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).
Continued magazine article from 'The Autocar' reviewing a Lagonda car's performance and handling.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 170\1\ img089 | |
| Date | 20th September 1940 | |
| September 20th, 1940. The Autocar 289 JUST FOR ONE DAY (CONTINUED) were better than any given by any other type of car, their value in the history of development is obvious. It would have been a great occasion to have been able to put the stop-watch on the maximum speed of this current series short saloon. Each time a twelve-cylinder Lagonda has gone through The Autocar Road Test the timed maximum has reached or exceeded the magic 100 m.p.h., but I know from reliable evidence that even the best figure so far recorded on these occasions is exceedable, and it would be grand to be able to set down a figure of the 106-107 order, such as one imagines would be within reach of the short saloon. In point of fact, the most speedy edition of all has been the Rapide short-chassis coupé which, compared even with the short saloon, again has less head resistance. One of these was turned out earlier in the year with a four-carburettor engine, as on the Le Mans racing cars, and that type might even reach 110 in favourable circumstances. Thoughts such as these had to be put away on this particular occasion, and chiefly owing to the nature of the route there was not even the chance of seeing that squatted, steady pointer going past the 90 mark. Opportunity of Demonstration Interest was added by the fact that I had with me a motorist of much experience to whom the Lagonda legend is familiar enough, but who had never previously travelled in one of the twelve-cylinders. It was natural, quite apart from my own views on the matter, to give him some opportunity of gauging the different facets of its behaviour, not just full-throttle work, which is only a part of any car, but also by demonstrating the almost steam-engine flexibility down to a crawling pace on top gear. The ability, in fact, to drive it as a top-gear machine practically any time, anywhere, if you want to; the surge of top-gear power as the throttle pedal goes down and the needle swings round; and, in contrast, or, perhaps better, in complement, the extraordinary indirect gear potentialities. When one knows that a speedometer is reasonably accurate (and this one appeared to be against the rev counter readings), it never fails to be impressive to be able to send the needle round to 60 on second, and in an accelerating burst up grade to stay on third without the slightest mechanical effort, the needle quickly mounting—65-70, 75-80, still on third, right up to 5,500, the red line. Finally, well over 80 m.p.h., and into top with the beautifully smooth synchro-mesh. What a car! One feels so safe, too; there is no sensation of rising tension as the speed goes up. A driver cannot delude himself, flattering as it might be, that the calm of passengers as they see the 75s and 80s come up is due to the fact that they know he has driven fast before! The back-seat occupant on this occasion was one who is particularly linked with my recollections of the twelve-cylinder. For it was he, in a similar seat, who was projected one night a couple of years or so ago along a Hampshire highway at the 100 mark on the very first occasion when it was possible to try a twelve-cylinder. Yet he remained untroubled, unjolted, and during a similar burst later on in the same trip actually stayed asleep. High performance without other features in keeping is just frightening. In the Lagonda, stability, the whole behaviour of the suspension, the operation and response of the controls, the power of the brakes to deal with high speeds, are matched exactly as they should be; and obviously no less would satisfy a first-rate designer and his staff. Excellence of Brakes and Springing With the Lockheeds one can haul the speed down without ever having to become savage with the pedal, without any yawing or unevenness at the wheels. Although the springing is as comfortable all round, taking every kind of surface into account, as any yet produced, it has no sponginess, as can be shown to anyone who doubts by taking a by-pass roundabout faster than is strictly necessary or in any case desirable for anyone sitting at the back. The tyres will then scream, the driver is conscious of having overdone things except from a purely amusement point of view, but the car does not "give" sideways. Naturally, there is a nice compromise between the purely leisurely treatment of such turns and the other extreme. There is also the greatest feeling of safety and confidence when putting the car into fast, wide-radiused bends, and it seems to make no difference whether on a twin-track road that is clear of traffic you enter an appreciable sustained left-hand curve on the off side and then gradually bear across to the inside, keeping the throttle steady at, say, 60, or clip the off-side kerb of a similar right-hand bend the whole way round. The gear change is one of the improvements of the more recent cars. It is light—very much lighter than on the first cars—and the synchromesh on second, third and top is virtually crash-proof, more or less irrespective of what one does with clutch and throttle. It was certainly a great day, carved out of a succession of inevitably drab and uninspiring days. As a comment in keeping with the times, one even felt on arterial roads, when occasionally casting a glance upwards and around, that should the wrong sort of aircraft happen to loom up, in such a car one might be able to give it a run for its money! [Image Caption] The Lagonda in a near-London setting which will be familiar to many. | ||