Vic Elford

Victor Henry Elford (10 June 1935 – 13 March 2022) was an English sports car racing, rallying, and Formula 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 successful rally driver, associated often with Porsche.

Career Elford started as a co-driver, partnering David Seigle-Morris in a Triumph TR3A. 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-tuned Mini which he rallied as a privateer with limited success before selling it at the end of the season. 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, with Jo Bonnier having been killed. Cameras caught the act and Elford was named Chevalier of the National Order of Merit by French President Georges Pompidou.

A Targa Florio, Sebring, and Daytona winner, Elford's favourite track was nonetheless the Nürburgring 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. Only Rudolf Caracciola and Stirling Moss beat that record.

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

On 4 February 1967 at Lydden Circuit, Elford won the first ever Rallycross event. Later that year he won the 84 Hour "Marathon de la Route" event at the Nürburgring, on the full 28 km long combined version, which was rarely used after the 1930s. Fellow pilots Hans Herrmann and Jochen Neerpasch preferred the rally driver to steer the Porsche 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 in CanAm and the Daytona 500 of NASCAR.

On 25 January 2015, Elford received the 2015 Phil Hill Award from Road Racing Drivers Club. It was presented to him by club president Bobby Rahal.

Personal life 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.

Racing record

Complete British Saloon Car Championship results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.) Year Team Car Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pts Class 1961 Don Moore Morris Mini Minor SNE GOO AIN SIL CRY SIL BRH OULovr:?cls:2 SNE 21st 6 8th 1967 AFN Porsche 911 BRHovr:3cls:2 SNERet SILRet SILovr:2cls:1 MAL SILovr:5cls:2 SILovr:5cls:2 BRHovr:3cls:2 OULovr:5†cls:1† BRHRet 7th 40 1st 1968 Bill Bradley Porsche 911 L BRHovr:2cls:1 THRovr:17cls:4 SILovr:3cls:1 CRY MAL BRH SIL CRO OUL BRH BRH 14th 18 4th † Events with 2 races staged for the different classes.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

(key)

Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results

Complete IMC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1970 Toyota Motors Toyota Corona GSS MONRet SWE ITA KEN AUT GRE GBR

Complete WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Pts 1982 Subaru Motors of Japan Subaru Leone 4WD MON SWE POR KENRet FRA GRC NZL BRA FIN ITA CIV GBR NC 0 1983 Noriyuki Koseki Subaru Leone 1800 MON SWE POR KENRet FRA GRC NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR NC 0