In 1974, Phil Read was wearing the Elf colors when he was crowned the World Racing Champion in the 500 cc class. Thereafter, contracts were signed either with private racers, or with stables (Pernod, Johnson, Chavallier, Honda…), for which Elf was the main sponsor.

The great adventure of Elf experimental motorcycles ran from February 1978, the date of the first presentation of the Elf X, a revolutionary prototype thanks to André de Cortanze – load-bearing engine, revolutionary suspension and steering - to the end of 1988, which saw the program end with the Elf5.

In the meantime, close links were established with Honda Japan, which provided a certain number of engines for the 10 versions of the Elf endurance and then racing motorcycles.

This cooperation took concrete form in the September 1987 signing of a worldwide license contract, whereby Elf assigned to Honda the operating rights to 13 industrial property titles, covering the front and rear suspensions of the various versions of the Elf motorcycles, in an effort to apply them to the manufacturing of large-scale series motorcycles.

It has also been involved in all of the all-terrain motorcycle disciplines.
The racers and teams that it supports have won 7 World Championship titles :

• Alessandro Puzar (250 cc motocross in 1980),
• Michele Rinaldi (125 cc motocross in 1984),
• Georges Jobé (500 cc motocross in 1987),
• Jordi Tarres (trial in 1987),
• Donny Shmitt (250 cc motocross in 1992),
• Bob Moore (125 cc motocross in 1994)
• Frédéric Bolley (250 cc motocross in 2000).

Elf's record of achievement does not end there.
One should also notably mention the victories of Auriol and Neveu in the Paris-Dakar and the 5 victories of Kees Van Der Ven in the Touquet enduro.

These various associations, both with manufacturers and with teams and racers, have helped Elf to develop its range of motorcycle lubricants launched in 1976, that have been constantly improved over the years and were thoroughly reviewed in 1983 with the addition of synthetic and semi-synthetic products.
The current range, which has enjoyed constant improvements, is now distributed worldwide.