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).
Commercial viability and engineering direction for the B.2. car model.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\4\ 04-page008 | |
| Date | 30th December 1931 guessed | |
| -2- Personally, I think the B. 2. car will be sold in very limited quantities. When we make this car we shall be obliged to enter motor racing whether we like it or not. They will be purchased for that purpose, and we shall be forced to see that they make a good show. We think that the B. 2. could be made into a wonderfully good racing car. It would be a much easier job to make it into a racing car than it will be a car which customers can live with every day. It is certain that this car is going to be expensive. The fundamental design of the engine is more expensive than anything we have yet made for a motor-car. We shall then have the additional cost of the supercharger, which can never be anything else but an expensive unit. Added to this, the fact that the engine is supercharged will stress all parts much higher than we are accustomed to on motor-cars. It will be obvious from my remarks that I am not very enthusiastic about the prospects of B. 2. providing many orders, but we think we ought to go on and make it because if we only sell a few it will help. It is not a car that any of us would buy and the discomforts of this type of car are so unnecessary because the same performance can be obtained at the same cost in a much nicer way. I still strongly hold the view that we may be still neglecting what may be one of our best sellers. That is J.1. engine. We are sure you are going to be astonished with the performance of J.1. We shall be disappointed if it is not as good as S1-C. which is your present Phantom II Cont. Trials Car. We doubt whether the B. 2. supercharged Sports Car will have any better performance. The main difference, of course, will be that the J.1. will give its performance in a Rolls-Royce manner instead of like an Alfa-Romeo. I am sure that given the same quantities the engine could be made cheaper than the the B. 2. HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||