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).
Urging the completion of experimental work on double carburetters for the Continental Phantom II model.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\1\ Scan091 | |
| Date | 16th April 1931 | |
| x/120. To Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} from Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Copy to R.{Sir Henry Royce} Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} re Continental P.II Model. You will remember that about a year ago you showed us a P.II car with two carburetters which I think were of the Solex type. The result was from a performance point of view extraordinarily good, i.e. there was nearly as much improvement over a standard P.II as a P.II has over a P.I. R.{Sir Henry Royce} was not anxious that we should proceed with the development work with a bought out carburetter and, therefore, started to design double carburetters. All this has taken a long time and you have now the double carburetter fitted up on 27-EX in conjunction, I understand, with higher compression. Briefly, the position is that I have always had in mind that the best way of introducing this new feature would be on the Continental model. Although the sales of the Continental model have, I think, come up to expectations, it is, as you know, the subject of criticism on account of its poor performance in comparison with the 8 litre Bentley - in fact even with all its little improvements, smaller body, less wind resistance etc. etc., its actual maximum speed and general performance are very little better than the standard Phantom. It is, therefore, of great importance to push on as quickly as possible with the completion of your experimental work in connection with these double carburetters so that we can have them introduced as standard as quickly as possible on the Continental model. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} | ||