Quick Vic Elford
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Quick Vic Elford By Greg Glassner Victor Henry “Quick Vic” Elford got a relatively late start on his racing career and was well into his 30s before he began winning major endurance races for the factory Porsche team. Born in 1935 in London, England, Elford was one of many children relocated to the countryside during the London Blitz in World War II. After his school days, he worked in sales for several years and began running club rallies in the late 1950s. By 1961 he was racing a Mini and ran a factory prepped DKW rally car in 1962, with the agreement that he would repair any damage he did to the car. After a good showing in the Dutch Tulip Rally, Elford landed a ride on the Triumph rally team, followed by a three-year contract with the British Ford team. In 1967, Huschke von Hanstein loaned Elford a rally-prepped Porsche 911 for the Tour de Corse and, from that point on, Elford became known primarily as a Porsche driver. At that time, some Porsche officials doubted the new rear-engined 911 had much of a future as either a rally car or as a race car. Elford quickly set the record straight, helping develop the 911 rally effort in 1967 and claiming the World Rally Title. He also dominated the 2-litre British Saloon class in another 911. Elford was also given a ride in a factory Porsche 906 in the 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, impressing company officials with his skills on closed circuits. Later that year Elford won the 84 hour Marathon de la Route event at the Nürburgring, an event held on the full 28 kilometer circuit rarely used since the 1930s. Co-drivers Hans Herrmann and Jochen Nerpasch insisted on "the rally driver" steering their Porsche 911 through the 7-hour-long night stints in rainy and foggy conditions. The winning car was fitted with a semi-automatic Sportomatic transmission. Elford’s breakthrough year was 1968. He gave the 911 an overall victory in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally and just two weeks later teamed up with Jo Siffert, Neerpasch, Herrmann, and Rolf Stommelin to win the 24 hours of Daytona in a Porsche 907 — Porsche’s first win in a major 24-hour race. Elford also drove a factory Porsche to a second-place finish at Sebring, a third at Brands Hatch, and teamed up with Siffert for a win in the Nurburgring 1000k in the new 3-litre 908. Elford then teamed up with Italian Umberto Maglioli for a stirring come-from- behind victory in the 1968 Targa Florio. Elford demonstrated his versatility by driving a stock car in the Daytona 500 and sampling the waters of Formula 1 in a Cooper-Maserati and a McLaren- Cosworth, taking fourth in the French Grand Prix — in his first F-1 outing and in the rain. He also scored sixth in his home British G.P. in a McLaren. For Porsche, Elford took second-place finishes in the BOAC 500 and Targa Florio and thirds at Spa and the Nurburgring. Severe injuries from a crash in the German Grand Prix sidelined him for the rest of the 1969 season, however. Elford returned to action in 1970, quickly gaining a reputation as one of a handful of drivers with the skill and courage to tame the lightning-fast, but evil-handling Porsche 917. His rally experience hurling tail-heavy 911s along dirt and gravel roads may have helped immeasurably when it came to coping with the 12- cylinder 917K, which topped 228 mph along the famed Mulsanne straight at Le Mans with Elford at the wheel. Elford also posted the first 150 mph lap of the Le Mans circuit, also in a 917. In 1971 Elford won Sebring and several 500k races at the Nurburgring in Porsch’s 917. Elford is the only driver to have driven every version of the 917 Porsche produced. In the 1972 Le Mans race, Elford was one of the first drivers to come across the collision that claimed the life of F-1 and endurance racing veteran Jo Bonnier when his Lola ran into the back of a slower Ferrari GTO. Instead of continuing on, Elford came to a halt, jumped out of his Porsche and dashed over to the burning Ferrari to see if he could assist a fellow driver. For this selfless act, Elford was named Chevalier of the National Order of Merit by French President Georges Pompidou. Best known as a Porsche driver, Elford also drove several other F-1 races and participated in the Can-Am Series, driving for Chaparral, Shadow and McLaren. Trying his hand at the Trans-Am series, he won at Watkins Glen in a Chevy Camaro. Having seen many of his teammates and rivals die in racing cars, Elford retired as an active driver in 1974. He later managed the ATS F-1 team and was involved in the Porsche Owners Driving School and the Porsche Driving Experience. He occasionally gets back behind the wheel of those legendary Porsches for vintage races and demonstrations. Elford now lives in Florida and is the author of “The Porsche High Performance Driving Handbook” and “Reflections on the Golden Age of Motorsports.” Greg Glassner is vice-president of the Shenandoah Region of PCA. .