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).
Test report on the performance of the gearbox, rear axle, brakes, and self-starter.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\R\2December1927-February1928\ Scan115 | |
| Date | 18th January 1928 guessed | |
| -2- Kontd :- movement. The effort required to disengage the clutch is small. The gearbox gears are not good. The 1st. and 2nd. speed gears are decidedly noisy, but the constant mesh gears are good and quiet. Rear axle. The rear axle worm gears are quiet both when pulling and on the overrun. There is a considerable amount of back lash in the gears. Brakes. The hydraulically operated four wheel brakes are not effective under all conditions. At low speeds it is possible to lock the rear wheels but at high speeds the brakes are in- sufficient; the need of a servo or other means of multiplication is shewn up clearly. At low speeds the front brakes thump badly, and a definite lag in brake operation is noticeable on brake application; there is no appreciable lag in turn after releasing the brake pedal as might be expected with this system. The brake application is spongy, especially noticeable at high speeds, and the retardation is far from progressive. The steering is affected by brake application, the car tending to go to the left. The hand brake is useless except as a means of holding the car when stationary, it is of much too small dimensions to be used as a brake. Self starter. The self starter works quite well. The shock when the pinion engages with the flywheel is negligible if the starter pedal is operated gently and slowly, but if operated quickly is very pronounced. The gears are noisy when the motor is turning the engine over, and also very bad if the pedal contd :- | ||