Tag: Stefan Bellof

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Derek Bell drives the Porsche 956 at the Nürburgring

Derek Bell drives the Porsche 956 at the Nurburgring

Earlier this year the memory of Stefan Bellof was honoured with the renaming of Pflantzgarten II to the Stefan-Bellof-S at the Nürburgring. During qualifying for the 1983 1000km race Bellof clocked a lap time of 6:11.13. More than 30 years later, it’s still the fastest ever lap recorded on the Nordschleife and the only lap to average over 200km/h.

To mark the naming of the Stefan-Bellof-S, Porsche wheeled out its 956.007, the very car Bellof drove in the 1983 1000km race at the Ring. On hand for driving duties was Porsche legend and all round nice guy Derek Bell.

After the break you can ride with Bell on a bridge to gantry lap of the Ring. It’s a comparatively sedate ride, although Bell still gets around at a pretty respectable pace. Your day will be better for watching this!

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Porsche

Racing Legends: Porsche 956 and 962

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve had a bit of Porsche 956 content. Raced during the legendary Group C era of the 1980s, it’s a car that’s been described as “the greatest Le Mans car ever.” The 956/962 won the 24 hour race six times in a row from 1982–1987.

But it was more than that, the 956 dominated sportscar racing. At the hands of Stefan Bellof in 1983 the 956 lapped the Nürburgring Nordschleife in 6 minutes 11 seconds; still the fastest recorded lap at the Ring.

To help you get a better understanding of the 956 and the subsequent 962 here’s a short video from Porsche which was filmed at Salon Privé in London earlier this year.

One man synonymous with the 956 is Derek Bell. He won Le Mans five times and in 1982 was the first to do so in a 956. Today is Derek Bell’s 70th birthday, so it’s nice that we get to hear from him in the video too.

In 1983 Australian Vern Schuppan formed part of the winning 956 team at Le Mans. It was the spark for Schuppan to later try and produce a 962-based road car; the 962CR. Ultimately, high production costs and an extreme purchase price, at the time reported to be US$1.5 million, quickly saw its demise after only a handful were built. Although, we can’t think of too many people that would knock back 600hp in package weighing less than 1100kg.