Vic Elford

2018 marked the 50th anniversary of Vic Elford’s 1968 Monte Carlo Rally victory in a 911. A sensational moment in the history of the Porsche 911, Total 911’s Tony Mcguiness continues our series of sit-down interviews with the legendary Porsche Driver ‘Qui

After coming 3rd in the 1966 Tour de Corse in a 911 Porsche loaned to me, the competition manager Huschke von Hanstein and everyone at Stuttgart were very happy. While he couldn’t offer me a contract for the year, Porsche wanted to work with me on a rally-by-rally basis, paying me $500 per event. I was so sure of the potential of the 911 that I accepted the offer.

Hanstein proposed a major effort to win the Monte Carlo Rally. Along with my co-driver,

David Stone, we immediately began recceing and practising in the French mountains. I was still learning how to drive the 911. Because the 911 had so much weight at the back and only five-inchwide wheels in the front and back, it required delicacy in handling to keep it balanced.

We started from Warsaw and had an uneventful run to Monte Carlo itself, where the real competition would begin. Before we left Stuttgart, Hanstein and I had a conversation about tyres. Porsche had a contract with Dunlop, but I pointed out that they had no tyres capable of dealing with deep snow and ice. While I was happy to use Dunlops under any other conditions, I wanted real snow tyres as a backup in case we needed them.

I wanted a set of fully studded Hakkapeliitta tyres from Finland. Hanstein pointed out that if I won using any other tyres than Dunlop I wouldn’t qualify for its bonus. I was convinced I couldn’t win using exclusively Dunlops. I would rather win without a bonus than not win. Hanstein agreed, as he wanted to win too. He went to Dunlop and told it to make a tyre we could use, and the next year it did! While they weren’t as good as Hakkapeliitta tyres, they were very close.

The race was going well, uneventful through France to Monte Carlo. When we got to

Grenoble in the Alps the mechanics put on my Hakkapeliittas. There were 600 studs in each tyre, which meant we were well-equipped for that first special stage. We did very well with them and took the lead, which we would hold to Monte

Carlo. At the first service they came off. They were totally destroyed, but they had done their job. We switched to mud and snow tyres that would cope with everything else we would find on route to Monte Carlo.

After arriving we had to start thinking about the mountain section to follow, and we had to make our tyre choice 24 hours before the start. The weather forecast looked good: it was getting warmer, with no chance of snow. I decided to go on M&S tyres and take four more with me based on the weather forecast. Through the night I increased our lead, then disaster struck. As we arrived at the very last special stage it began to snow. We knew if it was snowing at the bottom it would be snowing at the top, and our M&S tyres would slide all over the place.

The cars in 2nd and 3rd were front-wheeldrive cars. They were able to overtake us, and we dropped to 3rd. The rear-engine 911 was the fastest car under any conditions, but only if it had the correct tyres. A front-wheel-drive car with inadequate tyres can drag itself more efficiently than a rear-wheel-drive car can push itself around.

We finished 3rd, but we again proved the 911 was a potential winner. I drove the car back to Stuttgart where I met with Hanstein. He asked me if I had ever considered circuit racing. I told him I had thought about it since my dad took me to Silverstone as a boy. He suggested I start with the Targa Florio, which is the nearest thing to a rally. I was very excited about the thought of that, but it was months away. The rally programme was still our priority. Dr Ferry Porsche was completely won over by our successes in Corsica and Monte Carlo. He was eager for the 911 to go out and win rallies, as well as the European Rally Championship.

A few weeks later a dramatic weekend in England would have a massive effect on my career: the first Rallycross was held. Rallycross was the first-ever made-for-tv motorsport event. British TV company ITV wanted me to enter. The problem was I didn’t have a 911 to enter with! Fortunately I was able to borrow one from the Aldington’s dealer again. It had let me use one to become familiar with before the Corsica Rally. The dealer was excited because of the exposure it would get on television. Even though at the time there were only four 911s in the country, it was able to give me a demonstration car.

The race was on a track made up of a mixture of asphalt, gravel and mud. Because I left Ford acrimoniously, I knew the event would develop into an all-out assault by the Fords to my showroom-quality 911, which it did. By the time we got to the final four-lap race the 911 had dents everywhere and looked pretty bad. I was neckand-neck with a Ford. As he tried to squeeze me he bounced off the 911 and ended up in the trees. I had beaten the mighty Ford Rally team and won the first-ever Rallycross!

The Porsche dealer saw its beautiful 911 getting destroyed by the Fords on television. However, the next day they were inundated by calls from viewers who had seen the 911 beat the Fords and wanted to buy one. Everyone could now see the potential of the 911 and my Porsche schedule was filling up fast…