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).
Page from a motoring publication featuring an illustration of a Bentley engine and reader correspondence on various topics.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0280 | |
| Date | 1st January 1941 | |
| January 1, 1941. 493 EIGHT-THOUSAND CUBIC CENTI-METRES. The engine of Forrest Lycett's Bentley (referred to in the letter below) is larger than any manufactured for standard cars to-day and has been developed to a point where its output exceeds 250 b.h.p. A notable modification is the use of three carburetters with slides instead of butterfly throttles. The slides are split, a small movement downwards being used for slow running, the top slides attached to the horizontal bar then being raised to give maximum power. The Autopulse fuel feed has now been discarded in favour of air pressure. CORRESPONDENCE "Ignorance" DID you hear the B.B.C. recently, when giving the figures of deaths on the road for 15 months of the war, refer to cars and motorists, instead of drivers of motor vehicles? The Daily Telegraph, in an editorial, does the same. There was a letter from a reader of another paper committing the same blunder. It is most unfair, besides being ignorant. In the country most vehicles are Army ones of all kinds, goods, lorries and vans, A.R.P., doctors' cars, etc. Motorists are very few indeed. Moore-Brabazon ought to stop it. P.E.G. Totnes. The Original White Line I WAS interested in your paragraph on the origin of the white line (The Motor, December 18). A few years ago a large American tyre company conducted a search for the man who first thought of this idea, and all claims were laid before a committee. In 1936 a plaque was presented by the American Automobile Association to Edward Hines, who had received a unanimous verdict. Mr. Hines was Road Commissioner of Wayne County, Michigan, and in 1911 caused white lines to be painted on every bridge and curve under his authority; also along the whole of the highway at a later date. S. E.{Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} SWAN. Grantham. Illuminated Police AS one who has had reason to travel through Salford at night, I would like to pay tribute to the excellent scheme which has been adopted there to illuminate the police after dark. As mentioned in The Motor recently, they have the word "police" on their helmets, illuminated; this shows up very clearly and the unmistakable tails they give with their coloured glass ensure a smooth flow of traffic. rd. J.S.R. Mr. Forrest Lycett and his Bentley MAY I be permitted a reply to Mr. John P. Bennett (The Motor, December 18)? He has forgotten that the two "classic" road races mentioned were open to "standard" cars only, which probably meant that the chief difference between such cars and my 8-litre Bentley was that the latter was known to be non-standard (executioner, forward!). As a matter of fact, I did enter the Bentley for Le Mans a few years ago, but a hint reached me that she would not pass the scrutineers. So the car did not cross and I forfeited the entrance fee, about £30, I believe. Serve me right, but France had not provided the winning car for a long time. I am surprised to learn that supercharged Bentleys were competing in 1928, but agree with Mr. Bennett that, generally speaking, large and especially heavy cars are relatively slow over road circuits. In this connection the 8-litre Bentley's Shelsley time of 44.08 secs. may be dismissed as a "potted" effort on the part of car and driver which could not be sustained throughout the length of a race. Whether or no the manufacturers regarded the 8-litre Bentley as fast a road car as the supercharged 4½-litre is an inside secret. Personally, in view of its 12-ft. wheelbase, I would say they did not, but the point is immaterial, for the 8-litre was not in production at the time of the events mentioned. Indeed, it did not make its debut until after Bentleys' officially announced retirement from racing. F.{Mr Friese} LYCETT. London, S.W.5. A Bentley Paramount ANENT the letter from Mr. John Bennett, concerning the comparative merits of Forrest Lycett's Bentley and Hall's 4¼-litre. I have travelled many miles in the former and driven it, so that I know the real answer. Shelsley Walsh is a very unfavourable course for a very large motorcar, and that the 8-litre can beat the T.T. Bentley on it by two seconds adequately answers Mr. Bennett's remarks. The 8-litre was originally produced as a luxury vehicle, at a time when Bentley himself had, to all intents and purposes, given up racing. It is only as the result of many modifications and considerable shortening that Mr. Lycett's car has become what it is. Although Mr. Lycett runs the car in sprints, it must be remembered that, in the first place, it is his normal touring car, and, secondly, that he is at an age when most men have given up racing 20 years previously. It is not, therefore, so very surprising that he does not run it in the long-distance classic races. It is, I think, fairly obvious that a really fast light car could beat the Bentley over a twisty course, such as the Campbell or Crystal Palace circuits; but published figures also show conclusively that, in sheer performance, it leaves the rest behind. As a road car, I do not think that anyone who has practical experience of it entertains the smallest doubt that it is paramount. CECIL CLUTTON. London, W.11. Gutter Glass Dodging AS another motorist who, like Sep Newman (The Motor, December 18) has turned part-time cyclist during the war, I can sympathize with him in the difficulties he finds in keeping into the side of the road. It is accentuated now by pieces of broken window glass, which follow bombs and blast. Most cyclists ride on the crown of the road to dodge this. P.S.S. London, E.2. A29 | ||