The Leinster Trophy has been the pinnacle of motor racing in Ireland since it was first run in 1934. In its early years it was one of the highlights of the racing calendar across Great Britain and Ireland mainly due to the restrictions placed on racing on public roads in Great Britain. The event has been held on 8 different tracks in 6 different locations. It’s been competed for across all types and formulae of racing cars, from pre-war monsters from Mercedes and Bugatti to the rear-engined formula cars of the 1960s, and from modern day single-seater junior classes to ex-F1 cars, saloons, pre-war coupes and open cockpit racecars.

The Leinster Motor Club was founded in 1921 by Russian-Jewish immigrant Nathan Lepler and Sir Hugh Massey. Affectionately known as “The Lep” Lepler had experienced antisemitism in Ireland that prevented him from joining other motor clubs or even receiving prizes in competition. The Leinster Motor Club soon began organizing motorcycle races and quickly became a prominent club on the Irish racing scene. The first Leinster 200 motorcycle race was held in 1922 at the Skerries circuit, which was to play host to the first Leinster Trophy race for cars in 1934.

The first running of the Leinster Trophy was in 1934, but due to years lost to World War II and other breaks, the 75th running of the event will take place in September 2018. 8 years were lost in total due to the “Emergency” between 1940 and 1945 and for 2 additional years due to petrol rationing after the war. Following a one-year resumption of the event at the Tallaght circuit in 1948, the event was again cancelled in 1949 due to the changing nature of the circuit location, before resuming at the Wicklow circuit in 1950. An additional year was lost in 1966 when a strike at B&I ferries prevented competitors from crossing the Irish Sea for what was to be the final Dunboyne event.

In all, the Leinster Trophy has been held at 6 venues: Skerries (1934), Tallaght (1935-39, ’48), Wicklow (1950-57), Dunboyne (1958-65), Bishopscourt (1967) and Mondello Park (1968-present). Three different configurations of the Mondello circuit have been used: Club (1968), National (1969-1997, 2005) and International (1998-2004, 2006-present).

In the early years of motor racing there were literally hundreds of individual manufacturers and no such thing as single-make formulae. This meant there were huge performance differences between the cars, so to even up the competition cars were “handicapped” by getting time or lap bonuses. Up to 1959 the Leinster Trophy was run as a Handicap race with each car receiving a pre-determined start advantage depending on the car’s horsepower and configuration. The first “scratch” race was held in 1960 and the event switched between handicap and scratch formats up to 1968 when the Leinster Trophy moved to its permanent home at Mondello Park. Every race since then has been a scratch race.

The Leinster Trophy has been contested by some of the greatest names in motor sport history. Three former winners have gone on to win the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship. 1957 world champion Mike Hawthorn won in 1951 at Wicklow in a Riley sportscar. Three-time World Champion (1988, 1990, ’91) Ayrton Senna (or Ayrton da Silva as he was known at the time) won in 1982, while double World Champion Mika Häkkinen (1998, ’99) won in 1988, both at Mondello.

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