Motoring
The Segrave Trophy
Sir Henry Segrave was a true pioneer as the first person to hold both the land and water speed records simultaneously.
In 1927 he became the first person to travel at over 200mph in a land vehicle, setting the record in front of 30,000 onlookers at Daytona Beach in Florida. After increasing the record to 231mph in 1929, he turned his attention to becoming the fastest man on water. In setting a new record of 98mph at Lake Windermere in June 1930, his boat struck a piece of debris and, although Sir Henry was found alive in the water, he succumbed soon afterwards to his injuries. The Trophy was commissioned by Lady Segrave after his passing to carry on his legacy and ‘Spirit of Adventure’.
2025 Winner – Nick Tandy
In 2025, Nick Tandy became the first driver to win all four major 24-hour endurance races: Le Mans, Nürburgring, Spa and Daytona. In July, the Club awarded him the highly coveted Segrave Trophy in recognition of this remarkable achievement.
Nick’s racing career is a story of perseverance and passion. From humble beginnings in British grassroots motorsport, he steadily climbed the international ranks to become one of endurance racing’s most respected figures.
His first landmark victory came at the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, piloting the No 19 Porsche 919 Hybrid to an unforgettable win. He followed that with 24-hour triumphs at Nürburgring in 2018, Spa in 2020 and, finally, Daytona in 2025 – completing a rare and remarkable sweep of endurance racing’s crown jewels. This impressive race record underscores a career defined by talent and grit.
Recent Winners of the Segrave Trophy
Recent Winners of the Segrave Trophy
2023 – Ben and Tom Birchall
Fourteen-times Isle of Man sidecar TT winners Ben and Tom Birchall were much-deserved winners of the Royal Automobile Club’s Segrave Trophy, awarded for ‘outstanding skill, courage and initiative’.
Ben (47 at the time of the award) and Tom (37) started racing together twenty years previously, with Ben working the handlebars and Tom working as passenger. A sidecar passenger is much more than the name suggests, as they have to position themselves through corners to stabilise the three-wheeled machine. Being moveable ballast at speeds of up to 170mph is not a job for the fainthearted!
The brothers took their first TT victory in 2013 and have since won thirteen, going unbeaten between 2015 and 2023. They have also won four sidecar world championships.
2022 – Zara and Mack Rutherford
The Trophy was presented in 2023 to Zara and Mack Rutherford for becoming the youngest woman and youngest person, respectively, to circumnavigate the globe.
Aviation has always been a passion for the Rutherford’s. Both their parents hold pilot’s licences, and frequently took the young Zara and Mack up in the air with them. As soon as they were able, the siblings were flying on their own – literally, in Mack’s case, as he became the world’s youngest qualified pilot at just 15 years and three months. This love for aviation continued, and enticed Zara, then aged 19, to attempt a circumnavigation of the globe. In doing so, she would become the youngest woman to fly around the world, which would lower the record by 11 years. She completed her flight on Thursday 20 January 2022, a 32,000-mile journey that took her through 51 countries over five months and two days.
This spirit of bravery and endeavour demonstrated by Zara inspired her brother Mack, then just 17 years old, to attempt a solo circumnavigation himself. Travelling 541,124km through 30 countries over five months and one day — just one fewer than Zara — Mack successfully broke the record for youngest person to fly solo around the world, breaking the record by just over a year.
2022 – Robin Shute
In August 2022 the Segrave Trophy was awarded to hillclimb racer Robin Shute for being the first and only British driver to have claimed overall victory at Pikes Peak.
Norfolk-born Shute took his latest win in what was the 100th running of the legendary American hillclimb – in the process overcoming cold and wet conditions, as well as thick cloud towards the summit. Having set the fastest-ever qualifying time for an internal combustion car, Shute was in a class of his own aboard his 550bhp, 2.1-litre Wolf TSC-FS, and his time of 10 minutes 9.525 seconds was 25 seconds clear of his nearest competitor.
Previous Winners of the Segrave Trophy
Previous Winners of the Segrave Trophy
| Year | Winner | Achievement |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | James Ketchell | For becoming the first person to perform an around-the-world gyroplane flight certified by the Guinness Book of Records. |
| 2018 | Billy Monger | For demonstrating exceptional courage and determination after great adversity and returning to high levels of motorsport. |
| 2017 | Sam Sunderland | For being the first Briton to win a Dakar Rally crown by winning the motorcycle category in 2017. |
| 2015 | John McGuinness | For his outstanding contribution to motorcycle road and circuit racing, including setting the outright lap record at the 2015 Isle of Man TT. |
| 2013 | Allan McNish | First Briton to win the Tourist Trophy, the Le Mans 24 Hours and the FIA World Endurance Championship in the same season. |
| 2012 | John Surtees | For his outstanding career in two- and four-wheeled motor sport, including seven Motorcycle World Championship titles, culminating in the unique achievement of being the only man to win both a Motorcycle World Championship and a Formula One World Championship. |
| 2011 | Dave Sykes | For being the first paraplegic pilot to fly from York to Sydney in a microlight aircraft, completing the journey in 257 hours. |
| 2010 | Adrian Newey | For winning Formula One drivers' and constructors' World Championships with three teams: Williams-Renault, McLaren-Mercedes and Red Bull-Renault. |
| 2009 | Paul Bonhomme | As Britain's first champion in the Red Bull Air Race. |
| 2008 | Allan McNish | For exceptional endeavour in motor sport. |
| 2007 | Lewis Hamilton | For unprecedented achievements in his debut season in the FIA Formula One World Championship. |
| 2005 | Stirling Moss | For his lifetime of achievement in all forms of motor sport, and his service to the sports. |
| 2003 | Brian Lecomber | For his career of more than 20 years as a leading airshow pilot, and journalist and communicator on aerobatics and record breaking. |
| 2002 | Steve Curtis | For winning as driver in the World, European and Pole Position championships in offshore powerboat racing. |
| 2001 | Tim Ellison | For the first circumnavigation flight by a disabled pilot. |
| 2000 | Joey Dunlop | Awarded posthumously in recognition of a career of unrivalled achievement in the Isle of Man TT. |
| 1999 | Jackie Stewart | For lifetime services to motor sport. |
| 1998 | Brian Milton | For becoming the first person to circumnavigate the world in a microlight. |
| 1997 | Andy Green | For raising the land speed record to 763.065 miles per hour (1,228.034 km/h) at Black Rock, Nevada, in ThrustSSC – becoming the first person to break the sound barrier on land. |
| 1996 | Damon Hill | For becoming the FIA Formula One world champion and, in so doing, becoming the first son of a former champion to claim the title. |
| 1995 | Colin McRae | For becoming the first British driver to win the FIA World Rally Championship with Subaru. |
| 1994 | Carl Fogarty | For winning the Superbike World Championship with Ducati. |
| 1993 | Nigel Mansell | For winning the CART IndyCar World Championship in America. |
| 1992 | Frank Williams and Nigel Mansell | For victory in the 1992 FIA Formula One World Championship for constructors (Williams) and drivers (Mansell). |
| 1991 | Steve Webster | For winning his fourth FIM World Sidecar Championship title. |
| 1990 | Louise Aitken-Walker | For winning the Ladies' World Rally Championship title with Vauxhall. |
| 1989 | Bob Ives and Joe Ives | For victory in the off-road marathon the Camel Trophy, with its 1,062-mile (1,709 km) route through the Brazilian rainforest from Alta Floresta to Manaus. |
| 1988 | Martin Brundle | For winning the FIA Sportscar World Championship with Jaguar. |
| 1987 | Eve Jackson | For her solo flight from London to Sydney in the microlight Shadow. |
| 1986 | Richard Branson | For the development of the Virgin Atlantic Challenger and his effort to break the Blue Riband record crossing of the Atlantic in a sailing boat. |
| 1985 | Ken Wallis | For his lifetime of achievement in aviation, including a multitude of world records for altitude, speed and range in autogyro aircraft. |
| 1984 | Barry Sheene | For his career in motorcycle Grand Prix racing, including being the only man to win World Championship events at all capacities from 50cc to 500cc. |
| 1983 | Richard Noble | For raising the land speed record to 633.468 miles per hour (1,019.468 km/h) at Black Rock Desert, Nevada, in Thrust 2. |
| 1982 | Sandy Woodward | For his leadership of flagship HMS Hermes on behalf of all who fought for the liberation of the Falkland Islands. |
| 1980 | Fiona Gore | For becoming the first woman to achieve more than 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) on water by reaching 102 miles per hour (164 km/h) on Lake Windermere. |
| 1979 | Mike Hailwood | For his long career in motorcycle Grand Prix racing, Formula One and his successes in the Isle of Man TT, including his last, in 1979, at the age of 39, following a successful comeback to the event after an 11-year hiatus. |
| 1978 | John Cunningham | For his 40-year career as chief test pilot at de Havilland and later British Aerospace, including wartime service as a night-fighter pilot, scoring 20 aerial victories in the defence of Britain at the height of the Blitz. |
| 1977 | Barry Sheene | For retaining the 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix World Championship. |
| 1976 | Peter Collins | For winning the World Speedway Championship on a British Weslake engine. |
| 1975 | Roger Clark & Stuart Turner, Jim Porter, Peter Ashworth and Tony Mason | For the success of Ford Motor Company in the British Rally Championship. |
| 1974 | John Blashford-Snell | For leading the first Zaire River exploration ever to be completed. |
| 1973 | Jackie Stewart | For winning his third Formula One World Championship in five seasons with a British team, and becoming the most successful Grand Prix driver in history. |
| 1970 | Brian Trubshaw | For his work in developing and successfully piloting the prototype Concorde supersonic airliner, including her first supersonic flight over land. |
| 1969 | Bruce McLaren | Awarded posthumously for the design, development and driving of cars that won every round of the 1969 Can-Am Championship. |
| 1968 | Ken Wallis | For his development and airmanship in the field of lightweight autogyro aircraft, and attaining multiple world records. |
| 1966 | Donald Campbell | Awarded posthumously for outstanding contribution to mechanical development and aerodynamics. |
| 1964 | Donald Campbell | For becoming the first person since his father to achieve the double of raising the water speed record to 276.33 miles per hour (444.71 km/h) in Bluebird K7 on Lake Dumbleyung, Australia, and taking the land speed record to 429 miles per hour (690 km/h) at Lake Eyre in Bluebird CN7. |
| 1962 | Bill Bedford | For completing the first vertical landing by a fixed-wing aircraft on an aircraft carrier, landing a Hawker P-1127 on HMS Ark Royal. |
| 1960 | Tom Brooke-Smith | For attaining vertical flight and hovering stationary in the air in an SC 1 VTOL aircraft. |
| 1958 | Donald Campbell | For raising the water speed record to 260 miles per hour (420 km/h) on Lake Coniston in Bluebird K7. |
| 1957 | Stirling Moss | For winning three Grands Prix with Vanwall and breaking five class speed records. |
| 1956 | Peter Twiss | For setting a new air speed record of 1,132 miles per hour (1,822 km/h) and becoming the first person to break 1,000 miles per hour (1,600 km/h) in level flight, in a Fairey Delta 2. |
| 1955 | Donald Campbell | For setting a new water speed record of 202.15 miles per hour (325.33 km/h) on Ullswater in Bluebird K7. |
| 1953 | Neville Duke | For setting a new air speed record of 727.63 miles per hour (1,171.01 km/h) in a Hawker Hunter over Littlehampton. |
| 1951 | Geoff Duke | For winning the 350cc and 500cc Motorcycle World Championships and both the junior and senior Tourist Trophy races in the same year. |
| 1948 | John Derry | For breaking the 100 km closed circuit aeroplane record at Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Flying a de Havilland DH 108 he reached a speed of 605.23 mph (973.8 km/h). |
| 1947 | John Cobb | For raising the land speed record to 394.19 miles per hour (634.39 km/h) in the Railton Mobil Special. |
| 1946 | Geoffrey de Havilland Jr | Awarded posthumously for his contribution to British aviation as a test pilot developing aircraft such as the de Havilland Mosquito, the Hornet and the Vampire. |
| 1939 | Malcolm Campbell | For setting the new water speed record of 141.74 miles per hour (228.11 km/h) at Coniston Water in Blue Bird K4. |
| 1938 | A T Goldie Gardner | For attaining the class G land speed record of 186.6 miles per hour (300.3 km/h) in a 1100cc MG Magnette on the German autobahn. |
| 1937 | A E Clouston | For his flight with Betty Kirby-Green in a de Havilland DH.88 Comet from Croydon to Cape Town and back in a flight time of 77 hours and 49 minutes. |
| 1936 | Jean Batten | For her record-breaking solo flight in a Percival Gull from England to Auckland, taking 11 days and 45 minutes. |
| 1935 | George Eyston | For the land speed records over 1 hour, 12 hours and 24 hours, including an average of 140.52 miles per hour (226.15 km/h) over 24 hours of driving in Speed of the Wind. |
| 1934 | Ken Waller | For his 4,000-mile (6,400 km) flight from Belgium to what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and back in a de Havilland DH.88 Comet, taking just 3,439 minutes. |
| 1933 | Malcolm Campbell | For raising the Land Speed Record to 272.11 miles per hour (437.92 km/h) in Blue Bird. |
| 1932 | Amy Johnson | For her record-breaking flight in a de Havilland Puss Moth from London to Cape Town. |
| 1931 | Bert Hinkler | For his solo flight in a de Havilland Puss Moth from Canada to London by the least direct route imaginable. |
| 1930 | Charles Kingsford Smith | For his east-west solo air crossing of the Atlantic from Ireland to Newfoundland in 31½ hours, and victory in 13 days, also solo, in the England to Australia Air Race, in the Southern Cross. |
