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).
Secret memo regarding the sourcing of parts and a reserve engine for a Bentley intended for Montlhery.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\3\ scan0167 | |
| Date | 9th February 1939 | |
| 1379 SECRET. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}8/R.9.2.39. BENTLEY FOR MONTLHERY. All the parts we require for this car are on Hall's chassis, fitted with a racing body, which is at present standing in the Repair Dept. Rather than raise the question of stripping this car, we are producing another set of parts. Since all the drawings are available this is not a very expensive job, consisting of a petrol tank, an oil tank, some shock absorber fittings, and a few miscellaneous parts. In any event, if we should decide on any more publicity later on in the year, a second set of these parts would be very useful. With regard to the engine unit, we consider it is essential that we should have a reserve unit available, so that if anything goes wrong during the run we can fit the spare engine, and get going again with a minimum of delay, before the time-keepers and press men have dispersed. We have no experimental unit available for this job, but are proposing to use the engine out of 3.B.IV. When the attempt is over, the unit could then be re-fitted to the car and sold. It is the only solution we can think of which avoids our having an engine without a chassis to fit it to when the run is finished. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||