14/4/1931 - 14/1/2002
Record updated 14-Apr-20
Born in Hull and raised in South Africa, Wilson participated in two Formula One World Championship Grands Prix, the 1960 Italian Grand Prix at Monza and the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
Vic was born in England, but spent his teens living in South Africa. He began racing in Rhodesia in the late fifties, finding success with a variety of MGs and then a Lotus XI. Plans to race a Lotus in England went awry when the car was written off, but he then approached Dick Gibson, who was languishing in hospital after recently crashing his almost new Cooper. Having repaired the machine, Wilson went racing along with Bruce Halford and Keith Ballisat, competing in the boycotted Italian GP of 1960.
Settling in Yorkshire, Vic did not race at all between 1961 and 1963, but at the behest of his wealthy cousin Bernard White he returned late in 1964, before a busy season racing a Lotus 30 and a Ferrari 250LM in 1965.
Team Chamaco Collect then planned a full season of Grands Prix in 1966 with a couple of BRMs, but after Vic took a distant fourth at the Syracuse GP and practised briefly at Spa Bob Bondurant became the team's sole driver, leaving Wilson in the cold.
(c) 'Who is Who' by Steve Small, 2000