trophy

1949–1980: Formula One years

''In 1952 and 1953, the race was run to

, while the 1961 race was held for the short lived Intercontinental Formula. The 1980 event formed a round of the 1980 British Formula One Championship.''

1977–1984: Formula Two years

1985–2004: Formula 3000 years

2005 onward: Historic F1 years

2005: '' Thoroughbred Grand Prix''
2006–2007, 2012:
Masters Series
'
2008: '' FIA Historic F1''

References

* (F3000 Results.) * (F2 Results.) * (Complete F1 Results.) {{BRDC International Trophy