The RAC Tourist Trophy (sometimes called the International Tourist Trophy) was a motor racing award presented by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) to the overall victor of a motor race in the United Kingdom. Established in 1905, it is the world's oldest automobile race. The 18-carat gold trophy is based on Giambologna's sculpture of the Greek god Hermes. Series to have featured the trophy include the World Sportscar Championship, the FIA GT Cup, the World Touring Car Championship, the European Touring Car Championship, the FIA GT Championship, the British Touring Car Championship, the FIA GT1 World Championship, and the overall winners of the British GT Championship in the 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2004 seasons. It has been presented to the overall winners of the Silverstone Circuit round of the FIA World Endurance Championship from 2013 on.

The race was organised and formulated by senior members of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1904. They believed there was a major demand for a race to develop and encourage the design and performance of road-going cars. It was first contested on the Isle of Man in 1905 and continued to be held on the island until 1922. It moved to the Ards Circuit on Northern Ireland's public roads in 1928 after an article written by the journalist Wallace McLeod in a Belfast newspaper suggested it occur in the area and the inventor Harry Ferguson helped the RAC to find a suitable track. Donington Park staged the trophy's following two races in 1937 and 1938 after a major accident involving a Riley car during the 1936 edition killed eight onlookers and injured another 25. Following World War II, it returned to Northern Ireland and was held on the shorter Dundrod Circuit; a second major crash that killed three competitors in 1955 led the local authorities to bar all future car races on the track. Since then, the race has occurred on permanent racing circuits rather than closed public road tracks.

John Napier in an Arrol-Johnston was the event's inaugural winner in 1905. The first non-British driver to win the race was the Frenchman Jean Chassagne, who drove a Sunbeam Tourist Trophy car to victory in the 1922 race. Italian driver Tazio Nuvolari became the first driver in history to claim the trophy in 1933 to accompany it with an overall victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same year. The winners has been decided by the disqualification of drivers on three occasions, in 2010 to the Nissan pair of Jamie Campbell-Walter and Warren Hughes after the Aston Martin Young Driver AMR pair of Darren Turner and Tomáš Enge lost the victory due to excess wear on their car's plank, in 2016 when Audi's Marcel Fässler, André Lotterer and Benoît Tréluyer were disqualified for a skid block infringement and promoted Porsche's Romain Dumas, Neel Jani and Marc Lieb to first, and in 2018 after two Toyota TS050 Hybrids were disqualified for a failed post-race test and elevated Rebellion Racing drivers Mathias Beche, Thomas Laurent and Gustavo Menezes to the victory. The last winners were Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and José María López for Toyota.

Winners RAC Tourist Trophy winners Year Nationality Drivers Car Type Series Circuit Ref(s) 1905 Arrol-JohnstonTouring carNo seriesHighlands Course 1906 Rolls-Royce 20 hpTouring carNo series'Short' Highlands Course 1907 Rolls-Royce 20 hpTouring carNo series'Short' Highlands Course 1908 Hutton (Napier)Grand PrixNo seriesFour Inch Course 1909–1913 1914 SunbeamGrand PrixNo seriesIsle of Man Mountain Circuit 1915–1921 1922 Sunbeam Tourist TrophyGrand PrixNo seriesIsle of Man Mountain Circuit 1923–1927 1928 Lea-Francis Hyper SSports carNo seriesArds Circuit1929 Mercedes-Benz SSKSports carNo seriesArds Circuit1930 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 GSSports carNo seriesArds Circuit1931 MG C-type MidgetSports carNo seriesArds Circuit1932 Riley Brooklands NineSports carNo seriesArds Circuit1933 MG Magnette K3Sports carNo seriesArds Circuit1934 MG Magnette NESports carNo seriesArds Circuit1935 Riley TT SpriteSports carNo seriesArds Circuit1936 Riley TT Sprite Sports car No series Ards Circuit 1937 Talbot-Lago T150CSports carNo seriesDonington Park1938 Delage D6-70Sports carNo seriesDonington Park 1939–1949 1950 Jaguar XK120Sports carNo seriesDundrod Circuit1951Jaguar C-TypeSports carNo seriesDundrod Circuit 1952 Autosport, July 18, 1952 p. 69 The 20th ″TT″ ... Regulations are being framed in order that cars which have taken part to date in the classic sports-car races of 1952, viz., the Mille Miglia, the Monaco G.P. and the Le Mans 24 Hours Race, will be eligible. - https://porschecarshistory.com/wp-content/old/lib/magazines/autosport/1952/AS1952.07.18.pdf1953 Aston Martin DB3SSports carWorld Sportscar ChampionshipDundrod Circuit 1954 Ferrari 750 MonzaSports carWorld Sportscar ChampionshipDundrod Circuit 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLRSports carWorld Sportscar ChampionshipDundrod Circuit 1956 1957 1958 Aston Martin DBR1/300Sports carWorld Sportscar ChampionshipGoodwood Circuit 1959 Aston Martin DBR1/300Sports carWorld Sportscar ChampionshipGoodwood Circuit 1960 Ferrari 250 GTGrand tourerFIA GT CupGoodwood Circuit1961 Ferrari 250 GTGrand tourerFIA GT CupGoodwood Circuit1962 Ferrari 250 GTOGrand tourerWorld Sportscar ChampionshipGoodwood Circuit1963 Ferrari 250 GTOGrand tourerWorld Sportscar ChampionshipGoodwood Circuit1964 Ferrari 330PSports carWorld Sportscar ChampionshipGoodwood Circuit1965 Brabham BT8-ClimaxSports carBritish Sports Car ChampionshipOulton Park International Championship of Makes1966 Lola T70-ChevroletSports carBritish Sports Car ChampionshipOulton Park1967 Alfa Romeo GTATouring carEuropean Touring Car ChallengeOulton Park1968 Lola T70-ChevroletSports carBritish Sports Car ChampionshipOulton Park1969 Lola T70-ChevroletSports carBritish Sports Car ChampionshipOulton Park1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28Touring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1971 1972 Ford Capri RS2600 Touring car European Touring Car Championship Silverstone Circuit 1973 BMW 3.0 CSL Touring car European Touring Car Championship Silverstone Circuit 1974 Chevrolet Camaro Z28Touring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit1975 Chevrolet Camaro Z28Touring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit1976 BMW 3.0 CSLTouring carEuropean Touring Car Championship Silverstone Circuit 1977 BMW 3.0 CSLTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1978 BMW 3.0 CSLTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1979 BMW 3.0 CSLTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1980 BMW 635CSiTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1981 Mazda RX-7Touring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1982 Jaguar XJSTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1983 Rover VitesseTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1984 BMW 635CSiTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1985 Rover VitesseTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1986 Rover VitesseTouring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1987 BMW M3Touring carWorld Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1988 Ford Sierra RS500Touring carEuropean Touring Car ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 1989–1993 Silverstone TT canned Auto Action issue 482 8 September 1989 page 31994 Ford Mondeo GhiaTouring carFIA Touring Car World CupDonington Park 1995 1996 Renault LagunaTouring carNo seriesDonington Park1997 Renault LagunaTouring carNo seriesDonington Park1998 Ferrari 333 SPSports carInternational Sports Racing SeriesDonington Park 1999 Lister Storm GTLSports carBritish GT ChampionshipN/A 2000 Marcos LM600Sports carBritish GT ChampionshipN/A 2001–2002 2003 Mosler MT900RSports carBritish GT ChampionshipN/A 2004 Porsche 911 GT3-RSRSports carBritish GT ChampionshipN/A2005 Aston Martin DBR9Grand tourerFIA GT ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2006 Maserati MC12Grand tourerFIA GT ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2007 Maserati MC12Grand tourerFIA GT ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2008 Aston Martin DBR9Grand tourerFIA GT ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2009 Saleen S7-RGrand tourerFIA GT ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2010 Nissan GT-R GT1Grand tourerFIA GT1 World ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2011 Nissan GT-R GT1Grand tourerFIA GT1 World ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2012 2013 Audi R18 e-tron quattro Sports car FIA World Endurance Championship Silverstone Circuit 2014 Toyota TS040 HybridSports carFIA World Endurance ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2015 Audi R18 e-tron quattroSports carFIA World Endurance ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2016 Porsche 919 HybridSports carFIA World Endurance ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2017 Toyota TS050 HybridSports carFIA World Endurance ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2018 Rebellion R13Sports carFIA World Endurance ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit 2019 Toyota TS050 HybridSports carFIA World Endurance ChampionshipSilverstone Circuit

Statistics

+ Multiple winners Name Wins 7 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

+ Multiple winners by vehicle Car Wins BMW 3.0 CSL 5 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 3 Lola T70-Chevrolet 3 Rover Vitesse 3 Aston Martin DBR1/300 2 Aston Martin DBR9 2 Audi R18 e-tron quattro 2 Ferrari 250 GT 2 Ferrari 250 GTO 2 Maserati MC12 2 Nissan GT-R GT1 2 Renault Laguna 2 Riley TT Sprite 2 Toyota TS050 Hybrid 2

+Winners by nationalityNationalityWinnersDrivers 49 37 12 10 11 11 9 9 8 6 6 5 5 5 5 2 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

Notes

References

External links