Performance of an 18 HP Lanchester, comparing it to a demonstration model and commenting on the fluid flywheel.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 22\3\ Scan097 | |
| Date | 29th February 1932 | |
| X440. Hs {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} To Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Sg. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} re 18 HP Lanchester. Sg {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} 10/E29.2.32 Thanks for Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} 2/MJ.26.2.32 with report In order to prevent the possibility of any misunderstanding I should like to point out that I did not criticise the performance of the Lanchester as being poor for its type of car but pointed out that my impression was that this particular car was nothing like such as good car as the one we were given a demonstration on, and that speeds in excess of 60 were much more difficult to attain than on the demonstration car. As a matter of fact I thought its performance very good for its class of car but had no means of checking it with anything specific. I am very much interested to note that your full report agrees with most of my criticisms such as the car being unpleasant at speeds above 30 m.p.h. etc. On the question of the fluid flywheel I quite agree that, although we, who have been accustomed so long to the orthodox type of clutch, maydislike the fluid flywheel, nevertheless anybody who had never driven anything else would probably thoroughly disapprove of the orthodox clutch. I note that you and E. {Mr Elliott - Chief Engineer} have come to the conclusion that we ought to keep the car until we have learnt more about it. Sg. {Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} | ||
From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).