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).
Page from 'The Motor' magazine featuring reader letters on the performance of B.M.W. and Bentley cars, and articles on the history of furious driving.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0138 | |
| Date | 15th January 1941 | |
| January 15, 1941. 537 The Motor The Type 328 B.M.W. I WOULD like to refer to the extract published from W. C. Norton's letter in "V.B.I." (The Motor, December 11). It is not a very important matter, but I think his comments are apt to create a false impression. If there is one sports car which in peace-time is famous for its high performance but can run without any difficulty on Pool petrol it is the Type 328 Frazer-Nash-B.M.W. It is certainly quite unnecessary, although Mr. Norton may have his own particular reasons for so doing, to put this model away until "petrol of reasonable octane value" can again be obtained. Many of our Type 328 owners, and numerous owners of the Type 327 which has a similar engine, are running their cars to-day on Pool—there is no necessity even to retard the ignition, alter carburation or make any adjustments. W. H.{Arthur M. Hanbury - Head Complaints} ALDINGTON. Isleworth, Middlesex. and its comparison with other potent motors, but one which has not been mentioned and which could give Mr. Lycett's car a good run is "Mike" Couper's modest Talbot. It is a Type 110 3,377 c.c. motor, giving 180 b.h.p. which works out at 31.25 b.h.p. per litre against the Talbot's 54 b.h.p. per litre. Brooklands is the only fair testing ground; there the Talbot does a standing lap at 104.85 m.p.h. and a flying lap at 129.7 m.p.h.—and that car was built in 1934. Could the Bentley lap at 130 m.p.h.? Mr. Couper uses the car as a road car and whenever entered for a Brooklands event it has covered a 40-mile journey to the track and then home again, and in doing so he has not been known to oil a plug! It has run through many rallies and has put 99.61 miles in the hour at an M.C.C. meeting. In all its running it has carried a four-seater body of ample proportions and has won races at as high an average as 119 m.p.h. I really think that when making claims for the Bentley or stating its performance one should bear in mind the 8,000 c.c. under the bonnet and pause to think of the performance of some, comparatively speaking, "baby" cars. I should like to add my best wishes for 1941 to the staff of The Motor and thank you for the excellent double-page Bugatti feature. DENIS S. JENKINSON. London, S.E.23. An Owner's Views of the Bentley I WAS very interested in the comparison between the 8-litre "Vintage" model Bentley and Hall's 3½-litre Bentley, in the correspondence columns (The Motor, December 18). It is difficult to believe that an unsupercharged 3½-litre car can possibly average 10 m.p.h. more over the T.T. course than a supercharged 4½-litre of the same make, and I am curious to know whether there is any technical explanation of the result. I have been running a 3½-litre Bentley for the past 18 months, and whilst I have never previously owned a car which could put up such excellent average speeds, I have never regarded this model as being exceptionally fast. In fact, I have always understood that since the company stopped racing at Le Mans, the policy had been to produce a car that was more comfortable than sporting. G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} ROBINSON. Holbeach Hurn, Lincs. Another Outstanding Performer IN The Motor, January 1, Mr. Clutton states of the 8-litre Bentley: "In sheer performance it leaves the rest behind." I agree that the performance of the Bentley is phenomenal, considering its age and the fact that it is used as a normal road motor, but please don't forget that there are 8-litres under the bonnet! There has been a great deal of correspondence on the Bentley performance "Furious Driving in 1864" I WAS amused by the pen-and-ink sketch of a furious driver of 1864 (The Motor, January 1), but it would be a mistake to suppose that reckless driving of horse-drawn vehicles was a product of mid-Victorian times. Until the coming of the railways put an end to long-distance horse transport, the turnpike roads of the good (?) old coaching days had been the scenes of indescribably reckless driving. Nor was sobriety an attribute of the professional stage-coach driver. Indeed, the nervous coaching was often a terrifying experience, and even the stout-hearted would reach their destination with a long-drawn sigh of relief. Passengers counted as so many cattle with proprietors and drivers engaged in driving a competitor off the road, or during the closing years when endeavouring to combat the encroachment of "steam." Nothing was permitted to stand in the way of rival drivers. Neck to neck, regardless of the state or width of the road, they would gallop in desperate races for their destination, or to be first at the narrow bridge at the bottom of a hill. Needless to say, overturnings were commonplace. A peer describing his journey to Edinburgh during William IV's reign, referring to the "unmerciful" speed of the flying coaches, went on to say that "this sort of travelling as well as wonderful was dangerous, and I was gravely advised to stay a day at York, as several passengers who had gone straight through had died from the rapidity of the motion." (To-day, even the two-mile-a-minute driver looks for greater consideration!) Such was the scandal of the "flying" coaches that a Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University forbade scholars and all persons connected with the institution patronizing them, and although pamphlets such as "The Danger of Travelling in Stage Coaches" or "A Grand Concern of England Explained," drawing attention to the evil, continued to appear from time to time, the complexities of the situation in late Georgian times appear to have been summed up to a nicety by a certain Dr. Whitaker, who remarked: "Under the old state and manners of the road it was not possible that more than one death could happen at once; but what, by any possibility, could take place analogous to a race betwixt two stage coaches in which the lives of 20 or 30 distressed and helpless individuals are at the mercy of two intoxicated brutes?" F.{Mr Friese} LYCETT. London, S.W.5. Jehu, the Furious Driver I FOUND the paragraphs and statistics under the heading "In Case You Didn't Know" (The Motor, January 1) most informative. With regard to furious driving, a much earlier reference than the one quoted is contained in 2 Kings, ch. 9. v.{VIENNA} 20, which reads: "And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously." Unless my memory is at fault, I believe a contributor to The Motor many years ago adopted the nom de plume of "Jehu." I hope you will give your readers more of these features from time to time, preferably limited to one page to facilitate cutting out and preserving any item of special interest. AN INTERESTED READER. London, W.4. A29 | ||