In Motorsport News’s readers’ Q&As we are familiar with those who have been there and done that. But in the realms of GT competition there are surely few who have been and there and done that to the extent that Rob Bell has.
The Newcastle-upon-Tyne native had plenty of success in karting and then on the first rungs of the single-seater ladder – twice winning the Formula Renault UK Winter Series – while competing against an array of serious contemporaries. But having encountered the oh-so common barrier of running out of cash, Bell set his sights on GTs and sportscars.
You name the blue-riband sportscar event and Bell has raced in it. This includes no fewer than nine Le Mans 24 Hours appearances, 12 outings in the Spa 24 Hours and three appearances in the Daytona 24 Hours where he finished second in class in 2011. He’s also raced in the Sebring 12 Hours five times, the Bathurst 12 Hour twice, and in Petit Le Mans.
Bell’s won bucket loads of GT races and has bagged several championships, with his achievements crowned by winning the Blancpain – now GT World Challenge – Endurance championship in 2016. He also won that year’sAsian Le Mans Series title, and since has claimed the International GT Open crown. And these are on top of Le Mans Series GT2 titles won in 2007 and 2008.
Bell also in 2011 got the distinction of becoming the first signed-up McLaren GT factory driver, a role he still retains. And these days, as he explains, the 44-year-old’s McLaren factory role goes beyond driving.
He’s increasingly involved in management, and has been crucial in developing a host of McLaren GT machines for the track and road. As Bell also explains, he was integral from the very start of the marque’s current GT3 racer the 720S and its brand-new GT4 racer the Artura.
This year Bell can be spotted on UK tracks running at the front in British GT, in a promising partnership with Am driver Mark Radcliffle racing an Optimum Motorsport McLaren 720S Evo.
And with all this Bell still finds the time to coach and instruct, including with three recent BRDC Autosport young drivers of the year.
We were very grateful to grab some time in Bell’s busy schedule to ask the Motorsport News readers’ questions, just before Bell hopped on another flight to do his latest round of testing in Portugal.
Question: Where did motorsport passion start for you and what was it like starting out in the north east of England?
Gavin Johnson Via email Rob Bell: “It’s a very good question. My dad was always into cars and his group of friends always used to play around with cars. Nothing special of course but it was a bit different back then and I remember it vaguely and a group of them had I think it was an Opel Chevette rally car. It was an old knackered-up thing but they basically used to take it apart and fiddle with it and play with the carbs and rebuild it and drive it round fields.
“[It was] very cheap of course but I do remember it and I remember that passion he had. He did a little bit of schoolboy karting. But the first thing I remember really of [my] passion was driving a car for the first time on an airfield, probably aged eight or nine, just sitting on his lap. And something clicked with me which meant I wanted more and more and more and that’s probably where it started from.
“And the north east is probably not known for being a hot bed of motorsport history but I happened to live like I said near an airfield which happened to have a kart track on it which was an outdoor track, it was called Felton kart track which is up in Northumberland and they used to have British Super One
