Rolls-Royce V8
| Rolls Royce | |
|---|---|
 Rolls-Royce 20 hp V8 with legal limit structure
|
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| 20 hp V8 | |
| Production period: | 1905 |
| Class : | Upper class |
| Body versions : | Landaulet , touring car |
| Engines: |
Otto engine : 3.5 liters |
| Length: | 3607 mm |
| Width: | |
| Height: | |
| Wheelbase : | 2286-2692 mm |
| Empty weight : | 929 kg |
The Rolls-Royce V8 was built by Rolls-Royce in 1905 and was intended to rival the city's then popular electric cars .
Charles Rolls business partner Claude Johnson said there was a market for an internal combustion engine that could compete in the electric car market. For this purpose, it must run very quietly and be free of vibrations and smoke emissions. The engine should also be mounted under the car, so that the vehicle looks like a light city car, and must therefore be very flat. For this Henry Royce constructed a completely new engine, a V8 with a 90 ° cylinder angle, side-mounted valves, square design (bore × stroke = 82.55 mm × 82.55 mm) and consequently a displacement of 3535 cm³. In order to reduce smoke emissions, the loss of lubrication that was common at the time was replaced by closed pressure circulation lubrication. The engine output also had to be limited in order to ensure that the engine ran smoothly.
Two types of construction were proposed: a landaulet par excellence for the electric city car market and a legal limit that was limited in speed so that it would not exceed the British speed limit of 32 km / h at the time. The legal limit had a conventionally built-in machine in the front, but it sat under a very flat bonnet. Only one of the three V8s produced in total was sold, a legal limit with chassis number 40518 to Sir Alfred Hamsworth . This car was also later returned to the factory. All three V8s were then used as company cars for customer visits. Rolls ordered three more chassis for delivery in 1906, but there is no evidence that they were ever built.
This model really cannot be classified as a success. Nevertheless, Rolls-Royce learned from engine design for the later six-cylinder models that made Rolls-Royce so famous.
The V8 is the only Rolls-Royce model of which no copy has survived to this day.
literature
- David Culshaw, Peter Horrobin: The Complete Catalog of British Cars 1895-1975. New edition. Veloce Publishing plc., Dorchester 1997, ISBN 1-874105-93-6 .
Web links
- rrab.com about Rolls-Royce years 1904-1907 (accessed April 22, 2012)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Anthony Bird, Ian Hallows, Brendan James: The Rolls-Royce Motor Car and the Bentley since 1931. 6th revised edition. Batsford Books, London 2002, ISBN 0-7134-8749-6 .
- ↑ a b Michael H. Evans: In the Beginning. The Manchester Origins of Rolls-Royce (= Historical Series. Vol. 4). 2nd edition. Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust, Derby 2004, ISBN 1-87292-227-9 .
- ↑ Nick Georgano (Ed.): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 2: M - Z. Fitzroy Dearborn, Chicago IL et al. 2000, ISBN 1-579-58293-1 .