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).
Curing steering 'flapping' by adjusting axle inclination, noting that the best solution requires experimentation.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 28\4\ Scan022 | |
| Date | 4th December 1912 guessed | |
| -2- many manufacturers would do well to experiemnt with, as the re are no doubt many defects in the steering on cars turned out to-day, even on the higher priced ones. - Myron.E. Vance. (We are very interested and doubtless a number of our readers will also be interested, in the foregoing. A peculiar feature of this matter is that on some cars the "flapping" is cured by inclining the axle in one direction whilst in others the same treatment makes matters very much worse. Our correspondent stopped the flapping of his wheels by inclining the top of the axle backward; in our case, referred to as mentioned in the "Autocar" of September 7th this plan was first tried, but the effect was to make the flapping very much worse - in fact, the steering was then almost uncontrollable. We have been told by experienced drivers of racing cars at Brooklands that practically no two cars require the same treatment; some require wedges with the thick end forward, others the reverse; some steer best with the axle vertical, others with it inclined some one way and some the other. It appears therefore that the best setting is a matter for experiment by trial and error. - Ed.{J. L. Edwards}) | ||