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).
Responding to questions about the 7-Goshawk-11 model, addressing issues with tyres, dynamo, and gearing.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 46\2\ Scan398 | |
| Date | 21th August 1922 | |
| PN.{Mr Northey} from Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} X4086 Hsl/LG21.8.22. Referring to your PN{Mr Northey}5/EP{G. Eric Platford - Chief Quality Engineer}19.8.22 and the correspondence attached. The following are answers to the questions in the order given. 1. 7-Goshawk-11. 2. Maythorn Saloon body. 3. Front - 1570 lbs. Rear 1998 lbs. total 3568 lbs. 4. We should imagine the tyres were worn thin - when the Experimental Goshawks were running in Brittany they suffered an abnormal number of punctures - sometimes as many as five in one day on one car. The punctures were due to the nails which were used in the district for protecting the horses hoofs instead of using the ordinary horse-shoes. When the tread is worn off the case is thin enough to be punctured by these nails. It is noticeable that with the cord tyres, in which there is no trouble with bursts, the covers are run until they are very thin and easily puncture. If the tyre trouble was due to punctures, there is nothing that we can do. 5 and 6. No - we quite anticipated the dynamo on 7-Goshawk-11 to fail as it was similar in design to those which failed on 4/5/6-Goshawk-11. The cause has been removed and there is no chance of this occurring on the production cars. 7 and 8. No - the trouble on this car arose from the water pipe not being the correct length. 9 and 10. No - we think this is an exceptional case as other Goshawks which have now run 60,000 miles approx. are using similar joints and we have had no trouble. There is no reason to think that the design should give trouble, if fitted up correctly. 11. and 12. The criticism we have had from several drivers has been that the car does not pick up on second speed which would indicate that it is too high geared on second speed. R.{Sir Henry Royce} considers this is so, and has sent through experimentally second speed gears which give a ratio of .571 instead of .614 which is present design. contd:- | ||