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).
Steering improvements for the 'Spectre' model by comparing American, Hispano, and Dubonnet systems.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 179b\2\ img085 | |
| Date | 10th November 1932 | |
| ORIGINAL To R.{Sir Henry Royce} From Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} c. to Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} Wor.{Arthur Wormald - General Works Manager} c. to R.{Sir Henry Royce} Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} c. to By.{R.W. Bailey - Chief Engineer} Hdy.{William Hardy} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}C/MJ.10.11.32. "SPECTRECodename for Phantom III". X 3993 When considering the "SpectreCodename for Phantom III" one of the essential improvements we require on this car is an improved steering. We are now too often criticised as regards the steering on the big car and we have to admit that the reactions felt on the steering wheel are much greater on our cars than on a number of the big U.S.A. cars. We have obtained a steering gear as fitted to the Cadillac and shall be sending through a report giving all particulars. The way the Americans get their result is - (1) By a lower gear. (2) By an inefficient gearing which is more irreversible. (3) Minimum friction in the axle pivots. One of the outstanding examples shewing up the absence of shocks on the American steering was the test which was done at Brooklands (I believe you were there at the time) when we had a Buick car which developed high speed wobble and yet the driver felt no reaction on the wheel. The American steerings we believe wear, they have to allow means of adjustment to take it up. The experiments we consider we should push on with is the independently sprung wheels because it is possible that this will give us a greater improvement in steering than anything else we can do. One reason for saying this is that we have tried the Andre-Dubonnet car which was made from the standard 45 HP Hispano chassis and had standard Hispano steering gear. The Hispano has a similar steering to our own and has rather similar faults. They use very weak springs in the side steering tube to avoid the reactions on the wheel. The Dubonnet car with the separate sprung front wheels has the standard Hispano steering, no flexibility in the side steering tube, and yet was remarkably free from road shocks. This car was of special interest because it was a big fast car. Usually most of the examples of separate wheel springing have been confined to small cars which present rather a different problem. It is also realised that in order to get the desired comfort we require front springs of very low rating. With our present low rating front springs and given the degree of front | ||