Creating championship awards for motorcycle racing
Every race championship produces a champion. In well-resourced professional motorsport, that achievement is marked with ceremony, broadcast to millions, and captured in photographs that endure for decades. But at club and national level, where the racing is competitive and the commitment all-consuming, the award that sits on the mantelpiece is frequently an afterthought. A stock acrylic column, a resin casting, or a pressed-metal cup that looks indistinguishable from a dozen other series’ prizes.
Why motorsport deserves better than a generic trophy
With over 18 years personal racing experience ourselves, we believe riders and drivers who have committed an entire season to their championship deserve something genuinely worth keeping. An award that reflects the quality of their achievement and the character of the series they competed in. This conviction is at the heart of everything we do when we design bespoke trophies and championship awards for our motorsport customers.
The motorsport awards market
The UK motorsport calendar is densely populated. From grassroots karting to British Superbikes, from hill climb championships to historic racing series, there are hundreds of competitions handing out awards each season. The majority commission from trophy suppliers who offer personalised versions of stock designs which, although, serviceable and cost-effective they are rarely memorable.
At the other end of the market, a small number of race series invest in genuinely bespoke design. These are the championships that understand their awards are part of their brand. The trophy photographed on a podium, shared on social media, and displayed in a rider’s home is a form of ongoing, organic communication. It speaks volumes about the series’ values and its regard for the competitors and their families.
It is this premium end of the market that we design for. Our clients are sponsors, event organisers and race teams who want their championship hardware to be as rewarding as the competition itself.
Giving GP Originals a proper send-off
We have been the creative agency for GP Originals since its foundation in 2017. We designed the brand identity, created the website, managed social media across five channels, and created all supporting materials from video content to merchandise (all whilst riding competitively ourselves on a Yamaha TZ250L). This long-standing relationship gave us an unusually deep understanding of what the series stood for.
GP Originals offered something different, it was accessible to all levels of rider but highly competitive throughout the field. The Series strived to preserve historically significant two-stroke GP racing and refused to compromise its post-classic credentials. It was a Series for people who genuinely loved these machines. As two-stroke racers ourselves, we understood that passion from the inside.
2024 was to be the final season of the series and we planned to close-off at a point where the Series was still considered a success story. Such niche market motorcycle racing is naturally edging towards parades, exhibitions or mixed classes. We knew we needed to mark the final championship with something special. Nine bespoke trophies for the Masters, 250cc and 350cc classes, presented to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers in each. These were not props. They were intended to be permanent, meaningful objects, the kind of award a rider would keep for life.
Designing for permanence and the creative brief
The starting point for any bespoke trophy brief is the same question – what should this object communicate? For GP Originals, the answer was clear. The trophies needed to feel engineered and feel like a prestige keepsake.
Early concepts explored a range of references: fasteners, engine components, race number aesthetics, period typography. We scamped extensively before arriving at the final design direction: a dynamic, angular form that would read as both contemporary and purposeful.
The material palette followed logically: polished aluminium and brass, complemented by the strong colour ways we had used for each Championship. The contrast between the bright aluminium upper section and the warm tone of the brass base gave the design depth and a quality that felt appropriate for a final season commemorative award.
Three classes. Top three positions
A suite of nine trophies is a significant design challenge. The pieces needed to be unmistakably part of the same visual family, whilst also clearly distinguishing between class and podium position.
We resolved the class distinction through a colour-coded system, with each championship given its own designated colour carried through to a precision-made coloured oval inset into the face of the award. The position hierarchy was addressed through the base: three graduating heights, each machined to a specific dimension, so that 1st, 2nd and 3rd were clearly differentiated at a glance. The top section remained consistent across all nine, a deliberate choice that unified the suite and reinforced the sense that all three classes were equally valued.
Every millimetre of the design was carefully visualised with an exacting brief. Our digital files were passed to our precision engineering partner PDQ Precision ready to import into their CAD software. We worked together to ensure each piece worked successfully with such tight tolerances and a very high quality precision finish. We organised and specified the coloured discs from a local specialist partner for engraving and cutting the shapes. These needed to be a precise flush fit, ready for us to assemble by hand.
Our artwork consisted of a custom-made brush to create the borders. We referenced the Yamaha speed block pattern that was common in the 1970s-80s. We calculated the optimum angle and size of the top section oval which would allow us to accommodate all the graphics and typography comfortably whilst being reproducable using engraving. Each sponsor’s logo needed to be clearly displayed without dominating the brand of GP Originals itself.
From design to the presentation evening
Spyre managed the full project from concept development, material selection, partner liaison, finishing specification and final assembly. Once PDQ Precision had completed the machined components, the finished pieces came back to us for packaging assembly, photography of the full set and delivery to the venue.
We hand-fitted the coloured oval inserts into each award and applied a precision-cut circle of coloured felt to every base. The fit of the colourful insets was exact to ensure a flush, seamless finish. We delivered the nine completed trophies directly to the presentation venue and set up the table display ready for the evening’s entertainment.
This end-to-end management is central to how we work. A bespoke trophy project involves creative decisions, technical translation, manufacturing co-ordination and finishing detail. Without a single point of oversight, small compromises accumulate. We take responsibility for the whole package, from the first sketch to the final handover.
What makes a bespoke trophy worth commissioning?
There is a straightforward commercial argument for investing in properly designed awards. A distinctive, high-quality trophy is shared on social media, photographed by press and amplifies the series’ identity every time it appears. It attracts the attention of potential sponsors, who understand that a professional-looking prize signals a professionally run championship. And it raises the perceived value of the competition for every rider or driver who enters.
But there is also an argument that goes beyond return on investment. Even beyond the championship winner, each competitor and team member has dedicated a season’s worth of heavy financial and family commitment. The effort and personal risks are finely balanced against the incentive to achieve and progress. The quality of an award should acknowledge that.
Commission a bespoke award for your championship
If you are organising a motorsport championship, event or team awards programme and want something genuinely one-off, we would be very pleased to hear from you. Our experience spans multiple seasons of motorsport design, delivered with a full-service approach that takes a brief all the way through to finished, presentation-ready pieces.
We design for the sport we race in. That background means we come to every project with an understanding of what riders and competitors actually value, this is a very different starting point from a generic trophy supplier working from a catalogue. Get in touch and start a no-obligation conversation
