"...You don't want to race a 911, it's a terrible car..."

Bombshell:  Porsche had not clue the 911 would be any good as a race car

Brumos Porsche of Florida is no ordinary dealership as anyone remotely interested in sports car racing well knows so, while this is a promo for them, I'm guessing you will enjoy hearing racing  legend Vic Elford tell the story of how Porsche was completely clueless as to the then new 911's potential as a race car in the early 60's.

As Elford tells it in a panel discussion which included Brumos VP Hurley Haywood,  he had to beg for an early 911 to go rallying with.   The rest is, as they say, history.

Why is Vic Elford driving a priceless Porsche 917 in a nasty parking lot?

Why is this priceless historic Porsche 917-04, the classic "Hippie" liveried long tail, anywhere near a graffiti covered wall?

Andrew Henderson of Speed Captured Motorsport Photography explains:

"The car is owned by Dr. Frederick Simeone and is displayed in his Simeone Foundation Museum in Philadelphia, PA.
A few times a year Dr. Simeone picks one or two cars from his collection and starts them and runs them on the paved lot behind the museum. He does not vintage race any of his cars so they are not driven in anger. This particular event was special because Vic Elford was there and gave a talk about his career before jumping in the 917 (and the 962 in my other shot) for a quick spin.

Car was purchased by Vasek Polak from Porsche in 1975. It is a bit confusing as some stories say that Vasek bought the chassis and built a 917 from his parts inventory other stories say that this is the only complete 917 L ever sold by Porsche. When Vasek Polak died the car was sold to Symbolic Motors and later bought by Dr. Simeone I believe at Christie's auction in Pebble Beach in 1998.
There is more confusion as to the authenticity of the car and which chassis number it really is but I'm not going into that here."
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Safety...

Take a look at these two clips, both laps of Le Mans in Ford GT40s, the first is 1968 with narration by Sterling Moss, the second one year later in Peter Sadler's GT40 (who wold later retire at the 10th hour with electrical problems). In the narration for the 1969 lap, Vic Elford mentions how the circuit "has really been made much safer by the organizers" with the additions of barriers and that on the Mulsanne straight the year before one would "wonder what tree you would hit" if a tire blew... Well, I looked and I looked and I finally saw the "safety improvements" over the '68 clip: one single hay bale propped up against each tree on the left of Mulsanne. People actually thought that this solution ought to work just fine of a tube frame car with no roll cage traveling at 240 mph?!? And you got to love those sand traps shaped like launch pads too.

If you are in a nostalgic pre-Steve McQueen mood, I've included some youTube clips from the documentary "La Ronde Infernale" produced in 1969 by Castrol. Check out those quaint movable flippers on the Porsche 917's!
In part 2 you will see Jacky Ickx start dead last, he did this to protest the insanity of the "Le Mans start" where most drivers did not put on their harnesses before driving off. Sure enough on the first lap, privateer John Woolfe was killed in a 917, he was not strapped in. Ickx went on to win the race for Ford.



Le Mans 1968 from Axis on Vimeo.


Le Mans 1969 from Axis on Vimeo.