NO HEADLINE
Sir,
I was very interested in Mr. W. F. S. Wike’s outburst directed against. me in your March issue.
Actually, I am getting a little tired of him extolling the virtues of his 11.11.G. at the expense of other equally good num{ nes. What he conveniently (?) forgets about it is that the 9-h.p. I 1.1t.G. has :
(1) The ordinary Singer ” be Mans ” engine. No (had a:. he sneered at the Singer ” be Mans ” as a sports car.
(2) The equipment is light (e.g., cycletype raudgamards)soas to keep up the performance.
(3) Allaroad-tests refer to the springing as” unnecessarily hard.”
(4) I am sure everyone will agree that the dashboard does not befit a sports car.
(5) The brakes, which he praises so much, can be found on many massproduced cars. Thus the II.R.G. is just a plainer version of a Singer ” Le Mans. As to the Ford V-8 versus Mercury V-8 battle, I cannot do better than refer to ” The Autoear ” road-tests :— FORD V-8 :
1st gear … Maximum :18 m.p.h. 2nd „ 65 Top „ 84
Petrol consumption 17—20 m.p.g.
Weight … 27 cwt. MERCURY V-8 :
1st gear … Maximum 41 m.p.h. 2nd „ 72 namala Top }5 as
Petrol consumption … 17-20 m.p.g.
Weight. … 28 (-wt.
Maybe I was a little too outspoken regarding time Bentley versus S.S. (piestion, but we ii tVL r gat, the imromised 108 M.p.h. from im the 1939 overdrive Bentley, did we ? Also Cecil Clot ton did not seem very pleased with the Bentley in his ” Vintage-Modern ” artiele in the August 1940 issue.
The Mark V ” Corniche ” Bentley stm■aild be a marvellous car, but I arn Sorry to see that it hasn’t got a real radiator.
I was very pleased to see that K. N. lIutehtisomi pointed out that a lot of rubbish was turned out from continental car factories. The British felinity car has a marvellous engine and finish, and as soon as it gets better springing and steering, it will be leader of the world.
Many thanks for keeping MOTOR SPORT going, and making it so interesting. Why doesn’t Mr. Tubbs buy a super
charged Alta ? If he did, he would get a guaranteed 120 m.p.h. for only £575. I am, Yours etc.,
DAVID L. GANDHI.
Stockport. [The 1,100 c.c. II.R.G. has the threebearing engine, whereas the ” be Mans ” 9-h.p. Singer had a two-bearing crank. The H.R.G. has, in our opinion, better lines, and probably handles better and is higher-geared. Otherwise, we leave the argument to Singer and owners. The Corniche ” Bentley is considerably streamlined, NVItieil is probably why it ” lost. ” a real radiator.–Ed.]