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).
Performance critique and road test report of a Bentley car.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\4\ 04-page328 | |
| Date | 1st June 1933 | |
| COPY C. Re- Bentley. CXll/KWB.6.33. I took this car out this morning and Bly{B. W. Bleaney - Bentley Sales} accompanied me. We ran it roughly 115 miles. Bly{B. W. Bleaney - Bentley Sales} drove slightly more than half the distance. The criticisms are as follows:- Performance. I think this car is definitely too slow and with everything in its favour wind and a very slight gradient. 89 m.p.h. was with considerable difficulty attained. On the level I do not believe that the speed of this car as it was this morning would be greater than 85 m.p.h. Its top gear maximum speed is definitely disappointing, and it ought to be at least 10 m.p.h. more. Of course we were only judging by the speedometer. If that is inaccurate then of course we may be misled but we had no means of judging the performance except by the speedometer. The engine revs on top never exceeded 3,800 at which rate of revolution the car was doing 89 m.p.h. approximately. If those revs are the highest that the engine is expected to do then obviously the maximum speed cannot be any greater. I think the general Public would be disappointed with a Bentley car which would not definitely do at least 90 and possibly 95 on the level instead of only 84-85. I thought that the car attained 70 m.p.h. fairly readily on top, but after that it becomes difficult to work the speed up and takes a long time to do it. It does over 70 on third quite easily and over 50 on second quite easily. Acceleration. The acceleration is undoubtedly good, particularly using the gears, but it does not give you that 'kick in the back' that the old 30/98 Vauxhall used to give. In other words, it is good without being impressive. This may be due to the very silent way in which the engine does its work bearing in mind the silent second speed as well as the silent third. (contd) | ||