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).
Radiator specifications, brake shoe materials, and ongoing vehicle tests.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 82\1\ scan0179 | |
| Date | 8th August 1933 | |
| [illegible handwriting] Mr. G.{Mr Griffiths - Chief Accountant / Mr Gnapp} W. Hancock, Hotel de France, Chateauroux, Indre, FRANCE. To Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/GWH{George W. Hancock - Head Chateauroux}, from Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}9/KT. 8. 8. 33. Thank you for your notes, it is evidently a good thing we have decided to go to the electrical petrol pumps. With regard to your radiator temperature, we find that the Marston matrix which is fitted to your car is only 70 mm. deep, and the previous one you ran in France which we have standardised is 84 mm. thick. It is therefore apparent that we have the right margin of safety with the standard radiator. On the other hand we do [Handwritten: not] know whether we can afford to carry about a larger radiator than we require, and since you have lost no water with atmospheric temperatures of 34ºC, it would appear that the 70 mm. thick matrix is about the right size if it does not overheat on a climb. If you get into the Clermont Ferrand district you will be able to prove this point. Brakes. We note that you have fitted the steel brake shoes and Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} has wired to ask you to continue with the aluminium shoes. The point is that this is a production car test, and we want to establish a factor of wear for the brakes as they are fitted to the first 200 cars, i.e. aluminium shoes. When you have done 10,000 miles or so with these shoes we can then change over to the steel shoes. As a matter of fact, now that we have got over our trouble of excessive travel, the necessity for a close fitting brake shoe is not so apparent. We shall, however, come up against this point when we go to direct braking on all four wheels which we are at present considering. Using this system means that either we have twice as much pedal travel to take up brake clearances or have to push very much harder. [Handwritten: not due to H.Ring] The steel shoes give us a let out here, in that they [Handwritten insertion: indeed] [Crossed out: still] enable us to reduce our working brake clearance. We note what you say about the speedometer and we are running our tests here at temperatures | ||