911 icon: Vic Elford
‘Quick Vic’ was one of the first to take the 911 racing, bringing early success for the Neunelfer across a variety of races and disciplines
‘Quick Vic’ took the 911 racing in the mid-sixties, giving the fledgling sports car early success in race and rally competition
Victor Henry Elford is one of the greatest British racing drivers of all time, his list of career highlights long, his antics legendary across both sports car and single seater racing, having had spells in rallying, endurance racing, and even
Formula One.
His career would have a profound impact on the fortunes of a small sports car manufacturer in
Stuttgart, their combined success parachuting Porsche – and its new
911 in particular – into the upper echelons of sporting repute, a lofty position in motordom where it remains to this day.
Nicknamed ‘Quick Vic’ (you hardly need to guess why), it was
Elford who ignited his own Porsche career in 1966 by approaching motorsport manager, Huschke von Hanstein, and asking to run a 911 for an upcoming rally. Von Hanstein was reluctant, but a deal was eventually agreed whereby Elford could borrow AFN’S (now Porsche GB’S) demonstrator. Porsche and Elford would be rewarded with the 1967 European Rally Championship and British two-litre Saloon Car title.
In the midst of that campaign, Elford also took the 911R – equipped with a Sportomatic gearbox – to victory in the 84-hour Marathon de la Route alongside co-drivers Jochen Neerpasch and
Hans Herrmann, though it was Vic who took on all three 7.5-hour night shifts along both the North- and Südschleife.
1968 was arguably Elford’s best year: he started by winning the Monte Carlo rally outright in a 911T before claiming victory for Porsche at Daytona less than a fortnight later. It was a race of firsts: for Porsche, it was the manufacturer’s first ever outright win in a 24-hour event – for Vic, it was the first time ever he’d seen the Daytona track! Vic would also claim victory at the Targa Florio and Nürburgring 1,000km that year in a 907 and 908 respectively. Quick, yes, but also versatile, he was arguably Porsche’s greatest asset in racing at the time.
Victory at Le Mans is pretty much the only omission from Vic’s scintillating racing CV, much to his chagrin. He came close of course, the 917 he shared with fellow Brit, Richard Attwood, retiring after 21 hours of the gruelling race in 1969 when it was miles ahead of the rest. To Total 911, it matters little: much before Porsche was even dreaming about outright Le Mans success, Elford was leading the charge for its plucky 911 sports car as it took on and usurped bigger rivals in competition. The 911 might be able to claim more than 30,000 race victories today, but it was Quick Vic who got the ball rolling and set Stuttgart’s little sports car on a path to eternal glory.