Sunbeam 3 litre Super Sports
Encyclopedia
The Sunbeam 3-litre is a heavy sports car introduced by Sunbeam in October 1924 at the London Motor Show, and was offered until 1930. It was seen at the time and subsequently as the retort of Louis Hervé Coatalen
Louis Coatalen
Louis Hervé Coatalen was a Breton automobile engineer.Coatalen was born in the Breton fishing town of Concarneau and went on to study engineering at the Ecole des Arts et Métiers at Cluny ....

, Sunbeam's energetic chief engineer, to the Bentley 3 Litre
Bentley 3 Litre
The 3 Litre was the sports car that put Bentley on the automotive map. It was a large car compared to the tiny, lightweight Bugattis then dominating racing, but its innovative technology and strength made up for its weight...

 which by then was beginning to make its mark, having won at Le Mans
24 Hours of Le Mans
The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the world's oldest sports car race in endurance racing, held annually since near the town of Le Mans, France. Commonly known as the Grand Prix of Endurance and Efficiency, race teams have to balance speed against the cars' ability to run for 24 hours without sustaining...

 earlier that year.

The Sunbeam's engine was of 2,920 cc, distributed between six cylinders. It featured inclined valves operated via easily adjustable tappet levers by two overhead camshafts, an important innovation at the time. The detailed design of the engine followed many of the principals of the engines which were gathering plaudits for the company on European racing circuits. The cylinder head and block were formed from a single casting which was then considered normal for high performance engines. One of the novel features of the engine was its use of dry-sump lubrication whereby engine oil was drawn from a tank positioned beside the engine.

The cylinder bores translated into a fiscal horse-power
Tax horsepower
The tax horsepower or taxable horsepower was an early system by which taxation rates for automobiles were reckoned in some European countries, such as Britain, Belgium, Germany, France, and Italy; some US states like Illinois charged license plate purchase and renewal fees for passenger...

 rating of 20.9 hp which under the system operating in the 1920s attracted an annual Road Fund Tax
Vehicle excise duty
Vehicle Excise Duty is a vehicle road use tax levied as an excise duty which must be paid for most types of vehicle which are to be used on the public roads in the United Kingdom...

 of £21. The big four cylinder engines of the competitor vehicles from Bentley incurred an annual Road Fund Tax
Vehicle excise duty
Vehicle Excise Duty is a vehicle road use tax levied as an excise duty which must be paid for most types of vehicle which are to be used on the public roads in the United Kingdom...

 of £16. The difference of £5 might be considered immaterial for anyone who could afford to purchase and run a car of this type, but £5 was at the time more than the average weekly wage in Britain, so the annual saving to the Bentley buyer may well have been significant even in this class.

The Bentley gained a reputation as the more robust of the two cars, although in standard form the Sunbeam was reported to be marginally quicker. Two Sunbeams were entered in the 1925 Le Mans
1925 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1925 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 3rd Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on June 20 and 21 1925.For this race, the start was actually held on the Mulsanne Straight, instead of in its traditional location following Maison Blanche....

, one driven by Henry Segrave
Henry Segrave
-External links:* * * * *...

 and George Duller, the other by Jean Chassagne
Jean Chassagne
Jean Chassagne was a French racecar driver active in the years surrounding World War I. Chassagne finished third in the 1913 French Grand Prix on a Sunbeam...

 and Sammy Davis. Segrave and Duller were forced to retire but Chassagne and Davis achieved second place, beaten only by the Lorraine-Dietrich
Lorraine-Dietrich
Lorraine-Dietrich was a French automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer from 1896 until 1935, created when railway locomotive manufacturer Société Lorraine des Anciens Etablissments de Dietrich and Cie branched into the manufacture of automobiles...

 of Rossignol
André Rossignol
André Rossignol was a French racing driver who became the first driver to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans twice, winning in consecutive years. Rossignol was a driver for the French Lorraine-Dietrich automobile company, and had been on their driving team since the inaugural Le Mans in...

 and de Courcelles
Gérard de Courcelles
Gérard de Courcelles was a French racing driver who won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the French Lorraine-Dietrich automobile company, along with teammate André Rossignol. Previously, De Courcelles had driven cyclecars in Grands Prix, but was eventually hired by Lorraine-Dietrich to enter the...

. In retrospect the Sunbeam's achievement became eclipsed by the extent to which the race came to be dominated by Bentleys during the second half of the decade.

Although the sturdily constructed chassis was based on that from earlier Sunbeams, the hitherto characteristic semi-elliptical leaf springs were, at the back, replaced by cantilever rear springs which during the second half of the decade became a Sunbeam hallmark.
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