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).
Findings from a car inspection, including broken shafts, incorrect damper loads, and a low-speed wobble.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 88\2\ scan0076 | |
| Date | 8th December 1934 | |
| W/S - Lp.{Mr Lappin} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}/9/KW. 8.12.34. With reference to your note of the 5th, in which you asked me to send some guns to Newmarket. Since you told me on the 'phone you do not want them, I am not sure whether this request is serious or not. Please let me know. With regard to your car, you will be relieved to hear that we found the shafts at the bottom of the axle control triangles broken. This of course meant that there was nothing to prevent the axle oscillating torsionally when the brakes were applied, and when the axle oscillates torsionally a judder can occur. The pieces were not standard, but were an experimental set-up which have run 30,000 miles or so. We found that your damper loads were lower than those we have standardised with the governor control, and so we corrected these. Naturally as the torque control is also the connection between the shock absorber and the axle, the fact that this had broken meant that there was a certain amount of free movement before the front damper was capable of operation. For this reason there was a tendency for the car to tramp. We now think that 4-B-IV is free from its various troubles, the only thing which you may get is a low speed wobble. Personally, I cannot get this by anything except circus driving, and therefore I have not reduced the pivot lean, which is the normal way of curing the trouble. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||