2006 FESTIVAL OF SPEED
GOODWOOD
Vic Elford, posing with Carlos Ghys.

A versatile all rounder who began competing in 1960 in a Mini and three years later won a place in the factory Triumph team before joining the Ford Motor Company rally team. In 1967 he finished third on Tour de Corse in a Porsche. In 1968 he turned to sportscars and won the Daytona 24 Hours with Jochen Neerpasch, Jo Siffert and Rolf Stommelen, the Targa Florio with Umberto Maglioli and the Nurburgring 1000 with Jo Siffert while also finding time to win the Monte Carlo Rally with David Stone in a Porsche 911T. That summer he made his Formula 1 debut in a Cooper-BRM and finished fourth in his first event, the French GP at Rouen. He continued with the team for the rest of the season and in 1969 switched to the privately-entered Antique Automobiles Maserati-engined T81B before switching to a McLaren M7 in which he broke his arm quite badly in a crash at the Nurburgring. He returned to sportscars after that, winning the 1970 Nurburgring 1000 with Kurt Ahrens and racing in CanAm with Chaparral and Shadow. In 1971 he won the Nurburgring 1000 again with Gerard Larrousse in a Porsche 908 and the 12 Hours Sebring and returned to F1 for a one-off drive with BRM at the German GP. In 1972 he joined Autodelta and stayed with the Italian team until he retired in 1974. In the 1980s he had a brief period as the team manager of the ATS Formula 1 team.

"Quick Vic" being photographed by my brother Luc.

Vic and Anita Elford posing with my brother Luc and friend Wilfried.

Vic Elford and Nino Vaccarella, both heroes of the Targa Florio race.