The Royal Automobile Club’s annual award dinner, held at Pall Mall in London, sees the great and the good from the two-wheeled world gather for the RAC to present its most prestigious motorcycling award – the Torrens Trophy. The Torrens is awarded to a British individual or organisation that has made an outstanding contribution to the cause of safe and skilful motorcycling, made an exceptional contribution of technical excellence to motorcycling or shown outstanding skill in international motorcycle sport. The trophy was first awarded in 1978 in memory of Arthur Bourne, a vice-chairman of the Royal Automobile Club and motorbike journalist who wrote his column under the name Torrens.
This year’s trophy was awarded to Triumph Motorcycles, which snatched the gong for its successful Moto2 engine supply contract. Triumph’s 765 Street Triple engine took over from Honda’s CBR600RR as the Moto2 control powerplant in 2019, with Hinckley supplying race-prepared motors to all competitors in the MotoGP support series. The project has been remarkably successful, with little in the way of technical issues or problems over five seasons, and is set to continue till 2029.
“It’s an absolute privilege to receive such an award, for everyone at Triumph,” said Triumph CEO Nick Bloor. “I’m really proud to have the key team together here tonight who have contributed over the years and made it all a success.”