Posted December 7, 2023 by Leo Nulty News

Reynolds Trophy Awarded to Motor Racing Historian Brian Manning

The Reynolds Trophy, presented by the RIAC Archive to the person or persons who make the greatest contribution to the preservation of Irish motoring or motorcycle history, has been awarded this year to motor racing historian Brian Manning.

The Royal Irish Automobile Club Archive committee awarded the trophy for 2023 to Brian in recognition for his efforts to preserve the history of the Leinster Trophy and Phoenix Park Motor Races. Brian runs Facebook groups for both, where he chronicles the deep history of both events, and writes feature articles on the drivers, cars, circuits and personalities covering over 200 years of combined Irish motor racing heritage. He is planning to publish a book for the 100 th anniversary of the Leinster Trophy in 2034.

As Brian lives in the USA, the trophy was accepted on his behalf to his brother Garry Manning, a former President of Leinster Motor Club and member of the MotorSports Ireland, by Robin McCullough, head of the RIAC Archive committee at a lunch in the RIAC on Tuesday, December 5 th 2023. Joining by video link, Brian thanked the RIAC Archive for their tremendous support of his research efforts that have resulted in the successful location and archiving of every race programme from both the Leinster Trophy and Phoenix Park Motor Races dating back to 1934 and 1903 respectively. Brian also acknowledged the assistance and support of many of the over 50 people who attended the luncheon at the RIAC including Richard Warbrick of the RIAC Archive, author Bob Montgomery, Leo Nulty, Russell Murphy, Myles O’Reilly (his dealer!), and expressed a special debt of gratitude to his brother Garry who introduced him to motorsports in the early 1980s.

Brian left Ireland to pursue his biomedical studies in 1992 moving first to Paris, then London before settling in the USA in the mid-1990s. He now lives in New Jersey with his American- born wife Amy and their two children Andrea (17) and David (15). Brian works in the business of biotechnology and is an active motorsports enthusiast and volunteer, who recently officiated at his 40 th Formula One event at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. His interest in motor racing history began several years ago when he identified significant gaps and errors in the historical record of the Leinster Trophy. Shortly before she passed, Ann Stevens asked Brian to also take over the administration of the Phoenix Park Motor Races Facebook group, and he has worked with the RIAC archive to complete the record of results for that event as well. The Reynolds trophy commemorates the late Dudley Reynolds, who as well as being a distinguished competitor in events such as the Monte Carlo Rally and Circuit of Ireland, was a past chairman of the RIAC.

Past winners of the Reynolds Trophy have included the late Maurice Bryan (2010), Tom Farrell (2011), Harry Havelin (2012), Tom Heavey (2013), Kevin O’Driscoll (2014) Jim Boland (2015), the MVMC&CC (2016), Ian Lynas (2017), Anselm Aherne (2019) and Bob Montgomery (2021).