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).
The testing and modification of a Delage car, detailing issues with its weight, fuel consumption, and performance.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 21\4\ Scan042 | |
| Date | 28th February 1919 | |
| R.R. 235A (500 T) (S.D. 408. 28-4-17.) Bm. 2/156/13. To R.{Sir Henry Royce} from EH. c. to CJ? c. to F.{Mr Friese} c. to Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} ----------- X.3500- RE DELAGE CAR. EH3/LG.28.2.19. 28th February 1919. The Delage car is at present fitted with a 2-seater body with Dicky seat. It has a wind screen and hood. If we remove the hood the weight of the car with the usual spares but no passengers is 28½cwts, this means with passengers it would be a little over 30 cwts. It is going to be very difficult for us to reduce the weight now to 22 cwts. with passengers because I believe the chassis alone will very nearly weigh that. One reason why this car is very heavy is because it is a very long chassis. The wheel base is 136" or 18" longer than is proposed for the small 20 HP R.R. We have had the car on the road again and it is now going fairly well. It will do 45 M.P.H. on the level and 55 M.P.H.on a slight downward grade. The point we are in trouble with now is the enormous petrol consumption. If we have jets which will just give the full power at full throttle, we only obtain 12 to 13 miles to the gallon. This is on a give and take road averaging 27 to 30 R.P.H. We are now fixing a vacuum control to the Carburetter like we used originally on the aero engines. We can arrange this, we think, so that we can be sure we are running on the weakest mixture the whole time. The car has detachable rims and we have fitted a set of new tyres because the old ones have either burst or are perished. Contd- | ||