RE: PH meets Derek Bell

RE: PH meets Derek Bell

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Discussion

Riggers

1,859 posts

178 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
Felix7 said:
Plus you were going around the track in a noisy car with DB...so you can be forgiven for miss hearing him
Of which more soon.... wink

type.ra

102 posts

201 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
Riggers - you lucky bugger!

One of my driving heroes. If I could be a racing driver in any era, that's the one i'd pick. Just awesome!

Opel GTE

20 posts

161 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
Fantastic piece .Derek Bell is such a true gentleman.Can you get him back and interview him on the summer of 1970 while filming Le Mans with Steve McQueen??
Bet Derek got some great tales on that...

JohnGoodridge

529 posts

195 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
Life Saab Itch said:
rhinochopig said:
Interesting interview - thanks. But such a shame you didn't ask about why 4wd was a flop;why he thought it wasn't as successful as it should have been.
Aerodynamic downforce came along and was more successful, cheaper and lighter.
I read somewhere that they suffered with horrible understeer with even as little as 8-10% power transferred to the front wheels.

cthcolin

34 posts

163 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
JW911 said:
What a Gem. 170 mph in a ground effect 956, at the 'Ring (not the easiest place to get round in the world) and he
- sounds like he's out for a sunday afternoon pootle
- has time to spend looking at the view!

Colossal!!!

He is a gent. My wife sat next to him on a plane once - she said " My husband should be here, you two could have talked cars all night" He said "God no, that'd be so dull" and they proceeded to get squiffy on white wine.

(I was a few rows away with a wriggling toddler to look after. The things one has to do...and fair play, she knew who he was without being told)

Great Interview.



Edited by cthcolin on Monday 28th November 22:38

rpm1969

91 posts

161 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
Cool guy.
This is a nice little feature
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WAeB6oL0qw

burman

355 posts

213 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
I was very spoilt as my first LeMans visit was in 1982 the first year of the new 956 and my very efficient friends had booked a table on the friday night at the Hotel at La charte where the WHOLE works Porsche team were staying.
When we arrived we could not believe the atmosphere in the resturant as the team were sat around alarge central table, including all the works drivers ICkx Bell Andretti et all!! Our table was not far away and after the meal D Bell came over and had agood chat.... A TOP BLOKE Trouble is its impossible to top that!!
My prized possession is a signed copy of his first book, which he has recently updated.

alexpa

644 posts

172 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all

HAB

3,632 posts

227 months

Monday 28th November 2011
quotequote all
Bell & 917

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1b9tEYfQI

One of my all-time motor racing heroes!

blueg33

35,910 posts

224 months

Tuesday 29th November 2011
quotequote all
burman said:
I was very spoilt as my first LeMans visit was in 1982 the first year of the new 956 and my very efficient friends had booked a table on the friday night at the Hotel at La charte where the WHOLE works Porsche team were staying.
When we arrived we could not believe the atmosphere in the resturant as the team were sat around alarge central table, including all the works drivers ICkx Bell Andretti et all!! Our table was not far away and after the meal D Bell came over and had agood chat.... A TOP BLOKE Trouble is its impossible to top that!!
My prized possession is a signed copy of his first book, which he has recently updated.
We meet Derek there every year. Always an amazing atmosphere. Traditionally the home of the AM team.

Owlwood

252 posts

156 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Great read. Derek gives a really good interview. I would of liked to hear even more,

Acehood

1,326 posts

174 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Well that was annoying to read

Why not format it a bit better? Instead of

PH: Question
DB: Response

Try this:

Question goes here?

Response here, perhaps in italics.


Or maybe use some divs that are different colours. Just anything to differentiate the questions/answers. As it is, it's a huge wall of text

Ali2202

3,815 posts

204 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
darreni said:
Clucking. Bell.

The Mulsanne part is.... yikes

Riggers

1,859 posts

178 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Acehood said:
Well that was annoying to read

Why not format it a bit better? Instead of

PH: Question
DB: Response

Try this:

Question goes here?

Response here, perhaps in italics.


Or maybe use some divs that are different colours. Just anything to differentiate the questions/answers. As it is, it's a huge wall of text
A fair point. We'll look into it smile

357RS

275 posts

157 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Good feature and interview, I guess he has bloody enjoyed his career.

Derek Bell was a constant companion (at least in spirit) when I did off road racing.
Following the comments in this video http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1mu7r_listen-to-...
whenever my navigator thought I was approaching a corner too fast I'd get "It's here, it's here" through the intercom.
Whenever I did something wrong it was "Oh Derek, Oh Derek".

And I'm not called Derek.

paranha

633 posts

242 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
Great interview--More please.Derek has been my hero for over 35 years---and I had the Great pleasure to meet him in 1981, at A BMW Club better driving course at Silverstone that I organised.By PR connections from BMW, we had Derek as one of our Instructors,who would instruct approx 15 drivers in three closed sections around the course. and judge all drivers at the end of day final laps.

The dry mouth in asking Derek--The God-to do this and that and watch that etc,it was the highlight of the day, such a Great guy-and pleasant gentleman who treated all our club drivers as equals.

A very long day, and the charm was as intact with handing out awards, as it was from the start---A Great Man.



dome

687 posts

257 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
HAB said:
Bell & 917

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry1b9tEYfQI

One of my all-time motor racing heroes!
Brilliant, Thanks for posting that.

I have Derek Bells autograph somewhere, he was at the ferry terminal at Cairnryan in the 80's as part of, I think, the RAC rally. He sadly wasn't driving a 917 that day, only an Astra GTE...

Edited as I realise someone posted a link to his rallying exploits...

Edited by dome on Wednesday 30th November 20:15

The Stiglet

2,062 posts

194 months

Wednesday 30th November 2011
quotequote all
darreni said:
Unbelievable! The acceleration is brutal and the top speed is even higher than he thought in the interview - 246 mph!

You can clearly see how far we've come in the braking, traction and downforce department though. Must have been hard work driving one of these for 24 hrs.

Thanks for the interview Riggers thumbup

Felix7

464 posts

260 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
quotequote all
1000hrs 16th June Le Mans 2012 - DB back in a Porsche 962...

Dave Hedgehog

14,555 posts

204 months

Thursday 24th May 2012
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Lord Flathead said:
What a great interview from a talented and modest fav driver of mine.

Listening to him brings back all the incidents to mind, and serves for the younger generation as a reminder that all this woolly health and safety wasn't around like it is today.

Did you get his autograph Riggers? cool
Always had huge respect for him bow