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 performance and cooling system of a Phantom II Demonstrator car after two years of use in India.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 52\1\ Scan164 | |
| Date | 18th May 1932 | |
| 14476 Hs. {Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} & Rm. {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Derby. ✓ Copy to Mr. Hives London. Bombay, NRC {N. R. Chandler} 26/S18.5.32. re Rolls-Royce Car Chassis 76-WJ, Phantom II Demonstrator. The above car which is fitted with a 4/5 Seater Touring Body has now been in India for over two years as a demonstrator. During this period it has covered just over 10,600 miles and since it has been running under tropical conditions, it occurs to me that the following information may not be without interest. COOLING:- In the course of touring, I have on several occasions driven this car from three to four hundred miles per day for a number of consecutive days, and some of the time the air temperature has been in the neighbourhood of 100° F. {Mr Friese} In Northern India there are fine stretches of road where it is possible to maintain high speeds for considerable distances, and on running more or less continuously at 60 to 65 M.P.H., the thermometer usually shows about 95° C., but at the conclusion of a day's run very little water is lost. Temporary boiling may be in evidence for a few minutes after stopping the engine, but so long as the engine is kept running, boiling does not occur on level roads. It will be realised that this does not leave very much margin for climbing hills; a very large part of central India is dead level for many hundreds or even a thousand miles, and there is nothing worth calling a Hill. On the other hand there is rather a severe hill of four miles in length between Bombay and Poona known as the Bhor Ghats and this hill has a very bad surface and a number of extremely sharp and hairpin bends. Given a clear road, it can usually be negotiated on 3rd, although at times it is necessary to drop to 2nd for short distances. On this hill the water almost invariably boils even in winter when the air temperature during the day is in the neighbourhood of 80°. I have not negotiated this hill when the air temperature is over 100° but there is no doubt that the water would boil freely all the way up. When I was in England last summer Rm. {William Robotham - Chief Engineer} showed me some radiator tubes which have small dents in them, and I would certainly like to suggest that for India, any car imported in future should have a radiator fitted with these dented tubes, because it will be seen from the above that on severe hills in the hot weather, there is no margin at all. I have recently completed a business trip from Bombay to 'Pindi and back by road with this car. The total distance including demonstration runs was 3600 miles and the petrol consumption on | ||