Greatest Racecar? Derek Bell’s 1971 Porsche 917K

What a question! It’s all so difficult because I’ve driven many varied cars across several eras of racing. Technology and development have played a part during my years of racing too; racecars have become better as time goes on. I started racing with a Lotus Seven at Goodwood, which was my local circuit. Bernard Hender, my stepfather, said to me, “If you’re successful at motor racing I’ll help you.” Fortunately, I won races and indeed my stepfather helped and formed Church Farm Racing. From there we ran a Formula Three Lotus 31, and later a 41, results were very promising. It’s difficult to believe, in these days of austerity, but my early racing was funded by a £10,000 loan from the Bank—that’s back in the mid-1960s. Racing with the Formula Two Brabham 23C I was able to show I was as good as the rest of them, and was asked to drive for Ferrari, making my Grand Prix debut at Monza in 1968. My stay at Ferrari was quite short, but I did experience, among other cars, the 512S. Upon leaving, other avenues within the sport opened up.

At Goodwood, in September 1970, I got my first test drive in the John Wyer Gulf Porsche 917, I knew many drivers had had bad experiences with the car in the initial development, but Wyer and John Horsman had got the car working brilliantly by now in its 917K guise, and it was the car to be in rather than avoid.  Wyer wanted to test out three drivers, Peter Gethin, Ronnie Peterson, and me. He didn’t give us any lap times, so, I’m not too sure who was the quickest. For whatever reason, he chose me, from then on I did a whole season’s racing with it, which was the last season the 917 raced in the series, and stayed with Wyer for the next five years. For me, I think it was quite a unique situation, having driven the 512S and being able to compare the two. The Porsche seemed to be at one with me whereas the Ferrari was quite flat. At Le Mans, during a test session, Norbert Singer asked what revs I was pulling on the Mulsanne Straight. I told him 8100 rpm, and he said, “That’s good, because the engine will blow up at 8200!” I think I recorded the fastest speed ever on the Mulsanne Straight at 246 mph. To experience a racing speed of that nature for the first time down the Mulsanne was truly mind blowing. I had driven big-engined cars before with Ferrari, but the Porsche was something else. After that initial high-speed experience with the 917 it became the norm with Porsche to drive at such speeds—a quite memorable, remarkable, and great racecar.