Vic Elford on Driving the 917

[cegerer]

This is a lengthy thread, but quite interesting. Elford himself eventually chimes in (user name=vican) with his recollections of the early 917 days. Good stuff! :

http://www.atlasf1.com/bb/showthread.php?threadid=46864

-- Curt

[cegerer]

And this photo from the thread has got to be one of the best of a 917 in action:

[Eric Coffey]

Good stuff indeed! Thanks for the link!

[Jack Olsen]

Wow. I'd love to get him to pay us a visit with some 911 (and 917) stories. What an articulate and gracious guy.

[speeder]

What a great forum for race fans, many knowledgeble people plus the man himself. Interesting that most of the great sportscar or F1 drivers are also great gentlemen, extremely cultured and well-rounded, world traveler types obviously.

[Phil CK]

Thanks for the thread Curt... a great find !

I had the pleasure of talking to Vic Elford at the Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this year and he really is a nice guy.... more than happy to talk with us mere mortals !!!

After the event, he popped by my forum and said hello which was just wonderful. Read Vic Elford at CKnet here

[cegerer]

I've been lurking on that forum for some time now (second only to Pelican!). The famous motorsport author Doug Nye is a frequent contributor and Dan Gurney has also logged on a few times.

Another very interesting thread is one on the old Riverside sportscar course. The thread starts out with some recollections and descriptions of what stands there today. It progresses to some guy proposing an pie-in-the-sky idea of some kind of 'memorial'. This guy starts making some contacts and eventually is putting together a presentation in front of the City Council! Then he gets hooked up with the developers of a Civic Center to be built this fall near the original pit lane and gets them to agree to give him space to put the Memorial in the Civic Center!! It's all quite interesting and is still ongoing today ....

http://www.atlasf1.com/bb/showthread.php?threadid=27844

Also, check out the 'Reference Library' described in the first 'Sticky Note' on the main menu. What an incredible resource that will be!!

-- Curt

[jluetjen]

Man;
I have a hard enough time getting anything done because I spend so much time on Pelican, and now you hook us up with this new forum too!

Curt; I agree about that picture of the 917 which you posted. I don't care how many Rennfests or Monteray's you go to, you just won't see a 917 driven like that any more! I guess there is guy in the UK who hill climbs a car with the bumper sticker "Drive it like you hate it!" which seems to sum it up pretty well.

[cegerer]

Sorry about that John. I feel like the neighbor drug-dealer passing out free crack rocks to the kids! -- Curt

[jmohn]

A good read is Elford's performance driving book (sorry, I don't have the exact title here in front of me). While the book may not actually make you a race driver (it sure didn't make me one), he tells some great stories about rallying the early 911's and driving Le Mans in a 917.

Jerry M
'78 SC

[DavidPorter]

I saw the Chaparral 2J sucker car run at Laguna Seca in 1970 (or 71?). Quite a sight and sound, ran away from the field, banned later that year. I forgot he was one of the drivers.

[Jim Garfield]

Curt,

Vic Elford is speaking at our PCA meeting next
month and I've been counting down the days!

[island911]

Great link.

[jluetjen]

I'm not sure if Curt posted this site previously, but if you want to check out lots of old road racing pictures you should paruse through this site from Autosports Ltd. It's another great way to chew up disk space!

[Cornpanzer]

Thanks for the link Curt....what a great read!

[Don Plumley]

Ditto on the thanks, Curt! The combination of the great stories by Vic and the reactions by the posters made for a wonderful read.

[Doug E]

I'll second the opinion that Vic Elford is a great guy. Last year at Rennsport I started talking to him while standing next to his Targa Florio winning 917 and the next thing I knew he launched into a story about how he managed to change a tire during the race and then drove the heck out of the car to make up the lost time. Turned out he was quicker with the spare then before and he wound up winning the race. I got the whole thing on video and then even managed some great still photos of him sitting with the door open and his name visible on the side.

Oh yeah, great website Curt! Now I have yet another reason to stay up late at night on the 'net.

[cegerer]

Somehow, I think the Atlas F1 Nostalgia Forum may begin to tilt toward Porsche sportscars in the coming months ...... -- Curt

Jim: posting some photos and a transcript might be nice after your PCA meeting.

[jluetjen]

I recently picked up a new book from Randy Leffingwell titled "Porsche Legends" from Motorbooks Classics. At least the most recent copywrite is 2002. It's available in all the usual places, I got mine at Barnes and Noble. Anyhow, it is really good because it looks at Porsche's car in a different light. While most of the books cover the technical details or historical reporting of the events, this book recounts first person recollections from such folks as Mr. Elford about specific cars. He covers all of the classics, but with a twist. So while the classics are included (550's, RS60/61's, RSK's, RS and RSR's), Leffingwell for example looks at the 906LH within the context of Steineman's attempt at multiple world records using one at Monza. BTW, it didn't finish the distance because of a broken suspension mount. It has an interesting sequay since the next chapter has to do with the 911R and picks up the story and how the 911R's were brought down and finished the job.

It's a great book and I'd recommend it.

[Jim Garfield]

Doug and Curt... I know that you guys are enthusiasts
but timing your posts is just over the top... 9:11 ... 9:17 ?

Curt... Luddite that I am, I don't have a digital camera yet.
But I will submit a summary of the event.