An event to recreate this amazing feat of driving has been organized by 20-Ghost and Royal Automobile Club member Nick Naismith. What’s more, the actual car which completed the original London to Edinburgh Trial in 1911, chassis No. 1701, will be on display at the Royal Automobile Club’s Pall Mall clubhouse from Monday 22 August until Monday 5 September, before being readied for the 799-mile round trip.
The story goes that in July of 1910, Claude Johnson, General Managing-Director of Rolls-Royce accepted a challenge laid down by rivals Napier - to drive the 799 miles from London to Edinburgh and back in top gear only, with four passengers and luggage, under RAC observation. The 65bhp Napier ‘Silver Bullet’ managed the feat with an average of fuel consumption of 19.3 mpg and a top speed of 76.42 mph at Brooklands.
But Jognson thought their Silver Ghosts had mode to offer. Despite only having 45 horsepower, No. 1701 smashed Napier’s record with an average fuel consumption of 24.3mpg and a top speed of 78.26mph over the flying half-mile.
“1911 was a very important year for Rolls-Royce. The Prince Henry Tour and the London to Edinburgh trial helped create the Silver Ghost’s reputation as ‘the best car in the world’. As the oldest Rolls-Royce club in the world, the 20-Ghost Club has been planning the re-enactment of the Prince Henry Tour and the London to Edinburgh trials for the past two years. The Royal Automobile Club has been very helpful with organization for the start of the London to Edinburgh event and kind enough to allow us the use of the Pall Mall clubhouse for the night before the trial,” Nick Naismith says about the re-enactment.
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