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).
Letter to 'The Autocar' editor discussing the racing performance of a 3.5-litre Rolls-Bentley in the 1930s.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0032 | |
| Date | 5th November 1940 | |
| Telephone : DINGLEY, 204. Station : MARKET HARBOROUGH. SUTTON BASSETT, MARKET HARBOROUGH. TCW/MD. 5th November, 1940. The Editor, The Autocar, Dorset House, Stamford Street, LONDON S.E.1. THIS LETTER WAS REPLACED BY LETTER FROM TOM AND SKETCH Sir, As a very satisfied owner of an early 3½ litre Rolls-Bentley, I have read with interest the correspondence relating to "vintage" 3-litre Bentley cars. Do we sometimes venerate the past to the exclusion of an appreciation of the present? It would be interesting to know however, whether any of these veterans had a record in their day which was comparable to that of the Rolls-Bentley chassis B-35-AE, owned by E.R. Hall, and run in the Tourist Trophy Races of 1934/5/6. On these three occasions the Bentley was the only one of it's type in the race and had to compete with teams of cars in the same class. On every occasion it was entered and run by the owner. In 1936 there were no less than eleven cars in the big car class, and five of these had a wheel base of only 8.9 ft. against the Bentley's 10.5 ft. On every occasion on which it ran in the T.T. races, this car did the fastest time for the course. On the last two occasions, it completed the distance at an average speed of over 80 m.p.h. a record for any car, supercharged or unsupercharged. Considering that this was a private entry, functioning single-handed, it appears to me to be one of the most remarkable examples of reliability, coupled with performance, which has ever been achieved. It would be interesting to speculate how the legendary 8-litre Bentley, belonging to Lycette, would perform against this car of E.R. Hall's, over the T.T. course. One would be inclined to suggest that the superior road holding qualities of the modern 4¼-litre Bentley would outweigh the disparity in power ratio between the two. Yours faithfully, I.C. Wroth. | ||