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).
Critical assessment of a car's engine performance and its cramped 12-cylinder design.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 127\1\ scan0097 | |
| Date | 24th July 1921 | |
| Contd. -2- throttle fully open, there was a good sound of rumbling and growling in the neighbourhood of the engine, which, to my mind, is so bad that were we to fit a similar engine on our chassis, our business would be ruined inside a week. The car quickly got up to the speed of 60 miles an hour, but my impression is that the horse power curve very soon flattens out, because although we once touched on 70 it was undoubtedly a great effort. The general design of the engine is of a very cramped description, and a broken valve spring would mean a very serious proposition for renewal. I do not know to what extent the engine growling which I referred to may be incidental to the employment of 12 cylinders, with the many more moving parts, but if this does happen to be the case, I cannot imagine anything more detrimental were these to be employed in our own case. P.N. | ||