Limerick Motor Club has a number of perpetual trophies that are granted as the club wishes.

The Adare Cup

Adare Cup

This cup was the first perpetual trophy used in an open event. The cup was presented by Viscount Adare in 1948 and was the Premier Award for the Lahinch Strand Races. this title was used by the heir apparent to the Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl. Richard Southwell Windham Robert Wyndham-Quin was Viscount Adare in 1948, he succeeded to the Earldom in 1952 on the death of his father. The first winner on Sunday August 8th 1948 was R B Le Fanu driving a self built car known as the LERA. As there were no further strand races run, the cup was awarded as the premier award for hill climbs from 1949. The was not awarded after 1969 as hill climbs were not organised from 1970 to 1999. The cup's location was unknown until 2023 when it was returned to the club by the 1969 winner Richie Heeley.

The Kemp Trophy

Kemp Trophy

This cup has recently come back into the possession of the club. This trophy was presented to the club by Rickie Kemp founder member of the club on his departing Limerick.

From the Limerick Leader 22nd November 1948 "Mr. Kemp, the outgoing chairman, said he was really extremely sorry to be leaving Limerick in the near future. He had lived in various parts of the world but had found none so pleasant as the fair city of Limerick. He added that he intended presenting the Club with a perpetual challenge cup which will be competed for on a points system."

The cup was first presented 16th February 1949 to Dermod J O'Brien.

It was a championship award for closed club events, that is events that only be entered by club members.

The Limerick Motor Traders Cup 1949

Limerick Motor traders Cup 1949

 The cup was described in an Limerick Leader 11 June 1949 article about the first Circuit of Munster Trial as the Premier Award (Solid Silver Cup) presented by the Limerick Centre of the Irish Motor Traders Association. The names on the plaque do not correspond to the rally winners for 1966 and 1967

 

 

Fitzgerald Cup 1960

The Fitzgerald Trophy

This is given as an end of year award. In the 1960s is was defined as an award for performance in open club events


President's Perpetual Trophy

President's Perpetual Trophy

 Award given at discretion of club president

The Billy Coleman Cup

Billy Coleman cup

Presented to the crew with best improvement on start seeding in the Circuit of Munster

The Pathfinder

Pathfinder Trophy

This award is for club navigation trials, presented to the club by Tadhg Kearney Jewellers, Thomas St Limerick in 1982

The Brian Sparling Memorial Trophy

Brian Sparling Trophy.

Brian Sparling was a director of Limerick Motor Club and his untimely death when competing in the 1983 Thomond Rally, meant the cancellation of the second day. Aged 54 years, he was a popular competitor often in a Mini. He was a garage proprietor in Croke, Co. Limerick.

The Piston

The Piston

The Piston is presented to the club competitor who does best in a national championship. Pictured Paul O'Connell 2008 National Hillclimb champion receiving the award from Denis Hogan

 

The Pat Dowling Memorial Trophy

Pat Dowling Trophy

Donated by the family of Pat Dowling. It is given to best club codriver in the Circuit of Munster Rally. Pat was an in demand codriver for a number of drivers. He passed away suddenly 20 January 1999.

Marshal Trophy

Marshal Trophy

Presented by Denis and Pat Hogan in 2002

Caplis Trophy

Caplis Trophy

A club members award since 2006

The Tom White Memorial Award

Tom White Memorial Award

This award was initially used for club members in forest rallies but in recent years has been given to best club member crew in the Circuit of Munster class 10. Tom died in 2007 after a long battle with injuries suffered in the 2006 Clare Stages Rally.

The Broken Wheel

Broken Wheel trophy

 Given to a club member who has had a "calamity" for example a broken wheel

The Aquasleep Trophy This is an annual award

Aquasleep Trophy

 The Aquasleep Trophy is given annually to best up and coming driver

 

The Condon Brothers Trophy This a Circuit of Munster award

The Ken Kennelly Memorial Trophy

Ken Kennelly Memorial Trophy
Ken's widow Mary presenting the award at the 2016 Circuit of Munster. The trophy is based on a page of pace notes with Ken's hand written amendments. 

Research shows that other perpetual trophies were in use in the 1970s such as the Coleman Cup this was for the novice who improved best on seeding in the Circuit of Munster (2019 update the Coleman cup has been returned to the club). Also given as Circuit of Munster awards were the Elm Motors Cup for Best British Leyland (best FIAT in 1978 and 1979), the O'Callaghan cup for best VW to 1978 (Toyota from 1979) and the Bowmaker Trophy initially the winner of the Touring Circuit of Munster then for best non expert. Articles from 1978 and 1979 mention an Auto Save Perpetual Trophy for best Limerick Motor Club crew. Also from the 1979 article a best team Perpetual Shield is mentioned

An 1948 newspaper article mentions the Adare Perpetual Challenge Cup presented by Viscount Adare, the motorcycle event on same day was for the Victor Ross Cup. 1949 and 1956 reports mention the Adare Cup as the premier award for hillclimbs, it is also mentioned on the regulations for the 1962 Corkscrew hillclimb (2023 update Adare Cup returned to the club). Another award at hillclimbs in that period was the Imperial Hotel Trophy for best performance on handicap

There was also a Motor Cycle Traders Cup for the motorcycle section of the Circuit of Munster. Another motorcycle cup mentioned in a 1949 article about a hill climb was the O'Brien Cup, an O'Brien Perpetual Cup is mentioned as the Premier Award for the 1960 Circuit of Clare. Commandant J Dundon donated the Sarsfield Cup for motorcycle events.

Trophy Recipients

This list is generally taken from the name plaques on the trophies

The Adare Cup
1948 R B Le Fanu for the Lahinch Strand Races
1949 K P Murray 
1950 Joint A P McArthur and R Gallagher
1951 R Gallagher
1952 R Gallagher
1953 R Gallagher
1954
1955 L Earl
1956  W E T Bradshaw
1957 L P Beshoff
1958 Hector Graham, Cooper
1959 Hector Graham, Cooper
1960 W J Reid, Lotus Climax
1961 DPB McAllister, Cooper Climax
1962 DPB McAllister, Cooper Climax
1963 DPB McAllister, Cooper Climax
1964 ....... Records show Dave Poppelwell won 1964 Corkscrew
1965 ....... see below 
1966 F Keane  (records show F Keane won Corkscrew hill in 1965, 1966 Heely Pass was by Alec Poole)
1967 Joint B Cullen and R Heeley
1968 B Cullen
1969 R Heeley

The Kemp Cup
The first winner was Dermod J O'Brien
Connie Bourke won this trophy a number of times in the 1960s

Fitzgerald Cup 1960
1960 O O'Sullivan Volkswagen
1961 C O'Sullivan Volkswagen

1963 Paddy O'Callaghan Volkswagen
1964 Brian Cullen Austin Cooper
1965 Brian Cullen Triumph
1966 Connie Bourke Morris Cooper

1983 Connie Ward Austin Cooper S

1995 Liam Fitzgibbon Ford Escort
1996 Alan Shinnors Ford Escort
1997 Alan Leonard Sunbeam

2002 Mike Mulcahy Toyota Starlet
2003 Henry Nash Ford Escort
2004 Ciaran Fitzgerald Toyota Starlet

2006 Paul O'Connell BMW 325TDS

Brian Sparling Trophy
1984 Frank Meagher Cloneen
1985 Pat & Oliver Kiely Mallow 
1986 Peter Gallagher Peter Quinn Dublin

1988 Connie Linehan Rodney Mellor Vauxhall Nova
1989 Donal O'Donovan Pat Lordan Dunmanway Escort

1995 Pat Mulcahy Declan Murphy Samba

1997 Robert Clery Ger Ryan Vauxhall Nova

2001 No Rally
2002 Peter Cummins Sean Dillon
2003 Roland Doherty Sue Moloney
2004 Roland Doherty Sue Moloney
2005 Peter Cummins Sean Dillon

2007 Eamonn Barrett Finbar O'Mahoney
2008 Pat Ryan Sinead O'Keeffe

2010 Pat Ryan Jack D'alton
2011 Niall O'Connell Keith McCarthy Mini Cooper

2013 Eamonn Barrett Ken Kenneally
2014 Kenneth Ryan Tommy Commane Ford Escort
2015 Pat Ryan Jack Dalton


Pat Dowling Trophy
1999 Alan Leonard
2000 Sean Mullaly
2001 No Rally F&M
2002 Brendan Curtin
2003 Noel Hanley
2004 Ger Healy

2007 Kevin O'Connor
2008 Kaye Shanahan
2009 Ger Ryan
2010 Donal Dineen
2011 Ger Ryan
2012 Ger Ryan

2015 Donal Dineen

Caplis Limerick Motor Club Trophy
2006 Sean Kennedy John Caplis
2007 Anthony Collins Joe McCarthy
2008 Mark Sheahan
2009 Anthony Collins Donal Falvey
2010 J O'Connell Calvin Kirby
2011 Anthony Collins Donal Falvey

Tom White Memorial
2007 Dan Mulcahy D O'Callaghan
2008 Mark Sheahan Donacha O'Callaghan
2012 Susan & Victor Beamis
2013 Con Mulcahy John Nugent
2014 Niall O'Connell John Liston
2015 Con Mulcahy John Nugent

 

Marshal Trophy
This in an incomplete list of names from the trophy
2002 Shane O'Callaghan
2003 Peter Birrane
2004 Liam Ahern
2005 Willie Balfe
2006 James Balfe
2007 Kieran Ambrose
2008 Breda Ryan
2009
2010
2011
2012 Cathal Mansell
2013 Elaine Higgins
2014
2015 Joe O'Sullivan
2016 Brian O'Connell
2017 Tyrone Power

The Broken Wheel
2002 Alan Kane
2003 Gerry Keyes
2003 Pat Ryan
2006 Noelle Liston
2008 Mark Sheahan
...
2018 Gerry Lynch
2022 Christopher O'Callaghan

The Pathfinder
1982 Paddy McDonnell/James O'Doherty Note name as on trophy should be James Doherty
1988 John Carroll/Vincent Coughlan
1996 Gerard O'Connor/Ed O'Callaghan

The Billy Coleman Trophy
1975 Thomas Munnelly. Michael Reidy
1976 Jimmy Dee, Michael Liston
1977 D O'Brien, A O'Brien
1978 M Corkery, D Sullivan
1979 D Murrell, M Carthy
1980 Tony Hurley, Beth Hurley
1981 Martin Gallagher, John O'Keefe from Glanworth in an Escort 1.3 improved from 28th on seeding to 13th overall
1982 Patrick Doherty, Mary Doherty
1983 James C, John Lyons