VSCC shortlisted for Club of the Year at 2026 Historic Motoring Awards

A 92 year old club up for a prize

The Vintage Sports-Car Club says on its own website that it has provided an arena for people to enjoy pre war cars since 1934. The club runs around 40 social and competitive events a year, from race meetings and hill climbs to sprints, road rallies and driving tests, open mainly to cars built before the end of 1930, with later classes for Edwardian cars built up to 1918 and selected post vintage thoroughbreds built up to 1940.

That history is now up for recognition. The VSCC has confirmed on its news page that it has been shortlisted for Club of the Year at the 2026 International Historic Motoring Awards. The same news item says the club's Pomeroy Trophy, one of its signature events, is in contention for Motorsport Event of the Year. The organiser of the awards, Historic Motoring Awards, states on its own site that the Club of the Year category is part of the 2026 programme and that the ceremony falls on November 13, at The Peninsula London.

What the Pomeroy Trophy actually tests

The Pomeroy Trophy is not a conventional race. Motor Sport Magazine reported that the 2026 running at Silverstone was the 70th edition of an event that has been held, with some years missed, since 1952. It pits pre war cars against newer machinery across acceleration, braking and handling tests before finishing with 40 minutes of racing on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit. The 2026 entry list that Motor Sport saw included a 1959 Austin Healey Sebring Sprite, a 1954 Austin A30 and a 1953 Bentley Mk VI Special, a spread that shows how the trophy is built around the idea of the best all round touring car rather than outright speed.

A season that made room for newcomers

The VSCC's own account of its 2026 season opener at Silverstone, posted on its news page, points to why the club says it is trying to widen who gets to race pre war cars. At that meeting, held in April, the club recorded that over half the finishers in its High Speed Trial were competing for the first time. The same report singled out Stephanie Wilton, who made her debut at the wheel of an ERA and finished in the top ten despite mechanical trouble during the event.

The club's news page also notes that the VSCC picked up recognition at the Royal Automobile Club Historic Awards in October, with what it describes as familiar faces and historic racing among the finalists honoured, though it does not list individual category winners from that ceremony in the item.

Why this matters beyond Britain

None of the VSCC's events run in India, and its own eligibility dates, cars built up to 1930 or 1940 for most classes, rule out the kind of 1950s and 1960s classics that dominate Indian vintage rallies such as the Statesman event in Kolkata. What the VSCC's awards run does show an Indian owner or club official is how a grassroots organisation built entirely around pre war machinery has kept growing its grid for 92 years, and is judged internationally not on its biggest cars but on how many first time entrants it can put on track in a season. The winners, including whether the VSCC's own Club of the Year bid succeeds, will be known after the November 13 ceremony in London.

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