Biography | Vic Elford now | Photo Gallery | Store | Contact me | Policies | Links
Vic Elford, April 1935 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbVB0CDOdC0 Vic Elford biography Born in London, Vic Elford was one of the fastest drivers of the Sixties and Seventies... and a Porsche hero...Nicknamed "Quick Vic" by his peers, legendary driver Vic Elford is arguably the most versatile all round driver of all time. Consider Vic’s 1968 season. It began with his win in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally followed by a win the next weekend in the Daytona 24 Hours. He was second at Sebring a month later, then in May scored an epic victory at the Targa Florio, which is considered the greatest win in Targa history. Two weeks later Vic won the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometers. Then in his first F1 race in July Vic took a badly out-classed Cooper T86B to a stunning fourth-place finish in the soaking-wet French Grand Prix. Vic was EUROPEAN RALLY CHAMPION in 1967. He then turned to SPORTSCAR RACING and F1. Vic Elford was one of the world’s great SPORTS CAR drivers being one of only four drivers ever to record SIX MAJOR VICTORIES AT THE CLASSIC NURBURGRING (the other drivers being Rudolf Caracciolo in the 1920's, John Surtees and Stirling Moss)…. but he is also a TARGA FLORIO, SEBRING & DAYTONA WINNER to mention only a few! Vic excelled in International rallies being the last British driver to win the Monte Carlo rally (1968) and the European Rally Championship. His first drive in FORMULA 1 resulted in 4th place in the rain at the French GP driving the slowest car in the field! Vic also competed with outstanding results in Can Am, TransAm, Off-Road events in Africa, even Nascar… Although he raced 5 years for PORSCHE, (he was the only driver to race every version of the Porsche 917) Vic Elford also raced for Ford , Triumph , Lancia , Alfa-Romeo , Ferrari , Chaparral , Shadow , Cooper , Lola , Chevron , Subaru . He also drove MacLaren in F1 & CanAm, Chevrolet in TransAm . Vic Elford lap records included: Targa Florio, Nurburgring, Daytona, Sebring, Norisring, Monza, Buenos Aires, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca, Riverside… and Le Mans - where he was the first driver to lap at over 150mph in the Porsche long-tail 917 in 1970! Vic was hired by Steve McQueen to do the high speed close-up action driving the 917 for Steve's film "Le Mans". In 1972, while driving for Alfa Romeo, Vic branched out into another extra-curricular activity - that of principal narrator for producer Michael Keyser's film "The Speed Merchants". During the 24 hours of Le Mans, when a Ferrari crashed in front of him, Vic stopped in mid-race to extricate the driver from his burning car… TV cameras caught the action and Vic was named Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite by French President Georges Pompidou for his act of courage and heroism. Shortly after, Vic retired from racing… Selected Career Highlights
Vic started racing in a Mini in 1961 and rallying in a DKW in 1962.
By 1967 he was doing BOTH for the Porsche Factory Team!
Victories in the Geneva, Stuttgart-Lyon-Charbonnières and Tulip rallies coupled with podium finishes on Monte Carlo and the Tour de Corse, all in a 911, assured him of the European GT Rally Championship.
Podium finishes also abounded in this, his first season of circuit racing, winning the British championship in a 911 and his international debuts in Porsche 911R, 906 and 910 at Le Mans, Mugello, Reims and Nurburgring.
The season finished on a high note with "Le Marathon de la Route" at the Nurburgring. Driving a 911R Sportomatic, Vic (being the "rally driver" as his partners Hans Herrmann and Jochen Neerpasch put it) drove four consecutive 7 1/2 hour rain and fog filled nights around the combined Sud/NordSchleife track while they did the rest, to win this mind-boggling 84 hour event. 1968 saw victory in the Monte Carlo Rally in a 911, followed a week later by victory in the 24 hours of Daytona in a 907, Porsche's first ever outright win in a 24 hours race.
At the Targa Florio, despite starting the second lap of the ten lap, 720 km race more than 18 minutes behind the leading car, Vic and co-driver Umberto Maglioli came back to win by more than a minute. (Just a few months ago, when Vic was in Sicily for a Targa Florio reunion the locals were still recalling that exploit!) Porsche, in recognition of his efforts, dedicated their traditional victory poster not to the car, but to the driver. The only time a Porsche poster ever featured only the driver - not the car.
Drawing on the experience of all those hours at night on the Nurburgring the year before, Vic followed up with victory, the first of three, in the 1000kms of Nurburgring, associated with Jo Siffert in a 908 Coupe.
(In 1970 and 1971 he not only repeated his Nurburgring 1000kms victories, but won the 500kms as well, in a Chevron and Lola respectively. In the 500kms races he was the only driver to drive the entire 500kms alone). But 1968 was not yet finished! Vic made his Formula 1 debut in a Cooper at the French Grand Prix. With no testing and little practice, he started dead last... but it rained and Vic's acknowledged prowess as a "rainmaster" served him in good stead and he finished fourth overall!
1969 saw lots more podiums and he still continued to make history, being one of the first non-American drivers to do the Daytona 500 - finishing 11th - and then finishing 7th in the Monaco GP, thus becoming the only driver ever to have won the Monte Carlo Rally AND finished in the Monaco GP. In fact, although it is now more than thirty years ago, Vic Elford was the last British driver to win the Monte Carlo Rally!
In 1970 Vic Elford turned his attention to America, driving for Jim Hall's Chaparral team in TransAm (with a spectacular win in the rain at Watkins Glen) and CanAm (with sensational performances in the 2J "sucker" car).
By 1971 Vic had become one of the very few drivers to have won both the American Crown Jewels of endurance racing, the 24 hours of Daytona and the 12 hours of Sebring.
Lap records included: Targa Florio
Vic Elford was one of the select few Porsche 917 and Ferrari 512 drivers hired by Steve McQueen to do the high speed close-up action driving for Steve's film "Le Mans". In 1972, while driving for Alfa Romeo, Vic branched out into another extra-curricular activity - that of principal narrator for producer Michael Keyser's film "The Speed Merchants".
|
| TEAM MANAGEMENT
In September 1975 Vic Elford was hired by the French company Inaltera to create, organize and run the Inaltera team for the Le Mans classic. Starting with little more than a set of engineering drawings and an entire crew of novice amateurs, he led the team through a rapid build, test and development program terminating in the 24 hours in 1976, where both cars started - and finished - a feat never accomplished before or since, by any other team, not even by the might of Ferrari or Porsche. Although many had tried before, it was only the second time that V8 Cosworth powered cars had finished the 24 hours of Le Mans. In 1977, Inaltera was back, under Vic's leadership. And they did it again - three cars started, three cars finished! Later, as team manager of the ATS Formula 1 team, he took them from barely qualifying to scoring world championship points in less than three months In 1984, Vic Elford left Europe for the United States to become Director of Competitions for the newly formed Renault/Jeep Sport, under the presidency of Roy Lunn, one of the leading figures in the Le Mans winning Ford GT40 teams of the 1960's. There Vic was responsible for the successful running of the Renault Cup, a two car team in the IMSA Champion Spark Plug championship and the off-road championships with Jeep in the western deserts of America. Vic created and ran the Porsche Owners Driving School for Porsche Cars North America. Subsequently, he worked as a senior instructor with the Skip Barber Racing School. Antonio Pizzonia and Juan Pablo Montoya are just two of the drivers who have benefited from his experience during their junior years. Vic also found time to write three books: a French book "La Victoire ou...rien!" with the help of Michel Delannoy; then another all by himself: the "Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook" and his biography: "Reflections on a Golden Era in Motorsports" recently published by David Bull Publishing. He is currently working on a fourth book.
About "Reflections on a Golden Era of Motorsport": Vic Elford is the epitome of the classic racing driver: smart, brave, and above all, versatile. His autobiography offers a personal perspective on the initiative and skills required to build a career in racing in the 1960s and ‘70s. Consider Vic’s 1968 season. It began with his win in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally followed by a win the next weekend in the Daytona 24 Hours. He was second at Sebring a month later, then in May scored an epic victory at the Targa Florio, which is considered the greatest win in Targa Florio history. Two weeks later Vic won the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometers. Then in his first F1 race in July Vic took a badly out-classed Cooper T86B to a stunning fourth-place finish in the soaking wet French Grand Prix. As he relates his experience Vic provides insight on the drivers, team personnel, and cars that defined a glorious era in racing. Vic’s keen sense of humor comes to the fore as he describes the hugely entertaining and seldom discussed “in between” moments racers experienced traveling from race to race. Richly illustrated with photographs from Vic’s collection, Vic Elford: Reflections on a Golden Era of Motorsport is a vivid, intimate account of a remarkable period in racing and of the man whose character gave it so much of its appeal. About "Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook" The highly acclaimed Porsche High-Performance Driving Handbook, published in 1994, is still a best seller today. To order your signed copy now click here. Until a few years ago Vic was still active in Historic racing in the United States driving a TransAm Pontiac and CanAm McLaren among others.
| ||||||||||
