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).
Vehicle steering, suspension, and engine mounting tests, addressing issues like wobbles and wandering.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 29\1\ Scan339 | |
| Date | 5th July 1928 guessed | |
| contd :- -3- From these further tests we still consider that having the tyres 1.75" out of centre point is a definite advantage; as you suggested we put the wheels out of balance and the consequent 'nibbling' at the steering wheel was not appreciably worse than standard, but with a standard axle anything over .5 lbs. out of balance per wheel is liable to cause high speed wobbles if the tyre pressures drop, and so we cannot cater for this condition. We consider that we have satisfactorily proved that stiffening up the front end of the frame in torsion improves the steering and enables increased damping to be used effectively when required at high speeds. OY. has done some tests which confirm our results. We believe that it may be possible to use solid front w engine mounting on 'SS{S. Smith}', as on 10-EX we get few high speed vibrations in this condition as long as we have the rubber engine feet at the rear. We believe that 10-EX steering as we have arranged it would be a tonic to anyone who complained of 'wandering' or 'lack of selectivity', but the suspension difficulties are now most clearly emphasised on this car. HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rn.{Mr Robinson} | ||