Derek Bell’s British Legends Edition Porsche 911 Carrera 4 GTS

Porsche salutes its endurance racing heroes with an even more special variant of its 911 GTS model.

Derek Bell has sat behind the wheel of a Porsche over two-hundred times in his illustrious racing career. Four of those times resulted in Le Mans wins, cementing Porsche’s reputation as the undisputed kings of endurance racing. Simply put, Derek Bell is a legend.

Understanding this, Porsche set to work creating a special model to commemorate the work of Derek Bell. The resulting car, based on the 911 Carrera 4 GTS, is one of three British Legends Editions.

The three special models are designed to tastefully evoke the racing livery worn by the driver’s cars during major victories. In the case of the Derek Bell model, the metallic blue paint is accented by a white stripe with smaller red and gold stripes. This is designed, of course, to evoke the Rothmans paint scheme seen on his 1982 Le Mans-winning 956. That year, three 956s – numbered 1, 2, and 3 – took the podium spots in order.

That 1982 finish would be his third win at Le Mans, the second with Porsche. His four total wins at Le Mans with Porsche in the 1980s are a key component of the Porsche motorsport legend.

ALSO SEE: Porsche 911 GTS Reviewed

Short of the graphics and special badging, there’s nothing really new here. The GTS lineup usually includes a great selection of our favorite enthusiast options, and the British Legends Edition version includes some options as standard equipment that are otherwise optional on GTS models.

Buyers will find LED headlights, an alcantara interior, Sport Chono, Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM), and rear axle steering fitted as standard. Gearbox options are either the excellent seven-speed manual transmission, or the fantastic PDK. While we’d personally opt for the manual, we won’t begrudge you for picking the PDK.

Derek seems pleased with the special edition 911 that bears his name, especially the carbon fiber and alcantara trim. It sure does seem like a nice place to spend twenty four hours, although we’d happily trade off with Jacky Ickx every few hours. We wonder if he’s down for a road trip…

Cameron VanDerHorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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