Letter to A. Healey Esq. concerning the performance and testing of tyres from Michelin and Dunlop.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 157\3\ scan0071 | |
| Date | 13th June 1939 | |
| A. {Mr Adams} Healey, Esq. -2- We recently expressed interest in the Michelin Pilot tyre, and the French Co. immediately built up for us a set of wheels and tyres, and sent them over here for us to test. They also sent over a number of their engineers to explain the merits of their tyres, and were able to produce power consumption figures under both torque and speed variations, deflection slip angle figure of merit, and various other interesting information. We feel that when the Dunlop Co. submit a tyre to us to test they should provide similar information. Instead, they hand us a tyre and ask us to find out this information for them. We think that the Dunlop Co. should have been the first to have a skid pan, and it should not be left to the car manufacturers to give them a lead in this respect. We do not think that we ought to have been such a long time behind America in providing a silent tyre. We feel that it ought not to be left to us to demand qualities such as tyre silence before anything is done, but that the Dunlop Co. should come along and anticipate our requirements by offering us improvements. For some time past, we have been pointing out that, relatively speaking, our tyre equipment weighed a lot more than that in use in America for similar duty. We suggested that the reason for this was that the Americans were using 4-ply tyres. We were told that the 4-ply tyre was not a practical proposition for European conditions. We submitted the same suggestion to a relatively unknown British tyre manufacturer who immediately produced a 4-ply tyre which has run successfully under the most arduous Continental conditions, and the case of which we have never succeeded in bursting. 4-ply IndiaProduction 20 HP. with 4-speed box and Front Wheel Brakes and Dunlops submitted for trial in parallel rapidly failed under tests of the same severity. Quite frankly, we feel that the Dunlop Co. have been taking advantage of the fact that they have a tremendous amount of goodwill with our Administration, and, in consequence, it is unlikely that they will lose the R.R. business. | ||
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).