26 | THE GOODWOOD REVIVAL SALE
67 *
THE CURZON/HOWE 24 HEURES DU
MANS TROPHY, 1930-31,
heavy black and green veined marble bowl
with male nude bronze figure handles and inset
with cast bronze frieze decorated in relief with
male nude Greco-Roman athletes, above a
fluted marble column with bronze male figures
supporting the bowl, above base with laurel
wreath decoration, 48cm high, displayed on
wooden base and measuring 64cm high overall,
the base applied with brass plaque inscribed:
24 Heures Du Mans
IX ème Grand Prix d’Endurance
VII ème Coupe Biennale
1930-1931
Offerte par
l’Automobile-Club de l’Ouest
à
Lord Earl Howe
Vainqueur
sur Alfa-Roméo
£10,000 - 12,000
€12,000 - 14,000
When the Automobile Club de l’Ouest launched
its daunting 24-Hour race at Le Mans in 1923,
the organisers’ original intention was for that
individual race to be merely the first Heat
of an ongoing test of motor manufacturing
excellence. They were to award the Rudge-
Whitworth Cup for a ‘Bienniale’ competition –
decided after two 24-Hour races had been run,
with a Coupe Trienniale planned to reflect the
overall winner after three of the annual 24-Hour
races. In practice, however, the individual
winner of each 24-Hour race would bask in
media glory immediately after each year’s event
had ended. The Coupe Bienniale was, however,
continued. This outstandingly elaborate VII
Coupe Bienniale trophy was presented to
Earl Howe for his consistently successful
performances at Le Mans in the 1930 and 1931
24-Hour races. The award of the Trophy reflects
the fifth-place finish that the British nobleman
shared with co-driver Leslie Callingham in
their Alfa Romeo 1750 Gran Sport in the 1930
race, followed by the Earl’s great victory in the
second year of this particular Bienniale in 1931,
when he co-drove his Alfa Romeo 8C-2300
with the celebrated British racing icon Sir Henry
‘Tim’ Birkin.