The first Walter Hayes Trophy was held at Silverstone between 26 and 28 August 2001 after being created by James Beckett. It is named after Walter Hayes who was a Ford Motor Company public relations executive. As a public relations executive Hayes was very much involved with racing and was instrumental in the creation of the famous Cosworth DFV engine.^[1] Hayes died on 26 December 2000, aged 76 and since, his name has carried on in this event.

Neil Fowler won the inaugural race in a classic Lola T200 beating 48 competitors.^[2] The 2001 race was the only Trophy held in August as part of the Silverstone Historic Festival in which the race was sanctioned by the BRDC (British Racing Drivers club).^[3] As of 2002 the race was and still is a stand-alone event, now sanctioned by the HSCC (Historic Sports Car Club). Gavin Wills won the 2002 edition and after that, Joey Foster won three races consecutively in 2003, 2004 and 2005 in a Reynard chassis. He is the most successful competitor after winning the race 4 times, once more in 2022 with Don Hardman Racing in a Firman RFR20 chassis. Four Team USA Scholarship racers have won the race, Conor Daly in 2008, Connor De Phillippi in 2009, Tristan Nunez in 2012 and Max Esterson in 2021. Fellow Team USA Scholarship drivers have finished highly in the event such as Oliver Askew, who finished second in 2016^[4] to Niall Murray.