(born
October 31 1941 in
Middlesex ,
England ) was a
Formula One driver who raced for the
Ferrari ,
McLaren ,
Brabham ,
Surtees and
Tecno teams.
He started racing in 1964 with a
Lotus Seven. He graduated to
Formula 3 in the following year and in 1966 scored his first victory at
Goodwood . In 1967 he enjoyed seven wins. He entered
Formula 2 in a Brabham and had several promising performances, which caught Ferrari's eye and made his Grand Prix debut at Monza. In 1969 he raced at
Silverstone with Ferrari and also raced the four-wheel-drive McLaren M9A in its only race in the
British Grand Prix .
Bell was also a runner in the 1970 European
Formula 2 Championship driving a March. In 1972 he got the drive in the Tecno F1 team, along with
Nanni Galli . He did a number a races with the Surtees team again but also spent some time building a strong reputation as a fine sports car racer.
He won two
World Sportscar Championship titles (1986-87), five victories in the
24 Hours Of Le Mans (1975, 1981-82, 1986-87) and three in the
24 Hours Of Daytona (1986-87 and 1989), mostly courtesy of the
Porsche 936 and
Porsche 956 . He is best known for his partnership with
Jacky Ickx in Le Mans and nowadays considered as one of the most famous pairings in motorsport history. Bell was awarded the
MBE in 1986 for services to motorsport.
Bell would be hired to consult for the
Bentley team in 2001, helping them to win Le Mans two years later. He now split his time in the
United States and the United Kingdom and does commentary on Formula One races and drives in historic events, usually providing an ambassordorial duty for Porsche.
(Note: grand prix in denotes '''points scoring''' race.)
