UPDATE: Video of Ben and Sophie’s King’s Cup race added!
Photos: Ben Polwin and RRRA
27 October 2025
+VIDEO There are certain trophies in aviation that mean more than silverware ever should. The King’s Cup is one of them — a century-old slice of aviation history, established in 1922 by King George V to spur innovation and speed in Britain’s fledgling air industry.
The list of winners over the years list reads like a who’s who of aviation pioneers, and this year, for the first time in nearly four decades, it’s going home to the Royal Air Force.
Squadron Leader Ben Polwin, based at RAF Coningsby, won both the King’s Cup Air Race and the British Air Racing Championship, flying a Van’s RV-7 he built himself in his garage.
And, as if that weren’t enough, his navigator was his wife, Sophie, a British Airways pilot and former Royal Canadian Air Force officer. Together, they piloted their Vans to winning the championship which went right down to the very last second of the final race. It simply couldn’t have been any closer.
The final race weekend of the season took place at Wellesbourne Airfield in early October. Pilots and navigators had come from all over to race first in Saturday’s Steward’s Cup and then the King’s Cup on Sunday. The course was 75nm long, the race four laps with six turns apiece. Simple on paper. A frenzy in practice.
Saturday’s race started cleanly, with a dozen aircraft lining up Runway 18. Among them was a classic Luscombe, Jodel, Robin, various homebuilt Vans. The organiser, the Royal Aero Club’s RRRA, operates a handicap system to even out the performance differences.
The first few laps went smoothly until G-GORD, a Robin DR401, dived a touch too low and was disqualified for busting minimum height. Up to that point, they’d been a contender for the win.
When the times were tallied, penalties shuffled the order again. David Moorman, flying a CAP 10 reg G-DAVM, took the Steward’s Cup, while Ben and Sophie Polwin were elevated to second. That set up a tantalising finale for Sunday — winner takes all.
Sunday saw the aircraft launch again, separated by the handicap intervals. Ben and Sophie were the last to go — a full 27 minutes behind the first starter. By Lap 3, the pair had begun to cut through the field… and it was all set up for `a final dive to the finish.
By all reports, from the ground it looked chaos — a buzzing swarm of colour and noise, impossible to tell who was ahead. As they dived to 300 feet for the line, two aircraft streaked past in near-unison – Ben Polwin and David Moorman.
When the times were confirmed, Ben and Sophie had done it — winning by a single second. One second, after a season of racing, and they’d not only won the race but also the British Air Racing Championship for 2025.
