Justin Bell
Justin Derek Bell (born 23 February 1968) is a British race car 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.[1]
Justin Bell | |
---|---|
Born | Justin Derek Bell 23 February 1968 |
Occupation | Auto racing TV and WEB Host |
Years active | 1989—present |
Career
Like many successful car racers, Justin 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, Justin 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 he 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 Justin 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 Justin 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 Justin 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.
Justin co-founded Bell & Ammo with Nicolai Iuul in 2013 to create high production value, entertaining, original automotive lifestyle content. Their primary show is The Worlds Fastest Car Show sponsored by eBay Mobile and airs on the wildly successful Motor Trend YouTube Channel. Nicolai produces and directs while Justin hosts.
Other career milestones. Justin 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 4 year old Lola chassis. Later in 1997, he won the FIA GT championship in the GT2 class[2] in a Dodge Viper GTS-R, racing for Team Oreca. From 2000-2004 he had his own racing school which trained the pupils with Chevrolet Corvette cars.[3] In 2001-2003 he 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.[4] In 2009 Bell debuted as the driving instructor for the celebrities on The Jay Leno Show[2] where he also interviews the celebrity for the website.
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991 | Euro Racing | Shunji Kasuya | Spice SE88P | C2 | - | DNQ | DNQ |
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 | 12th | 3rd |
1995 | Harrods Mach One Racing David Price Racing |
Andy Wallace Derek Bell |
McLaren F1 GTR | GT1 | 296 | 3rd | 2nd |
1996 | Viper Team Oreca | Dominique Dupuy Perry McCarthy |
Chrysler Viper GTS-R | GT1 | 96 | DNF | DNF |
1997 | Viper Team Oreca | Pierre Yver John Morton |
Chrysler Viper GTS-R | GT2 | 278 | 14th | 5th |
1998 | Viper Team Oreca | David Donohue Luca Drudi |
Chrysler Viper GTS-R | GT2 | 317 | 11th | 1st |
1999 | Viper Team Oreca | Tommy Archer Marc Duez |
Chrysler Viper GTS-R | GT2 | 318 | 12th | 2nd |
2000 | Corvette Racing | Ron Fellows Chris Kneifel |
Chevrolet Corvette C5R | LM GTS | 326 | 11th | 4th |
References
- "First win for Bell". The Independent. London. 10 September 2001. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
- Motavalli, Jim (19 September 2009). "Jay Leno's Green Car Challenge Puts Guests on Racetrack". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
- "Motorsport.com: News". Motorsport.com. 5 December 2000. Retrieved 19 March 2010.
- "Motorsport.com: News". Motorsport.com. 6 October 2001. Retrieved 19 March 2010.