Mike Costigan

Sadly Vic Elford died yesterday after a year-long battle with cancer. He started his competition career as co-driver for David Seigle-Morris, notably finishing first in class on the 1960 Alpine Rally in a TR3A, WVC 248. But decided he could do a better job behind the steering wheel and successfully persuaded Harry Webster and Graham Robson to give him a try. Driving an early Vitesse 407 VC in the 1962 RAC Rally he set several 'top ten' stage times before the gearbox collapsed. The ensuing 90-minute change at the Penrith Standard-Triumph dealer resulted in the team going OTL, but this was the start of an illustrious driving career. God speed, 'Quick Vic':

Speak for yourself! I could just about read Nick's reply.

Yes, John Wooley prepared a Vitesse 1600 for historic rallying back in the 1980s and managed to get the 6003 VC number re-issued. At the time there was no attempt to recreate the original 2-litre car - in fact the rally regulations of the time would not have permitted it - but the car may well have been transformed since. When John owned it the only similarity to the original was the colour!

Three more colour shots for you today - these were all taken at the same location during the 1960 Tulip Rally. First of all, we have the Geoff Mabbs / J H Flook coupe, 650 GHW, pulling in for a refuelling stop: Already in the filling station is the Fisk / La Trobe coupe: Whilst Tony Horne and Rob Pengelly in 2HP decide they don't need to fill up and drive past:

A much taller radiator.

Ooooh! Thanks for that photo, I've not seen that one before. I have always understood that the fire was caused by a wiring failure, but looking at that pic the car has received a hefty whack on the left-hand headlamp, which could well have caused an electrical short.

I have more, but I'll save them for another post...

On this rally the Vitesse was fitted with a TR clutch and gearbox.

Probably the toughest rally in the 1960s was the Marathon Rally, also known as the Liege Rally, but correctly as the Marathon de la Route. In 1963 it ran from Spa in Belgium, to Sophia in Bulgaria, then back to the finish at Liege, over 3,000 miles in four days with no overnight breaks - a real marathon! The Triumph Works team consisted of three TR4s plus one Vitesse (6003 VC) fitted with a special 2-litre engine. Here are three shots of the team undergoing pre-rally fettling at Spa: Number 47 is the Thuner and Gretener TR4, whilst 123 on the left is the private Belgian entry of Eddie Doseray and Roger Mundy: Number 34 is the Vitesse of Vic Elford and Terry Hunter (insurance salesman Elford looking very dapper accompanied by Hunter: Sadly none of the Triumphs survived the rally, the TR4s suffering broken gearboxes and blown clutches, whilst the Vitesse caught fire and burned out on the return leg whilst lying in third position overall:

Three privately-entered saloons in the 1961 RAC Rally this post; Number 70, WOY 180 is the Lichfield Green car of Leo Bertorelli: I have no information on either number 150, 455 BPD, or number 125, 5745 SM (except to say I am sure it wasn't Stirling Moss!): But note the personalised colour schemes; a non-standard side stripe on 455 BPD, and twin 'racing' stripes on the roof of 5745 SM!

I think you are correct that the strut-type rear suspension was fitted by the time of this picture... although if you look at the relative angles of the right and left rear wheels, there's still a degree of tuck-under!

Yes I agree, a white Herald estate, plus another of the Works 2000 tow-cars and a Powder Blue Spitfire with wide-rimmed wheels. The red MG is left-hand drive, so presumably a local car.

Leaving the rally stage for a bit of circuit racing in this post. Here's ADU 2B and its 2000 tow-car in the square at Chatres-sur-le-Loire prior to the 1965 Le Mans race: ADU 4B in the pits during the 1965 Sebring 24-hour Race: and ADU 2B again, lifting a wheel during the 1966 Nurburgring 1000km Race:

No, I re-scanned the original!

I can do a bit better than that:

Sorry Pete, the original is not very clear either; it's probably 7586 RK, but the 5 could be a 6 and the 8 could be a 3! I doubt if any of them have survived, rallying in the early 1960s was pretty rough, and the Herald/Vitesse construction was not the most durable under those conditions. Also many of them ran with personalised plates, so it would be very difficult to track them down once they were sold on. For example, Tiny Lewis' TL 5 is now on an Austin Healey 3000, 2 HP is now on a 2014 BMW and Tony Horn's TH 16 is on a 2005 Mini.

Back to competition shots today, here are three privately-entered Vitesses. First of all, we have 444 GBF on the 1962 RAC Rally: The 1962 RAC Rally again, here's Leo Bertorelli and A Straker in their Vitesse showing evidence of an off-road excursion: Finally, 4 SYC - a convertible - on the 1964 Welsh International:

Back on course, then, but this time we'll leave the competition world behind. Here are three photos from the Vignale archives, the first one showing the wooden body buck used to hand-form the body panels for the first Herald prototype; here it has been wheeled out into the sunshine in the Via Cigliano outside the Vignale workshops: ... and two rather poor-quality shots of the finished prototype before shipping to Coventry for approval:

Following on the references to ADU 5B, here are some more pics of it. 1964 Tour de France again, high in the Alps shortly before retiring with a blown engine: 1964 again, this time two shots of the car in the Paris 1000km Race driven by Jean-Francois Piot and Jean-Louis Marnat to a Class win:

I'm pretty sure the same regulations applied then, too. If you study the photos, the low-mounted lamps are fogs, the grille-mounted one is a spot. The big problem with the low mounting is the danger of smashing the lens, either from stones or temperature shock at night when fording a stream.

Interesting, I hadn't spotted that; never seen it before.

Rallying doesn't always go according to plan! Photographers tend not to be on hand when disasters occur, but here are some recorded for posterity. During the 1960 RAC Rally, the Hodson/Collinson TR3 came to grief, causing significant damage to the rear quarter - note even the hard-top didn't escape undamaged! Still in 1960, this time it's the Tulip Rally, and the Herald of Tony Horne and Rob Pengelly narrowly avoids a major disaster; it was enough to finish their rally, but it could have been so much worse: Two years later, the 1962 RAC Rally again and the Misses Walker/Davies TR4 seems to have hit the bank fairly hard; not enough to halt their progress, but again the rear quarter is worse for wear:

There should be no problems repatriating the 2000, it's still 'live' on the DVLA records. Transport should be no more than £1,000 with no other import fees.

Looks like it's a Vitesse, and presumably at the Glasgow start of the Monte Carlo Historique Rally.

The date was chosen to celebrate Sir John Black's birthday, 10th February 1895.