Vic
Elford

Vic Elford was born in London in 1935 and came into motor racing through rallying. He began as a co-driver in a Triumph TR3A before competing as a driver in cars such as the DKW, Triumph and Ford Cortina. In 1967 he became European rally champion in a works Porsche 911S. In 1968 he won the Monte Carlo Rally, and just a week later the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 907, which was Porsche's first overall win in a 24-hour race. On 4 February 1967 he had also won the very first rallycross event.

Elford raced in the Formula One World Championship between 1968 and 1971. He made his debut for Cooper at the French Grand Prix in July 1968 and finished fourth in a wet first race. That year he started seven races and ended up 18th in the championship. In 1969 he contested five races for Cooper and McLaren and finished 14th, his best championship position. A single start for BRM followed in 1971. In all he started 13 Grands Prix without a podium or a win.

In sports car racing he won the Targa Florio in 1968 with Umberto Maglioli after losing 18 minutes on the first lap with a tyre failure. In 1971 he won the 12 Hours of Sebring in a Porsche 917K, and in practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans he was timed at more than 380 km/h in the Porsche 917LH. During the 1972 Le Mans race he stopped to help the driver of a burning Ferrari, who had already got out of the car. He then came across the wreck of Jo Bonnier, who had been killed. For his actions he was named a Chevalier of the French National Order of Merit.

Over his career Elford drove for many manufacturers, including Ford, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Chaparral and Shadow, and he also raced in Can-Am. In 2015 he received the Phil Hill Award from the Road Racing Drivers Club. Vic Elford died on 13 March 2022, aged 86.

Source: Wikipedia, “Vic Elford”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.