Ben and Tom Birchall have been awarded the Royal Automobile Club’s Segrave Troph♉y.

The award recognises "outstanding skill, courage and initiative" and has been handed 🌜t🅘o the 14-time Isle of Man TT sidecar winners.

What is the Segrave Trophy?

The award is n𝓀amed after British pilot and p𝓰re-war racing driver Sir Henry Segrave.

He was the first man to hold both land and water speed 💝records.

The Trophy is awarded only if the Segrave Nominations Committee feels there is a suit🌃able recipient that meets its criteria each year.

Its full criteria is to reward "outstanding skill, coura♌ge and initiative on land, water and in the air – the Spirit of Adventure".

The award is handed out by the Royal Automobile Club,🅷 previously known as the Automobile Club of Great Britain which orga💟nised the first races on the Isle of Man.

The Birchall brothe🃏rs' names are added to the list of iconic motorcycle racers who have won the Segrave Trophy, including fellow sidecar racer Steve Webster, Joey Dunlop, Barry Sh🀅eene, Mike Hailwood, John Surtees and Geoff Duke.

Birchall brilliance

The𝄹 brothers first started working together 20 years ago. Ben was on the handlebars, Tom the passenger.

They won theirꦚ first TT sidecar race in 2013, then went unbeaten b🐷etween 2015 and 2023.

In 2023 the Birchalls became the fi﷽rst sideca♈r duo to lap the TT course at over 120mph.

Tom, aged 37, retired after 2023. He has now said: “I was always🀅 dead honest with myself,.

“Every year I’d ask myself, are you ready to commit to this? And I’d always said, yes.𝔍 But after last year’s TT I asked myself and I couldn’t say it.”

Tom said about their record-breaking 120mph lap: “The final two laps of that race🍌 were the most sublime, surreal expe🐻rience I’ve ever had – doing that speed, getting cheered on in the sunshine.

“We pulled into the winner’s enclosure and I just thought, this is it, this is as good as it’ll ever get a🍸nd it just felt like the right time. I’ve got good memories and I’m glad it happened, not sad that it’s stopped.”

RAC club chairman Duncan Wiltshire said: “We are delighted to recognise the rema♌rkable achievements of Ben and Tom.

"Racing at th💜e Isle of Man TT is always a perilous adventure, the Birchall brothers’ effo𝔉rts perfectly mirror the adventurous spirit of Sir Henry Segrave, after whom the trophy is named. 

"They pus🐬hed🐈 both themselves and their machines to the limit in pursuit of speed.

“Sidecar racing, especially ar❀ound t🗹he Isle of Man, is also the epitome of teamwork.

“Watching♛ Ben and Tom around the TT course you see how they work together to extract the most out of their machine. It’s a s🐼pectacular show and I salute their skill and bravery.”