The cockpit was located very far aft, just in front of the vertical stabilizer, in order to give the racing pilot better vision while making crowded pylon turns.

There were lots of things we might have adjusted more properly if we had had time to run tests with the ship, and they would have meant more speed.

"[5] He also personally wrote Zantford "Grannie" Granville a letter dated September 7, 1932, on Shell Petroleum stationery and addressed to Granville Brothers Aircraft, which reads as follows: Dear Grannie: Just a note to tell you that the big G. B. functioned perfectly in both the Thompson Trophy and the Shell Speed Dash.

You couldn’t let your hand off the stick for an instant, and I didn’t know how much angle of bank would be safe when making pylon turns.”[7] The R-1 rapidly acquired a reputation as a dangerous aircraft.

During takeoff from a refueling stop in Indianapolis, Indiana, Boardman pulled up too soon, stalled the R-1 and crashed.

on the cowl for intestinal fortitude and the same cartoon "Filaloola Bird" was painted on the side of the fuselage as it was on their successful Model YW.

This aircraft crashed in a landing overrun incident soon after it was built, but Roy Minor, the pilot, was not severely injured.

The unrepaired Long Tail Racer was sold to Cecil Allen before the sheriff's bankruptcy auction ended the Granville Brothers company.

Allen renamed the ship "Spirit of Right", built an entirely new wing with a different airfoil and added a new rear fuel tank for the long distance Bendix race.

In 1935 Allen started the 2,043 mi (3,288 km), Burbank to Cleveland Bendix Trophy race with all tanks full, wallowed off into the morning fog, crashed in a field just beyond the runway and was killed instantly.

[16]General characteristics Performance The 1932 R-2 was identical to the 1932 R-1 except that it used a smaller 550 hp (410 kW) Pratt & Whitney Wasp Junior (R-985) nine cylinder radial powerplant, with a narrower engine cowling, as the aircraft was intended primarily as a cross-country racer with a larger fuel capacity of 302 US gal (1,140 L; 251 imp gal) to increase the distance between fuel stops.