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 the editor of 'The Autocar' magazine comparing the performance of vintage Bentley cars.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0057 | |
| Date | 10th December 1940 | |
| 10.12.40. The Editor, The Autocar, Dorset House, Stamford Street. S.E.1. Dear Sir, THE CAKES THAT MOTHER USED TO BAKE! I was interested in your article on "vintage" 8-litre Bentleys, in your issue of the 6th. December, and also to see that two of your correspondents were championing the modern version of this famous marque at the same time. In the motor press, there have been a great many references recently to Mr. Forrest Lycette's 8-litre car, and one cannot but draw comparisons between the past and the present. I would like to suggest that even Mr. Lycette's 8-litre car could not compete with a modern 3½ or 4½ litre over, say, the Tourist Trophy Course. Unfortunately, Mr. Lycette has never entered his car in either of the two classic road races for sports vehicles i.e., the T.T. or Le Mans. The performance of its contemporaries however, with superchargers, which ran in 1928, 1929 and 1930, on the Ards Circuit, seem to indicate that these big cars are relatively speaking, slow over a road circuit, since Hall's 8½ litre Bentley in 1935 averaged 60.3 m.p.h. for the race, against 69 m.p.h., the best speed, as far as I can ascertain, ever put up over this course by a 4½ litre supercharged Bentley. Presumably, had the 8-litre been as fast over the course as the 4½ litre supercharged model, it would have been entered by the Manufacturers. The only direct comparison between Hall's and Lycette's Bentleys which I am able to find, is at Shelsely where the best time was apparently 50.44 secs., for Lycette's Bentley, whereas Hall succeeded in doing the climb in 46.2/5 secs. - Continued - | ||