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).
Driving performance review of a car, detailing issues with rattling doors, acceleration lag, and comparisons to competitors.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 65a\3\ scan0188 | |
| Date | 1st January 1930 guessed | |
| -3- All four doors rattle very badly indeed, noticeably the right hand front one. The body drums as a whole and the mudguards give no adequate protection to the front windscreen; if there is a side wind it rapidly becomes covered with mud due to lack of adequate valances on the front wings. GENERAL. Finally the car itself is a great pleasure to drive on account of its silence and excessive flexibility. The performance is by no means astounding; the honest speedometer maximum being 86 m.p.h. The acceleration through the gears is inferior to the Hispano-Suiza and the Speed-Six Bentley, though the maximum speed of the car is quicker than the speed-six Bentley by 4 m.p.h. on the speedometers of both cars. || When viewed as a semi-sports chassis, as I fear it will be by many people it presents certain very definite drawbacks. || The primary essential of a Sports car is that the components of that car must react immediately to the movements of the hands xx or feet, and there must be no time lag whatsoever. In the above car there is a distinct and appreciable time lag in the action of the accelerator pedal and carburettor. This is not so noticeable at low speeds, but it becomes particularly noticeable when travelling at over 75 m.p.h. The best acceleration on this car was experienced at about 60 to 75 m.p.h. The acceleration on top below this not being very good. After negotiating a corner at about 50, for instance, quite a considerable time was necessary before the car got into its stride and accelerated to 62 m.p.h., then it seemed as if another tap was turned on somewhere rendering the acceleration quite good from this point up to 75., or perhaps a little more. If the accelerator pedal was kept depressed up to 85 m.p.h. and then still kept on for two or three miles at this speed the car gradually began to slow up, although no symptoms of pre-ignition such as popping etc. occurred to explain it. || | ||