RetroClassic Clothing
Derek Bell Official Range
Derek Bell joins forces with RetroClassic Clothing to celebrate his legendary career
- Four new t-shirts honouring some of Bell's greatest races
- Designs showcase iconic cars, including Porsche 917 and McLaren F1 GTR
- Each t-shirt comes in a range of sizes and colours
British apparel company RetroClassic Clothing has partnered with motorsport legend Derek Bell to produce an official range of t-shirts celebrating some of his greatest victories and most significant results.
The earliest race in the collection is the 1971 Spa 1000Km, in which Bell drove the iconic Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 for the factory-backed JW Automotive team. He claimed a sensational pole position around the fearsome 8.7-mile Belgian road circuit, lapping two seconds faster than team-mate Pedro Rodriguez, and then finished second in the race itself alongside Jo Siffert. Only team orders prevented them from going past the sister car driven by Rodriguez and Jackie Oliver.
Bell's victory in the 1981 Le Mans 24 Hours was a turning point in his long and illustrious career, and is also being celebrated by RetroClassic Clothing. That year, he was sharing a BMW M1 with Steve O'Rourke in certain rounds of the World Endurance Championship, but then Porsche invited him to contest the French endurance classic alongside Jacky Ickx in a 936/81. The car ran like clockwork, the duo won their second Le Mans 24 Hours together, and Bell was duly invited to be part of the factory team in 1982.
The next design marks the last of Bell's five Le Mans victories, which came in 1987 aboard a Porsche 962 shared with Hans Stuck and Al Holbert.
Pictured in the famous Rothmans livery and with headlamps ablaze, the 962 carried the trio to a comfortable victory after they'd swept aside the challenge from the British TWR-Jaguar squad.
But even after all those successes, Bell has said that the proudest moment of his Le Mans career was standing on the podium in 1995 with his son Justin. The two of them are pictured on the last of the RetroClassic t-shirts, standing alongside the Harrods-liveried McLaren F1 GTR that they shared with 1988 Le Mans winner Andy Wallace. The British trio led the race for a long time in dreadful conditions – courtesy of some inspired night-time stints by Derek Bell and Wallace – before gearbox problems relegated them to third by the time the chequered flag fell.
"Joining forces with RetroClassic Clothing has been a lot of fun," said Bell.
"These four races each have a special meaning for me, and to see them being celebrated on this official line of t-shirts brings back some great memories."
