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).
Test driver's report on Chassis No. 12-EX after a 540-mile road test, detailing performance of springing, tyres, steering, and engine.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 69\4\ scan0215 | |
| Date | 10th November 1927 | |
| S/W. Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} RECEIVED NOV 10 1927 Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} X8770 CWB4/GM/10.11.27. Re: Chassis No. 12-EX. I ran this car 540 miles during the weekend and on the whole found it quite a delightful car. I refer below in detail, to my impressions regarding some of the particular features. Springing. I consider this was good. The car was very stable at speeds and comfortable also when travelling slowly. Over some quite rough and potholed roads on Dartmoor she travelled surprisingly well. A greater amount of motion was apparent than with our standard springing and I think for all round work with an open car an improvement would be made by an even greater amount of damping than exists at present. The tyres were originally found at approximately 35 lbs all round. Owing to the steering being somewhat heavy at slow speeds the front tyre pressures were increased to 40, after which the front of the car bounced considerably more than previously and particularly under these conditions more damping seemed to be desirable. Steering. This is on the heavy side for shunting and at slow speeds. In the beginning at medium and high speeds it was considered to be very good, but it stiffened up considerably after about 100 miles of running, and in spite of copious lubrication of the pivots, steering tubes etc., never seemed to quite recover its former freedom. At first the steering appeared to be slightly joggly at high speeds, but after the nearside front wheel had been rebalanced this condition was greatly improved. Engine. This engine uses a tremendous lot of oil, approximately 1 qt. per 100 miles had to be added to keep up the level. Plugs were examined before and after the run and no great difference in their condition could be detected. There were no signs of misfiring. The exhaust is very noisy. Possibly this has been partly caused by severe explosions in the silencer and exhaust pipe, due to some water which had got into the petrol and which took a lot of trouble to get thoroughly cleared out of the system.(Had we not standardised a sump and drain in the autovac tank? When may we expect this to go through in production?) Apart from this feature the new exhaust system seems quite effective and no trouble was experienced at any time in starting up. CONT: [Handwritten in left margin] Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} to be attend to before send to France HS{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} | ||