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).
Bentley publicity strategy following performance testing of a 4-door Paulin saloon at Brooklands.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\4\ scan0082 | |
| Date | 27th June 1939 | |
| SECRET. Sg. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm. {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} c. Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. By. {R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Rm {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} 10/R.27.6.39. BENTLEY PUBLICITY. We have now had the 4-door Paulin Bentley, which you saw, on the Track at Brooklands, and obtained a lap speed of 109 m.p.h. This speed was obtained with a perfectly reasonable compression ratio of 7.25:1 without a cutout. These figures mean, that by developing the B.V. engine we have succeeded in getting a better result than we could with a B.II engine for a given degree of detonation. Also, that the windage of the 4-door saloon could be no more than that of the two-door Paulin. In view of this fact, we should like to go forward with the publicity mentioned in Rm {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} 6/R.15.3.39. Before the Paulin car left England, we fitted the Tourist Trophy cylinder head and lapped Brooklands @ 115 m.p.h. Eyston could almost certainly put in an hour at about this figure. This would forestall the publicity which Lagondas are bound to go for of the same kind with their Le Mans cars. We could repeat the run before the Motor Show with the 4-door saloon car as soon as the B.V. is announced, and obtain the same results. It would be a nice piece of advertisement that we had built a 4-door saloon to give the same results as that of a 2-door saloon with limited room. We believe that as a piece of interim publicity, during a period when we cannot announce the B.V., the suggested run on the Paulin would be of real value in combating the impression that we are no longer interested in motor-cars. All the necessary pieces are available for increasing the engine output. The attempt could either be run in France or England. Rm. {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||