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).
Article from 'The Autocar' magazine reflecting on the Ulster T.T. motor race, featuring a large illustration of the event.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0172 | |
| Date | 15th November 1940 | |
| The Autocar, November, 15th 1940 507 OF "THE AUTOCAR" TAKES HIS MIND BACK A FEW YEARS second driver, for the minutes seem hours in those last rounds anyway and the exhaust note as one hears the car pass always seems to flutter. But the Riley was well and truly prepared, excellently driven, and it came home to a well deserved victory with Eddie's Bentley once more a grim second and the irrepressible Fane a good third with the B.M.W. after a most memorable drive. It was Freddie's day, not for the first or last time. Now Freddie is a character. Preferably he would love to be described as tough enough 'to chew glass and nails for breakfast'. The sort of man who ought to have been born in the condottieri days, a fervent, irreverent, truculent pirate. Popularly, he is a wizard who has only to touch an engine or stroke a car, for both to develop unheard-of speed. But the secret of his success is that he is a first-class serious driver, that he disregards all conventions to lighten a car effectually, and that he and Walter Maidens are much more thorough and careful with the preparation of their machine down to the smallest detail than anyone else. In other words, an honest-to-God piece of work is backed by a good driver—in this case by two good drivers. But the crash which had darkened the race—and, remember, drivers more than anyone hate the mere idea of injuring the outside spectators—was too severe to be ignored. The race could not be held again, lest worse should happen, and weary month succeeded weary month under the heavy shadow of legal difficulties. Law must be supreme, but the suspense of waiting before anything could be done—while the driver concerned remained under a cloud—was far beyond the reasonable. It was the end of the Ulster T.T. [Image caption] Blinding rain made everything difficult ; the Riley did a lap almost equal to that of the big cars." | ||