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).
Costs and conditions of conducting 10,000-mile tests in France versus England, suggesting a shift to domestic testing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 148\5\ scan0049 | |
| Date | 21th January 1932 | |
| To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} From Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} *3994' Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}7/MJ.21.1.32. *3993 10,000 MILES TESTS IN FRANCE. In a personal note I had from R.{Sir Henry Royce}, he mentioned that we ought to try and do more testing in England and avoid going to France now that the cost of living in France was so much dearer. The last complete chart of expenses of running a test in France is 25-EX., which ran 15,000 miles, and when that test was run except for the last three weeks the pound was at par value. The total cost was £1040. This was made up as follows :- Wages ...... £379 Hotel expenses for men ... £214 Petrol ...... £147 Insurance, Fares, including Car Triptique ...... £110 Expenses of Sales and Works Officials ...... £159 With the depreciation of the pound the wages remain the same but the rest of the expenses are approximately increased by one third. We believe that with the intelligent use of Brooklands Track and choice of roads in England, we could cut down the amount of running in France. It would appear that we could cover and double the mileage in England for approximately the same cost. The conditions of testing in France now, are very different from the conditions when we originally went out there. In those days all the main roads in France had a notoriously bad surface, and many more owners used their cars for long distance driving across France and therefore it was essential to go out there and prove the cars out under these exceptional conditions. The main roads in France now, have remarkably good surface and in order to find bad roads around Chateauroux we have to go off the main roads. I have been through the Reports of the last few 10,000 miles tests in France, and it is difficult to prove that any faults have been shown up on cars in France, which could not be shown up in England if we did the same amount of testing and did it in the same methodical way. | ||