ROLLS V8 RETIRED
Environmental demands end historic British engine’s 60-year production
The British-built, allaluminium 6.75-litre Rolls-Royce- L- Series (L410) V8 is to be phased out after 60 years of continuous production. Its legacy as the longestserving V8 in history is considerable, beating the Chevrolet small-block produced between 1954 and 2003.
Reaction to the news has been cool; Grainger and Worrall – which cast the engine blocks in Bridgnorth, Shropshire, before sending them to Crewe for assembly – did not wish to comment.
EU7 emissions requirements have prompted Bentley, the only remaining user of the historic engine, to discontinue the V8 after the last of 30 Mulsanne ‘6.75 Edition’ models have been sold, to be replaced by the Flying Spur.
Bentley’s head of communications, Mike Sayer, said: ‘All of our other models already have an appropriate engine. Our focus is now on developing hybrid powertrains alongside our existing W12 and 4.0-litre V8 options as the company focuses on its objective to deliver hybrid powertrains across all Bentley models lines by 2023.’
The L- Series began life as a 6.2 in 1959, but emerged as a 6.75 nine years later. It was turbocharged for the first time in 1982, received changes to its firing order in 1987 and was heavily updated from 1998 when it powered the Bentley Arnage Red Label.
Volkswagen Group, which has been custodian of the marque since 1998, funded a considerable round of updates to the L- Series for the Arnage Red Label to get it under the bonnet of the then-new car, which up until that point had used a 4.4-litre BMW V8. Rolls-Royce’s cars almost whollyadopted German engines under BMW’s wing, but the Corniche V, the last Rolls to be built in Crewe, used a turbocharged L- Series until 2003.
Extensive changes for the 2009-series Mulsanne left it with a new valvetrain, pistons, heads, conrods and crank; power and torque have almost tripled over the original 6.2, which itself was built to give a 50 per cent increase in power and torque over the straight-six it replaced. The L- Series fits no other Bentley apart from the current Mulsanne, which is discontinued later this year.
Enthusiasts and specialists who support classics using the L- Series have acknowledged that the engine’s time has come.
Daniel Moore, of Bentley and Rolls specialist, Daniel Moore and Co., said: ‘It’s time to let the L- Series go. It’s done its bit, but with climate change issues, we need to look to the future.
‘People view V8 cars differently, now. I have customers whose cars have been vandalised just because they were idling in the street, and we don’t need that. We have the skills and parts to keep the remaining V8s running forever, and while it isn’t being replaced by a British V8, Bentley is no longer a British company.’
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