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).
Feasibility of meeting War Office requirements for an armoured car chassis, focusing on radiator capacity and performance tests.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 180\M1\6\ img007 | |
| Date | 1st August 1921 | |
| To B.J. from R.{Sir Henry Royce} -2- R5/C27/8/21 Contd. conditions. If the War Office want a great radiator capacity which I doubt, it will be heavier and more bulky, more liable to leak, and more costly, and generally the engine would be less satisfactory owing to the lower temperature of the cooling water. So that unless in practice the boiling of the water was persistent and continuous and gave trouble through loss of water, we should do more harm than good in providing a bigger radiator. We cannot take responsibility for a chassis travelling on soft roads. We do not know how much power it demands, and if we gave them sufficient power to take the car up a maximum grade demanded by them, say, 1 in 5 or 1 in 4 with a total weight of 4.3 tons, this should satisfy. We are quite willing to experiment for them or with them, with a chassis having the same cylinder capacity per ton mile over any ground they wish and see how it compares. We do not think there is anything in our starting with a cold engine or refilling the engine. We are bound to, on the face of it, go on with the trials continuing without waiting for cooling. They should realise that it is possible for anyone to come forward with tests and weights which would be quite beyond the capacity of any chassis, and had manufacturers been full up with orders for their standard chassis they would not consider for a moment these tests, and I am not sure whether it is really going to pay us to make a few special chassis anywhere near the standard price, specially designed and constructed to meet these particular tests. As far as I can understand the present situation there is no chassis in existence that is built for an ordinary motor car that would do the tests required for these armoured cars. " (Contd.) | ||