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).
Suitability of Ethyl petrol for their engines, especially the Bentley.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 150\1\ scan0127 | |
Date | 29th June 1936 | |
W/S - C. X1282 Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}20/KW.29.6.36. Ethyl Petrol. Referring to C.1/C.17.6.36, I discussed the matter of fuels with Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} the last time he was at Derby. I pointed out that we had undertaken a considerable amount of research to make our engines suitable for Ethyl petrol. The 4¼ litre, the 25/30 HP. and the Ph.III have special provision made to make them suitable for lead. The reason we went to all this trouble was because Ethyl is definitely a far better petrol than any No.1 spirit; in fact No.1 spirit at present has no right to first place. The Bentley in particular is specifically intended to run on Ethyl because after all this fuel is universally available and if we ignore the effort that the petrol companies made to give us a good anti-knock spirit, we shall have to reduce the performance of the car. After all, no-one expects to feed a race-horse on bran. I expect you will be told frequently by customers that Ethyl is terrible stuff and that it has ruined the engines in other cars that they have had. The point is that the average English motor car manufacturer is only just learning how to make an engine suitable for Ethyl, whereas owing to our aircraft experience we are 18 months to 2 years ahead of them in this respect. In view of the above, we are in favour of pointing out that if the Bentley is not run on Ethyl, or some spirit that has a similar knock rating, the car will not give its optimum performance. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||