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).
Comparison of the 3.3 Litre Bugatti, Bentley, and V.8 Ford, with notes on performance and design.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 11\5\ 05-page189 | |
| Date | 9th October 1934 | |
| -2- 3.3 Litre Bugatti. At the Paris Show we tried the 3.3 Bugatti, which is the direct competitor of the Bentley, being an unsupercharged car 10% smaller in displacement than the Bentley, and carrying slightly less commodious coachwork than the original Bentley body. It is an overhead camshaft straight eight engine. At the present moment the only two points where it competes with the Bentley are in price and performance. We understand from Sr. that it has slightly better top speed than the Bentley, and we can believe this. It has a solid engine mounting and no carburetter intake silencers, so that it is rougher and noisier than the Bentley. The solid engine mounting gives stability to the front end. Bentley Performance for French Conditions. Sr. tried our last 10,000 miles Bentley which had fitted Aerolite pistons and the 7 : 1 compression ratio head, and is of the opinion that the increased performance would enable him to compete with the Bugatti on even terms in this particular. Our opinion is that with these modifications there would still be a wide margin in favour of the Bentley with regard to silence and smoothness. We consider that these modifications should be standard for Continental Bentleys. Customers certainly seem to be more concerned with performance on the Continent than they are in England. Progressive Tendency to combine Body and Frame. We tried the V.8 Ford fitted with a Weymann Saloon body and pneumatic suspension. We were not impressed with the suspension, but one interesting feature was the remarkable amount of whip in the frame. This is due to the Ford car relying for a large part of its stiffness on its body, in consequence when a Weymann Saloon is fitted it becomes an impossible motor car. | ||