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).
Letter to The Rover Company Ltd. regarding distributors and issues with new engine types.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 127\2\ scan0110 | |
| Date | 11th July 1939 | |
| 1091 Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}7/MH.{M. Huckerby} 11th. July, 1939. W.R.Boyle, Esq., The Rover Company Ltd., New Meteor Works, COVENTRY. Dear Boyle, Thank you for your letter re distributors. I attach a copy of the information which we have at present and this shows the limits to which we are working. You will see that we do not see eye to eye with Messrs. Lucas. The subject has become of major importance to us recently, because we find that the new type engine is less tolerant of inaccuracies in distributor governor curves than the Conventional Head. In other words, its tendency to detonate is less with the correct ignition setting but more if subjected to over advance. I have just come back from the Continent after taking one of the new units all over the Alps, and also driving it along the Italian Autostradas. So far it has behaved so well that it is quite obviously going to give a great deal of trouble when it gets into production. If you want to know anything more about distributors send your chap along by all means. Yours sincerely, | ||