Vic Elford Alfa Romeo 33TT3 Targa Florio 1972

The thing I love most about racing from years past, particularly the 60s and 70s is that the drivers drove so many different machines in a single season.

It allowed drivers to show how talented they were and not be bound by the contraints of driving a mid grid F1 car for example.

For me one of the coolest and most versatile drivers ever, has to be British racer, Vic Elford.

Consider Vic’s 1968 season. It began with his win in the prestigious Monte Carlo Rally followed by a win the next weekend in the Daytona 24 Hours. He was second at Sebring a month later, then in May scored an epic victory at the Targa Florio, which is considered the greatest win in Targa history. Two weeks later Vic won the Nürburgring 1000 Kilometers. Then in his first F1 race in July Vic took a badly out-classed Cooper T86B to a stunning fourth-place finish in the soaking-wet French Grand Prix.

No doubt the guy has talent!

In this video “Quick Vic” talks us through a practice lap of the famous 72 Kilometre Targa Florio circuit driving a 3 litre V8 Alfa 33TT3.

This footage is from a DVD called “The Speed Merchants”.

Some of the comments here are completely priceless, for example; ” This is the section where I usually have my practice accidents. Two years ago in a Porsche I hit an Alfa Romeo service car and then last year…hah…I hit a local!” Lets hope he meant he hit a sheep or something!

Vic did not finish the 1972 event he shared with Gijs van Lennep. The pair were classified 74th

The video ends with Vic stating that he fears the Targa Florios days are numbered and of course, he was right, with the event stopped in 1977 due to safety concerns.