Justin Derek Bell (born 23 February 1968) is a British racing driver who, after a successful career behind the wheel, transitioned into the media world in front of the camera and established himself as one of the top US-based automotive content hosts. He is the son of Derek Bell.
Career Like many successful car racers, Bell nurtured and developed his passion for speed and competitive racing at an early age. With natural talent and the encouragement of his father Derek Bell, a five-time Le Mans 24 hours winner, he started out fast and got faster, and soon began carving his own place in history. Since beginning his career in 1988, Bell has achieved many significant racing accomplishments, including the 1997 FIA GT2 Championship, winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans GT2 class in 1998 and second-place finishes in Le Mans and Daytona, and a pair of SCCA Trans-Am wins.
Along the way, Bell raced for major car manufacturers including Saab, Peugeot, Porsche, BMW, Dodge and General Motors. For Dodge Viper, he won the 1997 FIA GT2 world championship and the GT2 class at Le Mans in 1998. In 2000, Bell signed with General Motors as a driver for the factory Corvette Racing team, finishing second in the Daytona 24 Hours, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Petit Le Mans.
Early in his career, as Bell made consistent progress through a variety of racing categories, all the while appearing in various television programs. In 1993, he was co-host of the motor sports television program 555 Performance World, which ran on Asia's largest satellite network Star TV and was seen by over 80 million viewers. This led to him hosting a six-part series, The International Young Driver of the Year on BBC television.
Since 2005, Bell has worked frequently with Speed Channel (now Fox Sports 1) as a host of various live and format based TV shows, such as the Barrett Jackson Auctions, American Le Mans Series, Grand American Racing, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Test Drive and Shut up and Drive.
Bell co-founded Torque Media Group in 2018 with Tommy Kendall and Jason Jacobson. The trio created The Torque Show as a branded live stream show to support Michelin in the IMSA Series. Evolving into a chat show-style format, Bell and Kendall interview people in the racing world, attracting a wide audience on their Facebook Live channel.
Another series integrated into The Torque Show is 'The Love of Cars' presented by Hagerty, which has seen guests such as Jay Leno, Patrick Dempsey and Danny Trejo.
Drawing on their experience in Live sports broadcasting, and led by the producing talents of Jason Jacobson, the company branched out into live event hosting with the Audrain Newport Concours and Motorweek and the honor of hosting and producing the livestream for the Pebble beach Concours d'Elegance in 2021.
Other career milestones Bell and his father raced together in the 1992 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 1995 24 Hours of Le Mans. He tried to qualify for the 1996 Indianapolis 500 in a four year old Lola chassis. Later in 1997, he won the FIA GT championship in the GT2 class in a Dodge Viper GTS-R, racing for Team Oreca.
From 2000 to 2004, Bell had his own racing school which trained the pupils with Chevrolet Corvette cars.
In 2001-2003, Bell raced in the Trans Am Series, winning two major races at Houston and Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and took the Rookie of the Year title.
In 2009, Bell debuted as the driving instructor for the celebrities on The Jay Leno Show where he also interviewed the celebrity for the website.
Motorsports career results
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results + Year Team Co-Drivers Car Class Laps 1991 Euro Racing Shunji Kasuya Spice SE88PC2 -DNQDNQ 1992 ADA Engineering Tiff Needell Derek Bell Porsche 962C GTi C3 284 12th 5th 1994 Rent-A-Car Racing Team Luigi Racing René Arnoux Bertrand Balas Dodge Viper RT/10 LM GT1 273 12th3rd 1995 Harrods Mach One Racing David Price Racing Andy Wallace Derek Bell McLaren F1 GTR GT1 2963rd2nd 1996 Viper Team Oreca Dominique Dupuy Perry McCarthy Chrysler Viper GTS-R GT1 96DNFDNF 1997 Viper Team Oreca Pierre Yver John Morton Chrysler Viper GTS-R GT2 27814th5th 1998 Viper Team Oreca David Donohue Luca Drudi Chrysler Viper GTS-R GT2 31711th1st 1999 Viper Team Oreca Tommy Archer Marc Duez Chrysler Viper GTS-R GT2 31812th 2nd 2000 Corvette Racing Ron Fellows Chris Kneifel Chevrolet Corvette C5R LM GTS 32611th4th
Complete Japanese Touring Car Championship (1994-) results Year Team Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 DC Pts 1995 HKS Opel Team Japan Opel Vectra FUJ1 FUJ2 SUG1 SUG2 TOK1 TOK2 SUZ1 SUZ2 MIN1 MIN2 AID1 AID2 SEN1 SEN2 FUJ1 FUJ2 11th 32
IRL IndyCar Series Year Team Chassis No. Engine 1 2 3 Rank Points Ref 1996 Tempero–Giuffre Racing Lola T92 15 Buick WDW PHX INDY-0
References