LAUNCING THE NEW BENTLEY.

LAUNCHING THE NEW BENTLEY.

THE announcement of the new 3.; litre Bentley was made under the most pleasant conditions during the course of a luncheon given in its honour at the Royal Ascot Hotel. Lord Herbert Scott of the Rolls-Royce Company, spoke of the care with which the new car had been evolved, while Mr. W. M. Cowen, the General Manager, gave some ideas of the aims which lay behind the design. It was to be a fast but silent car intended to transport four people in the highest degree of safety and comfort, either with open or closed bodies. A good performance had been secured without

harshness by scientific reduction of chassis weight, and the smoothness of the Bentley engine, in which a special design of cylinder-head enabled a high power-output to be obtained.

Mr. Sidgreaves, the Managing Director of the new Company, was unable to be present through illness. Captain Barnato, who was Chairman of the old Bentley concern, arrived with musical honours from his car radio, driving the eight litre car which crashed at Brooklands during last year’s 500 Mile Race, now converted into a saloon. “Mine Host” of the Royal Ascot Hotel

is of course John Fothergill, whose hotel, the “Spread Eagle” at Thame, was known all over England, and the luncheon and even the description of it on the menus maintained his reputation for the unusual.

After lunch trial runs were given on chassis bearing the standardised coachwork, and though the runs were of necessity short, they sufficed to show that the new cars had more than fulfilled the aims of the Bentley Company. The three types shown were open four-seaters by Vanden Plas, and four-door saloons and drop-head coupes by Park Ward.