Derek Bell’s Le Mans-winning cars are legendary

Mirage GR8

Bell's career would be famed for his time with Porsche, but it was the Gulf-liveried Mirage GR8 developed by John Wyer that gave him his first Le Mans victory. The GR8 proved that opportunism can be as valuable at Le Mans as race pace and reliability. 

That year, the oil crisis and corresponding efficiency requirement of competitors saw the big manufacturers pull out of the event, leaving the way clear for the GR8, equipped with its low-drag body and detuned Formula 1 DFV Cosworth motor. 

The car was the perfect match for Bell's smooth driving style, and he coaxed it to victory together with Jacky Ickx in a race where almost half the field didn't finish.

Porsche 936/81

It would be another six years before Bell stood on the top step at Le Mans again, this time as a works driver for Porsche. The German marque had considered entering the 1981 running with a modified 924, but its hopes of winning weren't regarded as consummate with the Porsche badge.

An alternative was needed, and the 936/81 was born using an open-topped 936 chassis and a mothballed 2.65-litre flat-six turbocharged IndyCar engine detuned from 900PS (662kW) to 640PS (471kW). A more durable four-speed gearbox was also incorporated in place of the usual five-speed. The final piece in the puzzle for the Le Mans-winning team was the drivers, and Ickx requested that he partner once again with Bell.

Having completed no testing, the pair took what looked to be a comfortable victory, but the physical endeavour proved the most challenging aspect as Bell collapsed on the podium from exhaustion. He later said: "I hadn't even sat in that car until we went out for first practice, but we got pole position, led every lap and won the race. That for me was the most memorable because it was a comeback of sorts and I'm so grateful to Porsche for giving me that opportunity."

Porsche 956

Victory number three came just 12 months later, when he and Porsche again dominated in 1982. Now with the all-new 956, with its state of the art aluminium monocoque chassis, Porsche would prove to be utterly unbeatable in sportscars. 

The flat-six engine from the 936/81 remained, now producing around 635PS (474kW), but the car overall weighed just 800kg. The 956 was perhaps the greatest racing car of the time, and it obliterated the lap record at the Nürburgring, setting a time of 6:11.13 that would take 35 years to beat.

Bell and Ickx were at it again in 1982, taking pole position and running strongly throughout the early phase of the race. The 956s were so quick that by the break of dawn they were cruising. By Midday, Ickx and Bell had a three-lap lead over the second Porsche car of Schuppan and Mass. Porsche eventually claimed the top five places at the finish, but it was Bell and Ickx who claimed the honours together for the third time.

Porsche 962

Bell was made to wait for his fourth Le Mans victory. He finished second in 1983 and third in 1985 on his way to the World Sportscar Championship that year, but Porsche remained the dominant force at the Circuit de la Sarthe.

By 1996, the Porsche 962 had been brought in to replace the 956, and it was a worthy successor. Designed to be eligible for IMSA regulations by moving the pedal box behind the front wheels and adding a steel roll cage to the aluminium chassis, the 962 was virtually indistinguishable from the 956, and with Bell at the wheel, it proved equally potent at Le Mans.

With Ickx now retired, Bell led a team composed of Hans-Joachim Stuck and Al Holbert to second place on the grid, and led an attritional race marred by the tragedy of Jo Gartner’s fatal accident to win by a huge eight-lap margin. Now a four-time Le Mans winner, Bell had joined an elite list of drivers.

But he wasn't done there; 1987 would bring Bell's fifth and final Le Mans win, but it wouldn't be easy. The Silk Cut Jaguars had won the opening four rounds of they year’s World Sportscar Championship, and were massive favourites heading to Le Mans with the new XJR-8 and its 7.0-litre V12 chucking out 730PS (540kW).

The Porsche 962s in contrast were beginning to look leggy, their new 3.0-litre turbocharged engines were not up to the standard of the Jaguar V12, but there’s one thing that’s far more valuable than power at Le Mans: experience.

Derek Bell was a stalwart of endurance racing, and his Porsche team had won the previous Le Mans 24 Hours in dominant fashion —  it was going to take more than a 220-mph top speed to knock them off their perch.

Bell held a slender advantage over the Jaguars through the night, but the XJR-8s came unstuck with a mix of mistakes and mechanical issues to leave the Porsche out on its own with a huge lead. Bell’s car eventually took the chequered flag with a 20-lap cushion to claim one of the most dominant victories in Le Mans history.

With five overall victories at Le Mans Derek Bell is tied third on the all-time list, behind only Ickx and nine-time winner Tom Kristensen. His long and storied career saw him climb into the cockpit of cars like the Ferrari 512 and the McLaren F1, but his relationship with Porsche is the one everyone remembers. Derek Bell’s motorsport career, headlined of course by his victories at Le Mans, will be celebrated at the 2025 Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard.

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.