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).
Road test report on a B V. B-20-AW car following a 275-mile run, detailing performance and handling characteristics.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 117\3\ scan0008 | |
| Date | 13th May 1940 | |
| Eg. to C. c. " Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} re- B V.{VIENNA} B-20-AW. Cxl/KW13.5.40. I have now been able to give the above car a run of 275 miles between Friday evening and this morning. Taking the credit side first, it is in many ways a much more pleasing Bentley than the previous type, and to my mind the two most outstanding improvements are the springing and the steering. The ride of the car over a really bad pot-holey road is really quite remarkable, and the steering is delightfully light, and the car in consequence is much more comfortable to drive under all conditions. I did, however, get a lot of steering joggle on one occasion only, when on a piece of road that had been temporarily repaired. On the really bad road to which I referred above, the steering was good and did not joggle. Coupled with steering, I ought to mention controllability, for its cornering propensities are exceedingly good, and the addition of the anti-roll bar has effected a wonderful improvement, which seems to assert itself very noticeably when cornering at speed. The fact that one can corner really fast is very largely spoiled by the shriek of the tyres, which makes one feel, firstly, that one is taking corners too fast - although the shriek occurs at slow speeds - and secondly, it makes people nearby turn round expecting to see the car in a violent skid. The instantaneous starting under all conditions without any choke is a great joy. The ability to enter the car from the offside with ease is a further very welcome improvement. The brakes are fully up to the high performance of the car, in fact I think they are as good as on any car that we have ever produced. In general the car feels more luxurious, and should give a good impression from that point of view. Now for the debit side, this may seem rather lengthy, but many of the points are small. Nevertheless, I think they all are important. | ||