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 drive report detailing various noises, suspension issues, and electrical faults observed in a vehicle.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 91\1\ scan0385 | |
| Date | 14th August 1936 guessed | |
| (sheet 1) backwards in starting off, which made the start off uncomfortable. It looks as though we could do with the extra movement we know we can obtain by a new hand brake lever forging. The 50 m.p.h. engine period obtruded itself on one's notice, even when not looking for it. There was no noise, but one felt slightly uncomfortable at that speed. The flexible damper flywheel is thought to be a remedy for this, otherwise the engine was extremely smooth and quiet. It started easily under all the circumstances I tried. A certain amount of smoke came from the exhaust. There was a slight squawk from the L.H. front suspension which persisted for 60 miles or so, in spite of using the centralised chassis lubrication pump, but then disappeared, and did not return, though the car was standing over night. The tyre noise was slight over most surfaces, in fact, unnoticeable;over a very rough concrete surface there was a certain amount of noise. This car has the dashboard bolted solid to the scuttle. At first there was a general noise of rattles and slight movements from the body work, but the latter part of the run this disappeared, though nothing was done to correct it. One point is that slight opening of the side windows produces much more draught than for instance on my car. Putting the main switch to "on" switched on the head lamp though the head lamp switch was open, and nothing would switch the headlamps off except putting the main switch to "off", which of course also switched off the engine. Finally I took the two headlamp bulbs out. I took several hump backs at various speeds. My rear passenger was thrown a little but not more than one would expect. Da.{Bernard Day - Chassis Design} | ||