53 replies to this topic

[Doug Nye]

Perhaps a daft question - but I became embroiled in a conversation earlier today which brought up memories of the Marina-Rolls-Royce V8 sports-racing car. Remember that? Pondering on R-R's low-key approach to the rather undignified and scruffiah business of motor sport it might be interesting to consider the marque's greatest sporting achievement?

What are the candidates? London-Edinburgh - first Tourist Trophy - Spanish GP? - London-to-Sydney Marathon - or wot????

DCN

[petefenelon]

The bottom end of the Vanwall engine?

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Perhaps a daft question - but I became embroiled in a conversation earlier today which brought up memories of the Marina-Rolls-Royce V8 sports-racing car. Remember that?
DCN

The Marina spent ages up for sale - I think Chris Alford or possibly Malcolm Elder - but for an obscure mongrel it was advertised at a daft price, about 60 grand I think! I haven't seen it advertised for ages, so I assume it's found a new home....

[Gerr]

Has to be the Schneider Trophy Races.

And they won Reno (again) last year.

[Ray Bell]

Mrs. Brown's repeated finishes in '50s (and '60s?) Round Australia trials?

In her 1920s Roller, of course...

[dbw]

how 'bout the battle of britian?....

on the automotive front i think it has to be london-edinburgh....a whole generation of gentleman's cars rode on the back of that one....scruffish indeed!

[m.tanney]

In automobile racing, I would think it would be C.S. Rolls' victory in the 1906 Tourist trophy.

Then there's the land speed records set by Sir Malcolm Campbell (1935) and George Eyston (1937 and 1938).

R-R's greatest successes may have been on water. The factory supported successful water speed record attempts by Segrave and Don with the Miss Englands, II and III, and by Sir Malcolm's Bluebird hydroplanes. It also backed Bob Hayward's three consecutive Harmsworth Trophy wins (1959-1961) with the Miss Supertest III. Non-works Merlins and Griffons were the mainstay of unlimited hydroplane racing for 35 years, and are still the engines of choice for unlimited air racing.

A few years back, a man named Robert Neal published a book about the sporting achievements of Packard motors. A similar volume about Roll-Royce would make a good read.

[Felix Muelas]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
...the marque's greatest sporting achievement?...- Spanish GP?

Any of them EXCEPT the so-called Spanish Grand Prix (1913) !

I have taken a look at the times when we have mentioned the Guadarrama race and I see that in all of them we (and I am guilty too) have simply ignored some basic facts that might be of interest now.

To start of with, there was never a Spanish Grand Prix in 1913. The official name of the race was "I Gran Premio del RACE" (RACE in this context being the acronym for Real Automovil Club de España, you all are probably capable of understanding what that means...).

Purely for political reasons, and once the era of both Lasarte and the Penya Rhin´s organised Grand Prix -some of them as Spanish Grand Prix- was over, it was a mater for the RACE as owner of the Jarama track AND organizer of the Spanish Grand Prix in alternative years to Montjuich to decide to RENUMBER the Spanish Grand Prix from the early days. I think I remember that the OTHER organizer of F1 races in the seventies, the RACC (Real Automovil Club de Cataluña) refused to accept the renumbering, and there was never a roman number in their poasters advertising the Spanish Grand Prix to be held in Montjuich.

Not strangely, but actually a complete joke tolerated probably because the memories of the Guadarrama race had long gone, there was suddenly a I Spanish Gran Prix "in lieu" of the "I Gran Premio del RACE".

Of course the race did bear no relation whatsoever with the rules of the time regarding a Grand Prix, so some have concluded that it was a sporstcar event. Well, um... it was, but under some very specific rules drafted by the organizers themselves that not only left some of the potential contenders out of the possibility of entering and competing -a minimum weight that was only attainable in the big luxury cars of the time- but also generated at the time some protests!

To minimal avail, including a picture of a Ford T ridiculously "overballasted" that was published in the Press for the public to look at how a Ford T would look if it was to comply with the rules imposed...

As it is known, after 273 kms of competition (3 laps of the track), the official results were as follows

Winner : Rolls Royce 40 HP nº16 , driver Carlos de Salamanca 3h, 34' 11'' 4/10.

He was awarded the following prizes (thanks to Gustavo Morales for the info) :
- Copa de Su Majestad el Rey as overall winner
- Copa del Ayuntamiento de Madrid as winner of the Category 5
- Copas del Presidente del RACE (Conde de Peñalver) and of the Duque de Zaragoza, for the fastest lap of the race (1h 10' 43'')
- Plus what can only be described as an extremelly generous cash prize of 20,000 pesetas

Second came the Marqués de Aulencia, driving a 40 CV Lorraine Dietrich (1912 model) bearing number 14 and actually the only representative of that make in the race. He arrived only 2 minutes 52 seconds after Salamanca with an overall time of 3h 37' 03'' 8/10. He was awarded the "Copa de Su Alteza Real la Infanta Isabel" and 5,000 pesetas as cash prize.
Curiously enough he was also awarded the "Copa Desmarais" for car with the less fuel consumption (relative but not sure if to cubic capacity or to horsepower) with 22.5 litres for each 100 kms.

Third was another Rolls, similar to the winner. He carried also number 3 and was driven by Mr. George E. Planford, obviously the "team mate" of Salamanca. His race took 3h 39' 55'' 6/10 to complete, and he also received the "Copa del Infante Don Carlos". Very well deserved too

Fourth was car number 15, a 35CV eight V cylinder De Dion Bouton driven by the Marqués de D'Avaray (3h 39' 43'' 4/10). He was awardedthe "Copa Mestre Blatgé" and the "Copa de Clavileño" (a very well known, at the time, fuel brand).

Fifth was Julio Labayen with a 20CV Panhard Levassor Sport. Its engine, a SS (Sans Soupapes, no valves) was a 4,360cc (Category 3 as opposed, for instance to the Rolls, a 7,428cc engine) and proved a good choice as Labayen had a wonderful first two laps where he was faster than both D'Avaray and even Platford -the public reportedly was enjoying his driving- but something happened on lap three as his times increased by about nine minutes and he ended up in fifth spot with an overall time of 3h 50' 56'' 8/10. Just because some might enjoy the detail Labayen was carrying number 13...

Rest of classification was as follows:

6th : Marqués de Ugena with a 30CV Teophile Schneider carrying number 2 - 4h 7' 50'' 8/10
7th : Conde de Patilla with a Minerva nº 20 - 4h 8' 22'' 4/10
8th : Señor Santibáñez with a Panhard Levassor nº8 -4h 18' 18'' 8/10.
9th : Duque de Zaragoza, Mercedes nº7, 4h 19' 57'' 4/10.
10th : Señor Román Manzano, Opel nº9, 4h 55' 32'' 8/10
11th : Señor García Ocaña, Delaunay Belleville nº10 - 5h 2' 25'' 6/10

I hope this info is of some use ;)

PS : This Carlos de Salamanca, Marqués de Salamanca, had a name that should have granted an entry on one of those lists that Hon David McKinney ;) compiled in one thread some time ago...here it goes: Don Carlos de Salamanca Hurtado de Zaldivar (5th Conde de Zaldivar, 4th Conde de los Llanos and -only- 3rd Marqués de Salamanca

[dolomite]

Originally posted by m.tanney
In automobile racing, I would think it would be C.S. Rolls' victory in the 1906 Tourist trophy.

Then there's the land speed records set by Sir Malcolm Campbell (1935) and George Eyston (1937 and 1938).

R-R's greatest successes may have been on water. The factory supported successful water speed record attempts by Segrave and Don with the Miss Englands, II and III, and by Sir Malcolm's Bluebird hydroplanes. It also backed Bob Hayward's three consecutive Harmsworth Trophy wins (1959-1961) with the Miss Supertest III. Non-works Merlins and Griffons were the mainstay of unlimited hydroplane racing for 35 years, and are still the engines of choice for unlimited air racing.

A few years back, a man named Robert Neal published a book about the sporting achievements of Packard motors. A similar volume about Roll-Royce would make a good read.

For a period during the '30's, I believe, Rolls-Royce engined vehicles held the world speed records on land, sea and air simultaneously.

The Schneider trophy wins of 1929 and 1931 I think also deserve a mention.

[Marcor]

During the BARC 1921 Summer Meeting, A. D. Sanderson, driving a Rolls Royce, won th 75 mph short handicap. Not really a great success, but it had to be reported.

Felix, thanks for the info about the race in Spain:
here's what I knew about it before your post (no report, just some rough results)
15 Juin 1913, Guadarrama, 3 laps
20 entries, 17 starters

1- Carlos de Salamanca (Rolls Royce)
2- Marquis de Aulencia (Lorraine-Dietrich 40 HP)
3- G.E. Platford (Rolls Royce)
4- Marquis d'Avaray (de Dion Bouton)
5- Julien Labayen (Panhard-Levassor)
6- Marqué de Ugena (Th. Schneider)
7- Comte de Padilla (Minerva)
8- ? (Panhard-Levassor)
9- ?
10- Juan R. Manzano (Opel)
11- ?

11 finishers

DNF (lap 1)
Humber
Clement Talbot
de Dion Bouton
Thomas Schneider

DNF (lap2)
Panhard-Levassor
de Dion Bouton

DNS (crash during practice)- Rigal (Sunbeam)
DNS (crash during practice)- Lucien Saunicon.

My sources are in French (and explain why some first names or titles are frenchified)?

[m.tanney]

Originally posted by dolomite
For a period during the '30's, I believe, Rolls-Royce engined vehicles held the world speed records on land, sea and air simultaneously.

The Schneider trophy wins of 1929 and 1931 I think also deserve a mention.

  The only reason I didn't mention the Schneider trophy in my first message was that Gerr already had. It was a remarkable achievement, given that it was such a fierce cometition between nations.
  Britain held all three speed records, at times, during the early 'thirties, but not Rolls-Royce.
  From Sept 12, 1929 to April 10, 1933 the air speed record was held by R-R engined Supermarine Schneider Trophy racers.
  Britain held the land speed record from March 11, 1929 (Segrave, Golden Arrow) until August 5, 1963 (Breedlove, Spirit of America). But it was not until March 7, 1935 that the LSR was held by a Roll-Royce engined car - the final version of Campbell's Bluebird. Campbell's last record was surpassed by Eyston in the R-R powered Thunderbolt, which eventually ceded it to John Cobb's Napier-Railton.
  From 1930 to 1932, the Rolls powered Miss Englands swapped the water speed record back and forth with Gar Wood's Packard engined Miss Americas. Wood's 126.32 mph held until 1937 when Campbell surpassed it with his Rolls-Royce powered Bluebird K3. Campbell's final record, set with the K4, held until 1950.
  During the three periods from '30 to '32 when the WSR was held by one of the Miss Englands, Britain had all three speed records. Roll-Royce had both the water and air speed records, but not the land speed record, which was held by Napier-powered cars from 1929-1935.

[dbw]

curtiss-wright,lycoming,cosworth,coventry climax..[even honda]..wonderful engines all...but engines only. i do believe the question refers to a complete RR automobile in competion....

anyone?

[dolomite]

Originally posted by m.tanney


The only reason I didn't mention the Schneider trophy in my first message was that Gerr already had.

Ok, sorry, I missed that

It was a remarkable achievement, given that it was such a fierce cometition between nations.
Britain held all three speed records, at times, during the early 'thirties, but not Rolls-Royce.
From Sept 12, 1929 to April 10, 1933 the air speed record was held by R-R engined Supermarine Schneider Trophy racers.
Britain held the land speed record from March 11, 1929 (Segrave, Golden Arrow) until August 5, 1963 (Breedlove, Spirit of America). But it was not until March 7, 1935 that the LSR was held by a Roll-Royce engined car - the final version of Campbell's Bluebird. Campbell's last record was surpassed by Eyston in the R-R powered Thunderbolt, which eventually ceded it to John Cobb's Napier-Railton.
From 1930 to 1932, the Rolls powered Miss Englands swapped the water speed record back and forth with Gar Wood's Packard engined Miss Americas. Wood's 126.32 mph held until 1937 when Campbell surpassed it with his Rolls-Royce powered Bluebird K3. Campbell's final record, set with the K4, held until 1950.
During the three periods from '30 to '32 when the WSR was held by one of the Miss Englands, Britain had all three speed records. Roll-Royce had both the water and air speed records, but not the land speed record, which was held by Napier-powered cars from 1929-1935.

You're right, I think it was the records being held by Britain that I was thinking of.
Bluebird was re-engined with the Rolls-Royce 'R' in 1932 and in this form raised the LSR to 272.464 mph on 22 February 1933. So there was also a short period where R-R held the land and air speed records simultaneously.

[bill moffat]

has to be rallying. The redoubtable Mrs Brown finishing 5th in the 1957 Ampol Rally or how about Bill Bengry with his Silver Shadow in the '70 World Cup rally (exhaust over the roof dear boy).

Many many years ago was there not a rumour that RR would build a Can Am contender..or is that where the Marina RR fits in ?

[bill moffat]

Originally posted by petefenelon
The bottom end of the Vanwall engine?

Or (dare I say it) their contribution to the BRM V16 ?

[Peter]

Buying out Bentley in 1931 and (nearly) killing of one of the gratest sporting car marques ever!

It took the separation of Bentley from RR to get them back to their winning ways at le Mans!!!

[VAR1016]

One might add the Alpine Trials - Jimmy Radley's failure was converted the next year (1913 I think)into an overwhelming success.

However I'd go along with the Schneider Trophy - despite Basil Johnson's efforts .

PdeRL

[quintin cloud]

Originally posted by Marcor
During the BARC 1921 Summer Meeting, A. D. Sanderson, driving a Rolls Royce, won th 75 mph short handicap. Not really a great success, but it had to be reported.

Felix, thanks for the info about the race in Spain:
here's what I knew about it before your post (no report, just some rough results)
15 Juin 1913, Guadarrama, 3 laps
20 entries, 17 starters

1- Carlos de Salamanca (Rolls Royce)
2- Marquis de Aulencia (Lorraine-Dietrich 40 HP)
3- G.E. Platford (Rolls Royce)
4- Marquis d'Avaray (de Dion Bouton)
5- Julien Labayen (Panhard-Levassor)
6- Marqué de Ugena (Th. Schneider)
7- Comte de Padilla (Minerva)
8- ? (Panhard-Levassor)
9- ?
10- Juan R. Manzano (Opel)
11- ?

11 finishers

DNF (lap 1)
Humber
Clement Talbot
de Dion Bouton
Thomas Schneider

DNF (lap2)
Panhard-Levassor
de Dion Bouton

DNS (crash during practice)- Rigal (Sunbeam)
DNS (crash during practice)- Lucien Saunicon.

My sources are in French (and explain why some first names or titles are frenchified)?

Thanks marcor for result

[Felix Muelas]

Quintin, my dear, if you are going to incorporate some of those results into your website, PLEASE use the original Spanish spellings on the names, as any other imaginative recreation (as Marcor has perfectly recognized as a "frenchification") would only serve to confuse future readers.

[m.tanney]

Originally posted by dolomite
You're right, I think it was the records being held by Britain that I was thinking of.
Bluebird was re-engined with the Rolls-Royce 'R' in 1932 and in this form raised the LSR to 272.464 mph on 22 February 1933. So there was also a short period where R-R held the land and air speed records simultaneously.

  You're absolutely right, Dolomite. I'd forgotten that the Rolls-Royce "R" went into Bluebird before it's final revision by the very talented Mr. Railton (yet another good subject in search of a biographer).
  Even if R-R didn't hold all three records at once, it was still a remarkably successful period for them, and for Britain.

[Catalina Park]

GREATEST ROLLS-ROYCE SPORTING ACHIEVEMENT?

The Battle of Britain!

[Doug Nye]

I thought that to be 'a sport' it had to have rules????

DCN

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
I thought that to be 'a sport' it had to have rules????

DCN

Doug,

Do the Geneva Conventions count??

PdeRL

[Doug Nye]

Only if the participants recognise them.... Camp Delta for instance?????? -

DCN

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Doug Nye
Only if the participants recognise them.... Camp Delta for instance?????? -

DCN

Yes of course; I was being a little flippant; the Battle of Britain does not count.

PdeRL

[Henk]

Originally posted by VAR1016
.........the Battle of Britain does not count.

What about 1960?



RR-engined Austin Champ provides the winning mount for the first British Army Driving Championship at Borden, Hampshire.

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Henk

What about 1960?



RR-engined Austin Champ provides the winning mount for the first British Army Driving Championship at Borden, Hampshire.

I have to say, that's fair enough!

PdeRL

[Roger Clark]

Do Eddie Hall's achievements count?

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Roger Clark
Do Eddie Hall's achievements count?

That's a fair question: I usually save those for people who take the mickey out of the "Silent Sportscar".

PdeRL

[Eric McLoughlin]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Richard Noble's achievements in Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC - powered by Rolls Royce Avons and Rolls Royce Speys repectively. Surely the greatest LSR achievements of all time.

[Henk]

The one and only world record that R-R desired.….



(We broke the record in 1921, but R-R’s reputation for reliability wasn’t affected).

[VAR1016]

Originally posted by Henk
The one and only world record that R-R desired.….



(We broke the record in 1921, but R-R’s reputation for reliability wasn’t affected).

who's "We"? - and fourteen years is a long time in motoring!
PdeRL

[quintin cloud]

Originally posted by Felix Muelas
Quintin, my dear, if you are going to incorporate some of those results into your website, PLEASE use the original Spanish spellings on the names, as any other imaginative recreation (as Marcor has perfectly recognized as a "frenchification") would only serve to confuse future readers.

Well That is what I am going to do, I do list the race result but only the first six finishers.

[dmj]

Originally posted by VAR1016


who's "We"? - and fourteen years is a long time in motoring!
PdeRL

IIRC Minerva is the subject of Henk's special interest so I'd suppose he reffered to it... But I can't be sure, of course....

[Henk]

WE = DUTCH =

[karlcars]

A small toot on my horn: This author has written a biography of Reid Railton which appeared in Volume 7, Number 4 of Automobile Quarterly.

And in Austria last week -- of all places -- I saw one of the Arab sports cars that Railton designed.

[Gav Astill]

A bit of a late entry this but here goes - Barry Lee (multiple "World" HotRod Champion) racing a Silver Shadow in quarter mile English Hot Rod races in the late 70's !!!

Or am I the only one who remembers watching this on ITV 'World of Sport' ?

Also did Tony Kitchiner ever complete his R-R V8 engined Kitchiner K8 F5000 car? - I know it was never raced in championship F5000 races, as he (or his driver, Gordon Spice) campaigned the Kitchmac-Chevrolet instead in 1972.

Finally has anyone got any more info, especially competition history, on the Marina. All I know is that it was built by Alan Mann Racing (as was Chitty-Bang-Bang!), and it put in numerous appearances in Chris Alford's ads.

cheers,

G.

[D-Type]

I must have missed this first time around (or maybe I just kept my big mouth shut!)

The finest Rolls Royce sporting achievment must be the 1906 TT. There's no if's or but's - they won it fair and square,

As for Rolls Royce engined successes, it's not so easy as there are so many. Personally, I feel the efforts of Richard Noble and Andy Green with Thrust 2 and Thrust SSC don't get the recognition they deserve.
Also the efforts of the American powerboat racers with RR Merlin and RR Griffon (Griffin?) powered boats, including Bill Muncey, Ron Musson, and Dean Chenoweth. (See David Tremayne's "Racers Apart" for further details)

And finally there's the character I read about today whilst browsing through the magazines on a station bookstall. He is hoping to set long distance records with a Rolls Royce Meteor powered car (A Meteor is a road going, i.e. tank, version of the Merlin with a less "single speed" power/torque band.) If he succeeds in getting sponsorship and suitable tyres, he'll be a contender.

[stuartbrs]

The Mini Cooper S crankshaft!!

[Rob29]

Just found this thread. What does not seem to have been mentioned is that it has always been Rolls Royce policy NOT to participate in motor sport. I seem to remember reading how thay were blackmailed? into providing engines for the Schneider Trophy planes.
Re.GP de RACE not being the 'Spanish GP' where does that leave GP de ACF?

[Evo One]

Originally posted by Rob29
Just found this thread. What does not seem to have been mentioned is that it has always been Rolls Royce policy NOT to participate in motor sport. I seem to remember reading how thay were blackmailed? into providing engines for the Schneider Trophy planes.
Re.GP de RACE not being the 'Spanish GP' where does that leave GP de ACF?

This is incorrect.

Rolls-Royce was not blackmailed into providing the Schneider Trophy engines.

Basil Johnson, then MD of R-R it is true, did not want to take part, but Royce, Hives, Elliott etc., did and the Air Ministry ordered Johnson to take on the job (I understand that the engineers at Derby were very pleased).

Later, Royce was angry with Johnson's attitude and he was "retired". He went to Bentley Motors, but when R-R took over, he was told that there was no job for him there.

PdeRL

EDIT: PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS VAR 1016 ON EVO ONE'S COMPUTER, AND NOT EVO ONE!!

[Felix Muelas]

Originally posted by Rob29
Re.GP de RACE not being the 'Spanish GP' where does that leave GP de ACF?

Rob,

I tried to be careful with my use of words in my post above.
OFFICIALLY the 1913 race is NOW known as the I Spanish Grand Prix BUT I thought such a fact deserved an explanation, which I tried to
;)

Of course I do not think the analogy with the ACF is pertinent, if only because of what I did explain about the Spanish race should leave small room for maneuvering

[Peter Morley]

Originally posted by petefenelon
The Marina spent ages up for sale - I think Chris Alford or possibly Malcolm Elder - but for an obscure mongrel it was advertised at a daft price, about 60 grand I think! I haven't seen it advertised for ages, so I assume it's found a new home....

Rod Tolhurst owned it for many years, it spent sometime here in the museum at Spa and (possibly after being advertised) went quiet for sometime.

Recently it has re-appeared being advertised by John Harper for 45 grand.

That hardly sounds expensive for what is (was?) at least an original car - a (fake) Cooper Monaco costs far more, even a good Formula Junior isn't so far off that price (and if it is a good Junior the engine (for starters) can't be original).

I just hope that the original Cooper elements haven't been robbed to produce another fake Cooper (of course that isn't likely to happen with Mr Harper looking after it)!

[Ian McKean]

Originally posted by Rob29
Just found this thread. What does not seem to have been mentioned is that it has always been Rolls Royce policy NOT to participate in motor sport. I seem to remember reading how thay were blackmailed? into providing engines for the Schneider Trophy planes.
Re.GP de RACE not being the 'Spanish GP' where does that leave GP de ACF?

Bill Bengry contacted them for help and advice while he was preparing the World Cup rally car and they were not helpful. But afterwards they were very keen to inspect the car especially to find out why the rear subframe had broken in three places. By the way, it wasn't Bill's idea to use the Rolls. The boss of Autobar Vending (who had never done a rally before) took that decision.

[Boniver]

AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

I,000 MILES MOTOR. VEHICLE TRIAL,

Which commenced in London on Monday, April 23rd, 1900 at 7 a.m. and terminated in London, on Saturday, May 12th, 1900.


Entries. -Eighty-three vehicles in the various classes were entered for the trials, but some of these were not completed, or from other causes did not appear at the time of the start on the morning of the 23rd of April. Sixty-five started, and with the exception of a few vehicles, most of which ought never to have started, all covered the whole or greater part of the course. The Analysis and the Tables given in the Appendix to the Report show the performance of all the vehicles which returned to London and were exhibited at the Crystal Palace.

All the vehicles were examined at the Agricultural Hall on Saturday and Sunday, the 21st and 22nd of April, by some of the judges, and stamped for identification in several places.

On their return to London, those of the vehicles which completed the whole tour were exhibited at the Crystal Palace, where they were re-examined for identification, and records were taken of the condition of the gear and other working parts.

The judges do not propose to enter into any detailed criticism of the performance, structure, and condition of the vehicles before and after the trial, as all these questions have been separately considered with respect to every car, and numerical value given to each in making the awards under the above headings; but they wish to draw attention to the extremely satisfactory progress which has been, and is being made in the construction not only of the carriages generally, but in the arrangement, accessibility, and workmanship, particularly in this country, of the transmission and other gear of many of them. Marked improvement has also to be noted in the carriage-builders' work of several Automobiles, the carriage builders having realised the possibility of and necessity for lightness of construction, combined with comfort and elegance. Aluminium has been used successfully in making these bodies, and the same metal has been largely employed in the fixed parts of' the machinery.

The reduction in weight which has been thus effected by some British Manufacturers has had a marked effect upon the hill-climbing powers and efficiency of the cars as a whole.

Speed in Controls. -The Rules for the 1,000 Miles Trial specially provided that a competitor should not drive his vehicle at a speed exceeding eight miles an hour through towns and villages, which were specially indicated in the Official Programme, and by. flags exhibited by timekeepers on the road side. An examination of the time sheets shows that, while some competitors have adhered scrupulously to the rules, and others have evidently adhered to the spirit of the rule by moderating their speed, but not sufficiently when passing through controls, on the other hand certain competitors have almost entirely disregarded the rules which were made to prevent the possibility of accidents or annoyance to the inhabitants of towns and villages situated on the route of the Trial.

The Judges' Committee, in order to mark their appreciation of the conduct of drivers who showed self-command and respect for the rules by proceeding at a very slow speed through controls, have, in making their awards, alloted marks in accordance with the behaviour within controls of the driver of each vehicle.

The following drivers are to be commanded for their adherence to the rule as to speed within controls.





The Hon. C. S. ROLLS (NO. A17)
93.22 out of a possible 100 marks.

The Driver of the New Orleans Car (NO. 28)
76.08 out of a possible 100 marks.

The Driver of the Brown Whitney Car (NO. 23)
74.64 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of Mr Mayhew’s Peugeot Car (NO. A29)
72.88 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of Mr Cordingley’s Car (NO. A23)
72.66 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of The Benz Ideal (NO. 2)
69.78 out of a possible 100 marks

Mr. Edge who drove Mr. Kennard’s Car (NO. A10)
69.41 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of The Marshall Carriage (NO. 24)
69.41 out of a possible 100 marks

[bill moffat]

Xmas and the New Year means Paris-Dakar time. Rolls Royce have been "represented" in this latter-day marathon.

Many years ago a Silver Shadow was entered under the (I think) Christian Dior banner. Quite a suitable sponsor considering the exclusivity of the marque etc. Only snag was that the "Roller" was a rather crude glassfibre replica sitting on a Jeep chassis. Not quite the image that Dior had in mind and the subject of much spilt perfume I believe.

[petefenelon]

Originally posted by Boniver

The Hon. C. S. ROLLS (NO. A17)
93.22 out of a possible 100 marks.

The Driver of the New Orleans Car (NO. 28)
76.08 out of a possible 100 marks.

The Driver of the Brown Whitney Car (NO. 23)
74.64 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of Mr Mayhew’s Peugeot Car (NO. A29)
72.88 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of Mr Cordingley’s Car (NO. A23)
72.66 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of The Benz Ideal (NO. 2)
69.78 out of a possible 100 marks

Mr. Edge who drove Mr. Kennard’s Car (NO. A10)
69.41 out of a possible 100 marks

The Driver of The Marshall Carriage (NO. 24)
69.41 out of a possible 100 marks

This is about the right level of publicity for drivers!

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by Marcor
During the BARC 1921 Summer Meeting, A. D. Sanderson, driving a Rolls Royce, won th 75 mph short handicap. Not really a great success, but it had to be reported.

Just found a picture of this beast in a book on Brooklands by PJ Wallace. It's captioned as a Silver Ghost and appears to be a standard car with the tonneau, running boards and wings removed. Must have been a handful on the banking ....

(I'd scan the picture, but the book is perfect bound and the spine will probably crack!)

[Coogar]

Er.....
Anybody remember the Swandean Spitfire Special ?
Don't know if it was successful, but it certainly got peoples' attention !
Does it count ?
And we won't even mention tractor pulling where Merlins seems to thrive nowadays......
Come to think of it though, they were probably Packard-built !

[Ray Bell]

They're cheap and available... no wonder they stick them in tractors...