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).
Vehicle suspension issues, specifically a 'kick' defect in the 20 HP model, comparing cantilever and elliptical springs.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 47\2\ Scan010 | |
| Date | 23th September 1927 guessed | |
| (2) however, I venture to express my surprise that if the kick referred to does exist, and I claim that the evidence in that connection is unanswerable, that its roots cannot be detected, as its history seems pretty closely circumscribed. Firstly, it has no existence in your 20 H.P. car because that spring, when the car dumps into a hole, controls the ensuing shuddery motion. It would therefore seem unquestionable that the defect attaches to the elliptical spring and the uncontrolled leverage, or relatively uncontrolled leverage, left at play. Undoubtedly the exhaustion of the pitch at the point of the cantilever spring relieves the strain in the middle of the car, and accounts for the comfort of your two-seaters, but it seems unreasonable to sacrifice the carriage of the car, which is the most important part, for the two front seats, one of which is usually occupied by a strong chauffeur who is indifferent to roughness in almost any form. I had thought of going in for a Cabriolet this autumn but so convinced am I that you will be compelled for your own protection, to get to the root of that kick, that I shall buy a cheaper car for my purpose in the hopes of your either adopting the principle of the springing of the little car, or altering your present altogether. I assume by paying you a little extra you could not design me a 50 H.P. Rolls-Royce on the basis of the springing of the 20 H.P.?" Letter dated 8th September. "I have just returned from the Continent, and think the balloon tyres certainly give more easy running, although they do not quite give the improvement that I had hoped for. In any event, their introduction has quite satisfied me that the great objection to Rolls Royce springing attaches to the cantilever spring and its sliding movement. When running fast you still get that tip into the air, and even if it only occurs every 20 or 30 yards, its effect is that of a punch that tires one. I am quite satisfied in my own mind that if the same type of spring as is on your 20's could with equal facility be utilised on the larger cars, that kick would disappear, and your springing and car would then in my opinion be unequalled by any other car in the world. Would you consider this matter with a view to deciding whether there is any real hope of so altering the springs of this car as to remove the impressions which CONT: | ||