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).
Magazine page featuring a description of the Mark V model, an illustration of an interior heater, and articles on driving etiquette.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0025 | |
| Date | 1st November 1940 | |
| 440 The Autocar November 1st, 1940. formerly, but the fact of the engine being carried farther forward in the frame gives more, not less, body room. The track has been increased from 4ft. 8in. all round to 4ft. 8½in. in front and 4ft. 10in. at the rear. Gear box and final drive ratios are unaltered, but the smaller wheel diameter naturally results in a slight lowering of the effective ratios. As distinct from the Mark V model now described, there will be offered in due course a supplementary model known as the Corniche. This is based on the specially evolved streamlined car which The Autocar was able to try extensively early in 1939, and which later averaged 114.63 m.p.h. for one hour on Brooklands track—a remarkable performance for a car which was at the same time quiet. From the experience gained of the Mark V there can be no question that those responsible have achieved a result that might have been regarded as almost impossible by anyone who knows the existing model—real, practical improvement, a gilding of the lily. The differences in the new car would be appreciated inside five minutes by any 4¼-litre Bentley owner, devoted though he would invariably be to his present car. It gives a soft glide, is more silent, and the comfort of each seat represents a distinct advance. Details of the interior heater. Above are seen the radiator unit and rheostat control switch, and (left) the connections to the engine water system. HEATER CONTROL “HOOTERS” Futile and Exasperating Displays of Impatience by Certain Drivers when “The Man Ahead” is Slow Off the Mark AT times we all make mistakes on the road, and probably cause some other driver to revile us momentarily. Most of us recognise the fault as soon as it has arisen, regret it, and endeavour to guard against similar faux pas in the future. Our temporary victims more often than not suffer us silently, if not gladly. There are exceptions, however. No brand of driver do I myself dislike more actively than the “hooter”—the man, maybe woman, who, experiencing delay from the car ahead for a reason which may or may not be obvious, sounds the horn at it. “At” it is undoubtedly the right term. If happening to be the unwilling subject oneself of such audible attention it is easy sometimes to suppose that were a more potent form of protest available to the objector it would be used unhesitatingly! What are the occurrences that raise the ire of the “hooter”? The engine of the car in front of him (this without prejudice as to the gender necessarily involved) may have stalled at traffic lights. Its driver, covered in confusion, is probably doing his level best to sort things out, and possibly fluffs the subsequent engaging of gear and letting in the clutch, and even stops the engine again. It may easily not be a driving fault that caused the engine to stall in the first place, but a choked slow runner jet or too lean a setting. The impatient man behind tootles his horn, as if the wretched cause of the hold-up were not only too anxious himself to get going. If he, the wretched cause, is a newcomer to motoring this unmannerly and useless action puts him still further off his stroke; if he is a seasoned driver, the victim of circumstances, his contempt for the other man reaches record depths. His inclination, wrongly without a doubt, and yet very humanly, is to delay still further as far as lies within his power the nit-wit who is unable to wait a few seconds while matters are righted. I plead guilty, with no particular sense of shame, to having applied before now my own demonstration of counter-protest in this way when the facts have been such as to afford no possible excuse to the “hooter’s” show of intolerance. Thereby perhaps one brands oneself with a certain measure of the same failing, but to avoid retaliating in some way is more than human nature can resist on occasion. The case of the driver at the head of a line of vehicles who has failed to notice that a light has changed to green, is slightly different. This oversight indicates absentmindedness, which has no place on the road; but even here the protest is better avoided unless the delay is unreasonable. Often I have felt equally incensed upon noticing the inexcusable treatment of other drivers in this way as when experiencing it myself for insufficient reason in my own opinion. It is not difficult to make up one’s mind to resist at all costs any temptation to harass the man in front as long as he appears to be doing his best, and to keep the resolution. There appears to me to be a considerable distinction between the attitude to adopt when actually in motion and this practice I have condemned at traffic lights and on other occasions when a car is stationary and another driver is clearly “up against it” in a minor way for the moment. In saying this I do not mean to justify a progress at high speed to the accompaniment of horn blaring and “cursing and blinding” at all other times.—L. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} Can You Take It ? IT is a curious fact that comparatively few motorists can remain totally unmoved and inactive while being overtaken by another car. It may well happen, especially in these days, that a driver is in no particular hurry, and is out chiefly to enjoy the fresh air. Yet when a horn note is heard behind and a car shows signs of passing, or actually goes by, it is commonly noticed that the overtaken driver will press down his foot and try to demonstrate that he, too, does not always keep strictly to twenty. If the overtaken vehicle be of the sports or “hot-stuff” variety, caught in a moment of inattention on the part of the man at the wheel, it is a thousand to one that the temptation to speed up will be too great to be resisted. Particularly amusing are the instances in which a saloon of the 30 h.p. class is passed by a really small car. Should this occur on an up grade—as is not impossible in these days of ultra-healthy diminutive cars—the expression on the faces of the solemn chauffeur of the big fellow and its passengers is usually a study in astonishment.—R.{Sir Henry Royce} S. A 6 | ||