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Vic Elford

Elford in 2010 atWatkins Glen
Born	(1935-06-10)10 June 1935 Peckham,London, England[1]
Died	13 March 2022(2022-03-13) (aged 86)
Formula One World Championship career
Nationality	British
Active years	1968–1969,1971
Teams	Cooper,McLaren,BRM
Entries	13
Championships	0
Wins	0
Podiums	0
Careerpoints	8
Pole positions	0
Fastest laps	0
First entry	1968 French Grand Prix
Last entry	1971 German Grand Prix

Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an Englishsports car racing,rallying, andFormula One driver. He participated in 13 World Championship F1 Grands Prix, debuting on 7 July 1968. He scored a total of 8 championship points.

Nicknamed "Quick Vic" by his peers, Elford was mainly a famous sports car competitor as well as a successfulrally driver, associated often withPorsche.

Elford started as a co-driver, partnering David Seigle-Morris in aTriumph TR3A.^[2] By 1961, he had acquired the confidence to see himself as a potential driver in his own right: the confidence was not shared by team manager Marcus Chambers, and Elford purchased a race-tunedMini which he rallied as a privateer with limited success before selling it at the end of the season.^[2] 1962 found him achieving success in several UK rallies driving a factory sponsoredDKW Junior.^[2] The next year saw a return to Triumph, with Elford achieving fast times with theTriumph TR4s, although reliability of the cars in Elford's hands was disappointing, so Elford switched toFord the following year: this was the beginning of a successful three-year rallying stint with theFord Cortinas.^[2]

In 1967, Elford was European rally champion in a worksPorsche 911S. Among other victories, he won the 1968Rally Monte Carlo in a Porsche 911S and, only a week later, the24 Hours of Daytona in aPorsche 907, Porsche's first ever overall win in a 24-hour race.

Later that year, Elford also won theTarga Florio teamed with veteranUmberto Maglioli in a famous come-from-behind race after he lost 18 minutes in the first lap due to a tyre failure. Elford then entered theFrench Grand Prix and finished fourth in his first F1 race – a wet one, too.

By finishing the1969 Monaco Grand Prix despite troubles, Elford became the first driver to do well in both famous events in Monte Carlo sinceLouis Chiron.

Racing in theWorld Sportscar Championship forMartini Racing against theJWA Gulf team, Elford was clocked at over 380 km/h in thePorsche 917LH in practice for the1971 24 Hours of Le Mans. He went on to win the 197112 Hours of Sebring in aPorsche 917K, as well as several1000km Nürburgring races.

During the1972 24 Hours of Le Mans, when he saw a burning Ferrari Daytona in front of him, Elford stopped^[3] mid-race to save the driver. When opening the door, Elford found an empty cockpit, as the driver had already escaped. Elford then noticed the wreck of a Lola among the trees, withJo Bonnier having been killed. Cameras caught the act and Elford was named Chevalier of theNational Order of Merit by French PresidentGeorges Pompidou.

A Targa Florio,Sebring, andDaytona winner, Elford's favourite track was nonetheless theNürburgring despite the disappointing results in his three F1 attempts there, of which the first two ended in lap 1 accidents. His last two GPs were at the Nürburgring. In addition to the 1000 km, Elford won some 500 km races there, winning a total of 6 major races. OnlyRudolf Caracciola andStirling Moss beat that record.

Elford's lap records included: Targa Florio, Nürburgring, Daytona, Sebring,Norisring,Monza, Buenos Aires,Road Atlanta,Laguna Seca,Riverside andLe Mans.

On 4 February 1967 atLydden Circuit, Elford won the first everRallycross event. Later that year he won the 84 Hour "Marathon de la Route" event at theNürburgring, on the full 28 km long combined version, which was rarely used after the 1930s. Fellow pilotsHans Herrmann andJochen Neerpasch preferred the rally driver to steer thePorsche 911 through the 7 hours long, four consecutive night turns in rainy and foggy conditions. The winning car was fitted with a semi-automatic Sportomatic transmission, as was another Porsche 911S entered by the factory team.

Although he raced five years for Porsche, Elford also raced for Ford, Triumph, Lancia, Alfa-Romeo, Ferrari, Chaparral, Shadow, Cooper, Lola, Chevron, and Subaru. He also drove for McLaren in F1 & CanAm Chevrolet in TransAm.

Overseas, Elford was also racing inCanAm and theDaytona 500 ofNASCAR.

On 25 January 2015, Elford received the 2015 Phil Hill Award from Road Racing Drivers Club. It was presented to him by club presidentBobby Rahal.^[4]

After retiring, Elford lived in South Florida in the United States. Elford died on 13 March 2022, at the age of 86. At the time of his death, he had been suffering from cancer for roughly a year.^[5]

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)

† Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

(key)

Year	Team	Co-Drivers	Car	Class	Laps	Pos.	Class Pos.
1967	Porsche System Engineering	Ben Pon	Porsche 906K Carrera 6	S 2.0	327	7th	1st
1968	Porsche System Engineering	Gerhard Mitter	Porsche 908	S 3.0	111	DNF	DNF
1969	Porsche System Engineering	Richard Attwood	Porsche 917L	S 5.0	327	DNF	DNF
1970	Porsche KG Salzburg	Kurt Ahrens Jr.	Porsche 917L	S 5.0	225	DNF	DNF
1971	Martini Racing Team	Gérard Larrousse	Porsche 917LH	S 5.0	74	DNF	DNF
1972	Autodelta SpA	Helmut Marko	Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3	S 3.0	232	DNF	DNF
1973	AutomobilesCharles Pozzi	Claude Ballot-Léna	Ferrari 365 GTB/4	GT 5.0	316	6th	1st
1974	Robert Buchet	Claude Ballot-Léna	Porsche 911Carrera RSR	GT	117	DNF	DNF
1983	AutomobilesJean Rondeau	Joël Gouhier Anny-Charlotte Verney	Rondeau M379C	Gr. C	136	DNF	DNF

Elford has authored a number of books on the subject of motorsport:

• Porsche High Performance Driving HandbookISBN 0-87938-849-8 (1994)
• Vic Elford: Reflections on a Golden Era in MotorsportsISBN 1-893618-52-8 (2005)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toVic Elford.

• "The Official Web Site" of Vic Elford
• "Reflections on a golden era of motorsports" interview of Vic Elford

• 1935 births
• 2022 deaths
• Cooper Formula One drivers
• BRM Formula One drivers
• English racing drivers
• English Formula One drivers
• European Formula Two Championship drivers
• English rally drivers
• European Rally Championship drivers
• 24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
• 12 Hours of Reims drivers
• Trans-Am Series drivers
• Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite
• 24 Hours of Daytona drivers
• World Sportscar Championship drivers
• 12 Hours of Sebring drivers
• British Touring Car Championship drivers
• People from Peckham
• Sportspeople from the London Borough of Southwark
• Porsche Motorsports drivers
• 20th-century English sportsmen
• Daytona 500 drivers

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