Described by Frank Nichols as the highlight of his motorsport career, the win in the 1963 Road America "500" at Elkhart Lake by the 'out-of-the-box' Elva-Porsche Mk.VII sports racing car was unprecedented.

The race result was described as "Elva-Porsche Stunner..."; "A First Time Winner!"; "Giant Killer.." and of course this incredible result produced many orders for similar cars, giving a much needed boost to the Elva team based in Rye.

Subsequently, the Elva-Porsche has been described by Huschke von Hanstein, previously Porsche racing director, as a Porsche design member and part of the Porsche family.

Amazingly, fifty years have passed since that fantastic period for Frank and all of the team members involved at the time. A major project by people in various countries; England, Germany and of course the principal instigators Carl Haas and Ollie Schmidt in the States, plus some wonderful driving by Bill Wuesthoff and Augie Pabst.

I feel we cannot let the anniversary go without some form of celebration and of course September is just a few months away. In an ideal world it would be marvellous to gather together a number of the surviving cars at Road America in September but of course these things involve busy people with restrictions on time and perhaps major costs when having to transport cars long distances. I have already received messages of support from Ohio and South Africa with other positive interest being shown.

I would therefore welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Maybe we can back up an Elva-Porsche display with the various other Elva models. Please let me know if you plan to be at the ELVF Festival 6-8th September and contribute however you can.

Thank you.
http://www.vscda.org/races/elkhartLake.php

This shows the true spirit of the ownership and use of historic/vintage cars, taken from a very recent FJHRA email. Duncan Rabagliati writes…

"Those of us at the front engine prize giving at Donington Park were able to join in an excellent rendition of “ Happy [80th] Birthday” to Roger Dexter, celebrating this with a superb drive in his Elva-DKW, 7th at the finish, but he had been up to 6th, splitting the two red BMC Mk 1s.

I watched with trepidation as Roger approached the noise scrutineers at the dummy grid entrance on the “Loop”.. but no problem this time, he sailed by … and then there WAS a problem on the dummy grid, the DKW engine, ever temperamental, had stopped and refused to fire again – but again, all was conquered and Roger was away.

I have extolled before how Roger frequently turns up for races, all alone, unloads the car off his open trailer and goes racing : for this great anniversary, there were a number of family members in support , and we hope we will be seeing Team Dexter on the FJ grids for many years to come.

Roger , we really do salute you …..! "

Hear Hear ... a brilliant job!

Roger A. Dunbar
E: rogerdunbar@elva.com
M: +44 (0)7976 234470

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