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).
Report discussing vehicle performance issues regarding brakes, chassis, and radiator, particularly for car WJ-1 in relation to Sir Henry Segrave's expectations.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 18\3\ Scan040 | |
| Date | 4th January 1930 guessed | |
| -2- We think that if WJ-1 is driven in the manner described by Sir Henry Segrave, it will be found that the brake pedal touches the floor boards which makes the brakes ineffective. CHASSIS. We have driven with Sir Henry Segrave in his Hispano Suiza and from that experience we should anticipate that he would criticise the flexibility of the chassis and springs. When we knew that Sir Henry Segrave had ordered a Phantom ll we recommended that we should fit Hartford's in addition to our hydraulic shock absorbers. He has been used to Hartford's on his Hispano, and intelligently adjusts them for the conditions under which he is going to run. We have already found it necessary to increase damping on our hydraulics on certain cars but we do not think that we could alter them sufficiently in order to satisfy this customer. As regards the movement of the radiator, our view is that 1-WJ was rather worse than we should have expected. That is, it was definitely worse than 18-EX which is a similar car. If it is decided to fit the other new parts on to the 1-WJ car, we should like an opportunity of making one or two tests on the frame jellying, as at the moment we have not a bad example amongst our Experimental cars. We do not altogether agree with the remarks as regards the rear springs having very little effect on cornering. This depends greatly on the weight distribution. GEAR-BOX. We consider that for the majority of customers, our present ratio of gears are most suitable. | ||