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).
Mr. Hall's Bentley car and its performance in the Ulster Tourist Trophy Race.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 90a\6\ Scan204 | |
| Date | 11th February 1941 | |
| 19 Mr. Hall's Bentley Car. Ulster Tourist Trophy Race. Rolls-Royce Ltd., took over the Bentley Co., in 1931. The first model that they produced, which was designed and built in the Derby factory, was the 3 1/2 litre, which made its appearance on the market in 1933. Apart from the radiator badge and a family resemblance, this chassis had no feature in common with its predecessors. Towards the end of 1933, Mr. Hall purchased B.35.AE, one of the first 200 cars built, and took it over to Italy to use as a practice car for the Mille Miglia, in which he was driving an M.G. 1934. When he got back in May, he wrote us an enthusiastic letter saying that the Bentley had covered over 4,000 miles at racing speeds without any sort of trouble, and that he was very impressed with the average speeds which he was able to accomplish over tortuous mountain passes. Almost immediately afterwards, he asked our Managing Director whether he would allow him to run his Bentley in the Ulster Tourist Trophy Race, which took place in September 1934. Although Mr. Hall had never previously won this race, he had competed in it every year that it had been held in Ireland since 1928. So the Managing Director asked the Technical Dept., their views on the wisdom of such a procedure. Since 1906, when a Rolls-Royce won the Tourist Trophy Race in the Isle of Man at a speed of 39.6 m.p.h., no car produced by the company had been entered for a race. The Ards circuit is not ideal for a big car, as it is an extremely tortuous course; further-more the race is run on handicap. The fact that the course does not suit a big car, can be deduced from the result of the 1929 and 1930 races. In the first of these, the old Bentley Co., entered five cars, and in the second four cars, and on neither occasion did any of their entries succeed in finishing in the first three. This was at the height of their racing career, since in these same years, they twice won at Le Mans. Their speed for 24 hours at Le Mans in 1929, was 73.5 m.p.h., no less than 4 m.p.h., faster than the (continued) Handwritten text (top right): 262 Handwritten text (right margin): Grand Prix run this 1st Gneichen* but corrected. An Alpine Eagle won the 1913 & 1914. Don Carlos Salamanca Shamel. | ||