From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Letter to E.R. Hall discussing modifications to a Bentley body for racing, including filler cap placement and automatic oil feed systems.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 87\2\ scan0162 | |
| Date | 26th March 1936 | |
| x262 Exptl. Dept. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}12/KW. 26th March, 1936. E.R. Hall, Esq., 53, Berkeley Court, LONDON, N.W.1. Dear Hall, I have received a very incomplete pencil sketch 1/4 scale of the Bentley body from Offords, which is not at all what I wanted. However, I am doing the best I can with it, and we enclose a drawing showing that we can get the fillers in in the position you suggest without running into the spare wheel, which was the major limitation. Personally I do not feel two fillers are necessary, because I do not see that they can possibly both be used, and an extra filler when we are trying to save ounces of weight elsewhere does not seem reasonable. If you have your filler on the offside, it will be O.K. for Le Mans and it does not matter where it is for the T.T. because you fill up by hand. We shall of course alter the baffling so that the trouble you experienced previously with regard to the last few gallons will be eliminated. I attach a copy of a note which Sleator sent me, all of which I think is sound common-sense. Personally I hate the idea of the automatic oil feed to the bottom half, because we do so little racing that we cannot possibly get the experience we require with it under these strenuous conditions and it is very likely to let us down. I would much rather obtain an accurate oil consumption during practice, and in combination with a reliable oil gauge, put lubricant in as previously. We could possibly fix up the simplest possible device which would prevent oil going in unless it was below a certain level. However, we are carrying on with the automatic feed to see how it pans out. | ||