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).
Goshawk vehicle's hill climb performance near Grenoble, detailing the gradient, weather conditions, and an issue with the green leather upholstery dye.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 46\2\ Scan337 | |
| Date | 15th June 1922 | |
| COPY! Hotel Lesdiguieres, Grenoble. June 15th, 1922. To Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}, From Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} 6-Goshawk-11. Yesterday we managed to climb the hill out of Vizille the whole way without boiling but the conditions were very favourable - the weather being very cold and a dense cloud was on the hill causing a wet clammy fog. Also visibility was bad and the car had to be taken up slowly. I have looked into the gradient of this hill again and find that my first figures were much too modest. The gradient for the first two miles averages 1 in 128 and for the second two miles 1 in 9.7 making an average for the whole hill of nearly 1 in 11 for the 4 miles. It is a hill which just suits the car on second gear and if the boiling can be avoided it would be a joy to climb it full throttle. Yesterday was a bad day here the clouds being down like a blanket and pouring rain all day. You might complain to Mr. Spinney that the green dye of the leather upholstery goes into solution when it is wet and as a result we have ruined our mackintosh coats. We have green backs and brown fronts! ! The mileage to date is as follows:- June 14th. 179 miles. " 15th. 141 " Previous miles. 12368 " Total since leaving Derby ----------- 12728 " Hy.{Tom Haldenby - Plant Engineer} | ||