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 on the experimental car 19-EX, focusing on gearbox and silencer performance.
Identifier | ExFiles\Box 19\1\ Scan236 | |
Date | 12th November 1932 | |
8 7120. Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} From Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} HS.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}5/MA.12.11.32. 19-EX. We are fairly pleased with this car. We think as regards absence of fuss, boom and roar it is a great advance over the present Phantom. One of the particular features of this car is that you can make excellent use of the silent third, because owing to the fact that there is no roar from the engine it is possible to use the third speed up to 60 or 70 M.P.H. without signs of distress. When we can do this it means that the acceleration of the car is considerably improved by the fact that the low gear can be used. When judging it for slow running it should be compared with the actual Phantom and not with what we think or hope the present Phantom is like. The reason we say this is that although we can make a special demonstration to show even slow running, we think 19-EX. is quite as good an average car. We have also got to accept that conditions of driving change with design of car, and on a car such as 19-EX. one would automatically drop into third speed as soon as the car speed dropped. As regards slow running, under this condition the silencer may be a bit worse than the present standard, but we have got to balance this up with the fact that the people who are riding in the car accept the silencer as very good and free from booms. The Air silencer is an Experimental mock-up and the final one may have to be a little bit larger in size, because with the one on 19-EX. we loose the small amount of power at top speed. The silent second speed on this car is somewhat difficult to engage from first, this is receiving attention. | ||