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).
Road test report commenting on the performance of the engine, steering, gearbox, and brakes.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\4\ 04-page035 | |
| Date | 24th May 1932 guessed | |
| -2- 1815 r.p.m. although the engine was reasonably smooth bearing in mind the type of car we were testing, yet it had the peculiarity of being distinctly lumpy when opened up at speeds below 40 m.p.h. in fact under the worst conditions this lumpiness felt like thumps on the underside of the floor. The demonstrator assured us that this was not the engine itself but an exhaust beat, and that it is cured by fitting a standard instead of a sporting silencing system. Under these bad driving conditions we were able to repeatedly do 70 m.p.h. (on the speedometer), and at that speed there still seemed to be a fair amount in hand. In 2nd., we revved the engine up to 4800, which is 41 m.p.h. The engine is mounted on rubber feet, but we understand the rubber is very hard. STEERING. The steering was light, in fact, extremely light, and free from any stickiness. It was lightly self-centring, but consistently so. No high speed wobble was experienced, but at high speeds even on the good by-pass roads the whole front of the car jellied. This was not a periodic jelly, but had the impression of being the whole front of the car twisting due to axle deflections instead of the springs deflecting. The springing was very hard. No road shocks were felt. GEARBOX. The 3rd. speed was 'silent'. The degree of silence was difficult to judge in view of the noise of the exhaust, but the constant mesh gears were definitely noisy on the overrun. The demonstrator admitted these were very bad. Gear changing was very difficult with the short lever. Although the illustrations would hardly lead one to believe so it is possible to get in and out of the car from the driving seat on to the near side by passing the legs over the gear lever. We did 50 m.p.h. in 3rd. gear frequently. Riding in the rear seat was impossible - reminiscent of the L.G.O.C. 'buses 4 or 5 yrs. ago. BRAKES. These were extremely good. The writer made a number of tests on varying surfaces. Naturally more pressure was required than with our servo assisted | ||