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).
Car's modifications and race preparations in 1936 for Le Mans and the Ulster Tourist Trophy.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 90a\6\ Scan207 | |
| Date | 11th February 1941 | |
| - 4 - behind Hall. Dixon won by 73 seconds. After the race Hall again took his car to Shelsley, and clocked 46 4/5 seconds, again winning his class. 1936. In 1936, the 4 1/4 litre engine was fitted to the car, and also an entirely new body, which Mr. Hall had built independently. The power output was improved to 166 h.p. Hall asked if he could run his car at Le Mans this year, and this was agreed to, since a 24 hour race is much more suitable for a big car than the Tourist Trophy, and further-more it provides an opportunity for demonstrating stamina. The major modifications made for Le Mans, were a 32 gallon petrol tank, an automatic oil feed to the sump, controlled by a float needle, and a larger reserve oil tank fitted to the dashboard. An endurance run was actually carried out on the Test bed with the engine, for 24 hours at full throttle, developing 160 brake h.p. It was agreed that such a test would be more severe than the race conditions themselves. As prepared for the race, the car had a maximum road speed of about 120 m.p.h. The car was in France near the course ready for the race, when the event was postponed due to French labour troubles. The car was brought back again and ran in the 1936 Ulster Tourist Trophy Race. The main modification made to the car between its visit to Le Mans, and its trip to Ulster, was the fitting of a 48 gallon petrol tank to enable the car to complete the course without a stop. A large number of experiments were carried out on tyre sizes to ensure that a size would be selected that would enable the car to run through the race without a tyre change. 6.50 x 19.0 India tyres were finally selected. The race was particularly interesting because there were no less than eleven cars entered in the over 3,000 cc. class, and these included a 3.3 Bugatti and six 3 1/2 litre Delahayes, not to mention three B.M.W's in the 2 litre class. The respective track and wheel bases of the Bentley and its competitors are shown in the following comparison :- (continued) | ||