Five-time Le Mans winner Derek Bell MBE has been named the winner of the Simeone Foundation Auto Museum’s 10th Spirit of Competition award. The award will be presented at a dinner emceed by Amelia Island Concours founder Bill Warner on Wednesday November 15 at the Museum in Philadelphia.
Beyond his crowning Le Mans achievements, Bell is also a three-time winner of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, and has twice been crowned World Sports Car Champion during his distinguished career.
That career began in the 1960s, and Bell soon found himself driving in Formula One for Ferrari. That led him to the Scuderia’s sports car effort where he raced the 512 before moving over to Porsche to pilot the legendary 917. He won Le Mans for the first time in 1975, driving a Gulf Mirage M8-Ford with Jacky Ickx. Six years later he teamed with Ickx once again, this time in a Porsche 936-81, to score his second Le Mans success and duplicated it the flowing year, again with Ickx, in a Porsche 956-82. His final pair of triumphs at la Sarthe came in 1986 and ’87, both times sharing a Porsche 962C with Al Holbert and Hans Joachim Stuck.
In addition to honoring Bell, the Museum will also present its Jane Dusek Award to Sally DeLorean as a woman who represents the characteristics of Dusek, a long-time foundation friend, as someone whose enthusiasm for automotive competition is shared with the motorsport community.
The November 15 event begins at 6:00 p.m. at the Museum, 685 Norwich Drive, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Tickets are $150 per person, $275 for a pair of tickets, and $1,000 for a table of eight. For complete information, please visit www.simeonemuseum.org
