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 detailing conversations about competitor car performance and technology, including Lagonda, Citroen, and opinions on Bentley and Lockheed brakes.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 146\5\ scan0121 | |
| Date | 17th March 1939 | |
| To "Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}" Derby Showrooms Sr/Dn9/MLG.17.3.39 Dear "Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}", Yesterday I had lunch with Jean Pierre Wimille in Lyon and we had a long talk about things in general. He pointed out that when he was last in London, during the Motor Show, Earl Howe tackled him about Lagonda and incidentally said the most vile things about the Bentley. In fact, Wimille was surprised to discover as he remarked to me, that English methods were far more terrible than the French. In other words, as he rightly remarked, no man in his right mind would ever make any violent criticisms of the Bentley but Earl Howe and the Lagonda crowd seem to have a method of their own . He was also approached to drive a Lagonda at the Le Mans races but after trying the car he definitely turned this down. He thinks the power unit might be quite good, but the rest he says is painful. He is very keen on Lockheed brake and he adds that recent experience has proved beyond a doubt which he says the future will also bear out the fact that the Lockheed or hydraulically controlled brakes will be fitted to all cars. He stated that one has only to drive a motor car like Auto-Union , Mercedes racing car, or Alfa-Romeo , to find out the wonderful way in which these brakes react under the most difficult conditions. I had lunch today with Mr. Charles Faroux in Paris and he informed me that he had just accomplished quite a feat ( he is 70 years old) with a 6 cylinder Citroen car which the makers asked him to try out under the most critical conditions. He left Paris at 3 o'clock in the morning and after a stay of 25 minutes in Lyons he returned to Paris where he lunched with friends at 12.30 and afterwards took part in an amateur billiard competition later in the afternoon. Mr. Faroux's time from the gates of Paris to the gates of Lyons on the outward journey was 4 hours 32 minutes whilst the time taken on the return trip was only four hours 28 minutes . To be quite frank I must say that this has got me stunned, and I told him so . If it was not for the fact that I know that the car has wonderful road holding qualities I should flatly decline to believe this and I am so sceptical about these results that I have asked Mr. Faroux to repeat the feat when my Bentley car | ||