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).
Page discussing the variables that affect the riding comfort of a car and the challenges in measuring it.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 178\1\ img174 | |
| Date | 28th August 1926 | |
| - 2 - the Colonies, each with their varying road surface. The second is the difficulty of measuring improvements. To enumerate a few of the variables which affect the riding of the R-R car:- (a) Variation of sprung wt. | Sports to Limousine bodies - Two to Six passengers. --- (b) Variation in normal driving speed. | 20 - 30 Shopping. 60 - 70 Sporting enthusiast. --- (c) Variation in road surface. | Slightly wavy main roads. Continental pot-holes. Colonial tracks with no surface whatever. --- (d) Variation in upholstery and centre of gravity. | These vary with almost every type of body. --- (e) Variation in spring friction and shock damper setting. | These vary with the attention given to the car by the customer. --- (f) Variation in passengers requirements. | Susceptibility to sea-sickness. " " small shocks. --- To design a suspension for a single purpose such as high speed work in England on a sports car, is relatively easy. The measurement of riding comfort is one of the most difficult problems connected with the car. One reason for this is that no two peoples ideas of comfort exactly coincide. Another is the difficulty of transforming the records of an instrument into physical sensations. Again the variables are so numerous that to get a general figure for any alteration, innumerable tests have to be carried out. If some of these difficulties are borne in mind when pointing out defects in the riding of the car, the contd. | ||