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 on car 34-EX, detailing issues with tyre noise, engine noise, and a bonnet malfunction at high speed.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 96\3\ scan0018 | |
| Date | 19th November 1935 | |
| S/W. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} [Struck through text] re- 34-EX. With reference to my conversation with you on the telephone from Glasgow, I should be interested to hear when you are able to let us have one of the other two cars with close-coupled body while you experiment with the tyre noises on 34-EX. According to present plans the car will be journeying from Newcastle to Birmingham on the 26th instant, and it will probably leave Birmingham for Northampton on the 28th. Would it be possible to change the car during this latter journey without causing any delay in the programme of appointments ? As mentioned to you on the telephone, the noise inside the car on the pavé in Glasgow was simply terrific, and quite spoiled the car whilst in the city streets. I would suggest that when you carry out some tyre experiments with this car you should drive it on ordinary pavé, as if you can get it quiet on that then it will indeed be quiet on ordinary roads. Having driven this car some hundreds of miles now, I feel very convinced that the engine is much noisier than it ought to be at the higher speeds. On the way up from London to Glasgow with the wind behind us, that is with wind noises reduced to the minimum, there was a lot of roar, noise and fuss from under the bonnet, particularly round about 70 and 80 m.p.h. marks. This struck me as being considerably more noticeable than on the Phantom II, and I was not the only one to notice it. The car is behaving very well as regards general performance, and, as I mentioned to you on the 'phone, I touched 101 m.p.h. with it between Penrith and Carlisle, slight down grade and following wind. An alarming thing happened shortly afterwards, for while travelling at 95 m.p.h. the near side of the bonnet flew up in the air; the top nearside panel was nearly vertical and the side panel was a little above horizontal and there it stayed until the speed of the car was reduced, when it came down fairly gently and rested on the wing. Fortunately the front end of the bonnet is definitely secured by a slot into which the hinge fits, otherwise the whole bonnet might have come off with probably disastrous results. The driver assures me that he had not touched the bonnet catches from the time we left London, and I think that | ||