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 customer complaints, racing strategy, and resource allocation.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 90a\2\ Scan194 | |
| Date | 9th October 1934 | |
| To Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} that will require the full concentration of our best technical brains, apart from the various problems confronting us on the aero engine side, and one feels that it would be wrong to pile more on the technical officials,knowing, as we do, that special jobs of this description cannot be done except at the expense of other matters. It is important to bear in mind that, since the Bentley was announced and cars delivered to the public, there have been practically no complaints about acceleration and maximum speed but there are, and have been for a long time, certain faults in connection with brake shudder, brakes fading and shimmy of the front, i.e. lamps and wings, all of which want to be dealt with, especially for Continental sales where they show up worse and in respect of which rumours are spreading to the detriment of our business. We should like to see these complaints tackled first. One also must bear in mind that in connection with racing, there is a tremendous element of chance. All one's best efforts can be nullified by so many different things. We have only got to think of the several different reasons which prevented Hall from winning the Tourist Trophy. We agreed to the Ulster Tourist Trophy because we understood that it was a standard car race and that the conditions specially suited the Bentley. When we agreed, we did not know that it would entail practically a special engine, an entirely new gearbox and numerous other modifications - in fact, if we had known what it would entail, we should never have agreed. There is of course the danger of people entering and doing badly, but we feel that the majority of these sporting drivers will take notice of the manufacturer's advice and wishes and will realise that they have little chance of success XXXXXX unless they have the factory's support. It must also be realised that, even if we race, it would not entirely eliminate the risk of other people entering the cars in races in which we were not competing. | ||