Goodwood will celebrate 5-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell at the Festival of Speed

That success will be commemorated at the 2025 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, where Bell will be reunited with cars that he raced throughout his career, including a Mirage GR8 of a type that he drove to victory at the Circuit de la Sarthe back in 1975.

Bell’s career in motorsport began in 1964 when he won his first ever race, at Goodwood, behind the wheel of a Lotus Seven. In short order he progressed into single seaters, racing first in Formula 3, then Formula 2 and finally Formula 1 with Ferrari in 1968.

His F1 career continued sporadically until 1974, but by that time his path was already beginning to veer towards closed-wheel racing in the World Sportscar Championship. After entering the Le Mans 24 Hours with Ferrari in 1970, Bell began what would become a long and fruitful relationship with John Wyer, who had achieved great success with the Ford GT40 during the late ‘60s.

By 1971, Wyer was running a Gulf-liveried Porsche 917K, and Bell drove it to his first sportscar victory at the first attempt in Buenos Aires. The team became known as Gulf Research Racing, and with the Cosworth-engined Mirage GR8 Bell achieved his first Le Mans victory. He was also a part of the Championship-winning Alfa Romeo team that season.

But it was in the 1980s that Bell’s career truly hit stratospheric heights, when he joined Porsche as a works driver. He took his second Le Mans win in 1981 for Porsche alongside Jacky Ickx with the 936, which was the start of a hugely dominant period for man and machine. He had joined the team at the perfect time.

The arrival of the 956 in 1982 was a huge moment in the history of sportscar racing, the car was far superior to everything else on the grid, and Bell along with his team-mates took full advantage to claim numerous race wins over the next three years.

Bell was victorious at Le Mans again in ‘82, and continued to reign supreme with the introduction of the Porsche 962 in 1985, winning twice more in ‘86 and ‘87 to take his total to five victories at the world’s greatest motor race.

Similar success was found in the US, where Bell won the Daytona 24 Hours on three occasions, again with Porsche, and continued to race regularly into the 1990s. He eventually claimed his final Le Mans podium finish, alongside his son Justin, at the wheel of a McLaren F1 GTR in 1995.

Derek Bell enjoyed a long and storied career, and to this day remains joint third on the all-time list of Le Mans winners, behind only Tom Kristensen and Ickx. Few other drivers, if any, will be able to claim that they raced against the likes of Jim Clark in the 1960s, all the way through to an era of drivers that included Michael Schumacher in the 1990s. He’s seen it all, remains a remarkable presence at Goodwood, and more than deserves a moment under the spotlight at this year’s Festival of Speed.

The 2025 Festival of Speed takes place on 10^th-13^th July. Friday and Saturday tickets are now sold out, but Thursday and limited Sunday tickets are still available.

Images courtesy of Getty Images.