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).
Road test report from Paris detailing performance issues with a car's speed, steering, braking, and engine.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 73\3\ scan0363 | |
| Date | 3rd February 1924 | |
| COPY. Hotel des Deux Mondes, 22, Avenue de l'Opera, Paris. 3rd February, 1924. CJ. Yesterday, after crossing, we stayed at Abbeville, coming on to Paris this morning. So far, the car is disappointing. The roads are very bad for fast running. The speed of the car, under the most encouraging conditions has not been materially better than that of our 107-MG (Open trials). Great difficulty in getting up to 75 miles p.h. with no indication of any more possible. Engine feels quite nice, barring detonations which are not to be put up with. As this engine gave 109.5 H.P. on its brake tests, it would appear that the limiting factor on the car must be the carburettor. Roads are too bad yet awhile to get any reliable impression on question of engine vibration. I will deal with this later on. The steering feels road shocks so very badly that the car is almost unmanageable at times when suddenly hitting a patch of potholes. Would Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} state if the friction is standard. I think not, but do not want to dismantle stub-axles in Paris, because of delay, and I do not want to interfere with front wheel brake mechanism if possible on the way south. The engine clutch refuses to come to rest reasonably. The braking generally is pretty bad, not that this much matters as long as the car is fit to drive. At Abbeville it was necessary to take up servo shoe adjustment seven notches, the servo having become quite out of action, without my ever having heated up the pulley, consequently only front brakes left which were somewhat effective only after a foot-pressure of about two hundredweight. All this is very striking after driving the new Hispano just before leaving. Again referring to the steering, although it is much too free and reversible on pot-holes at high speed, yet when dead slow it is unpleasantly stiff to operate. Unless the engine performance becomes altogether better obviously I could not show this to Cholmondeley. The brakes | ||