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).
Vehicle suspension, body size, and optimal tyre pressures for different models.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 65a\3\ scan0222 | |
| Date | 20th May 1930 guessed | |
| -2- The wonderful effect of the rear wheel is because it helps so greatly, when the car has only one or two passengers, to avoid the overstiff effect of the rear springing i.e. it forces the springs to act. No car, either ours or that of anyone else, can give the same satisfaction if the conditions are not favourable, and owners, buyers, and coachbuilders will, against our advice, do things which we have proved must discount the riding comfort. Especially does this apply to putting the best passengers where the spare wheel should be. It is a ridiculous spectacle to see a very large car carrying a solitary important passenger well out at the back over the rear axle so that some odd day in the year he can carry 7 people, (the springing being suitable for the 7, and baggage), i.e the car too big for a year, so that it is right for a day. I am not saying we can avoid buyers having big bodies, but we can do some thing to point out the greater satisfaction they would get from more ideal conditions on any chassis. On the 40/50. we expect big bodies, but on the 25 HP. they are better avoided, for RR. reputation, and do avoid competing with the 40/50. I have before remarked that tyre pressures (not forgetting wall stiffness) can be varied for difference in speed - i.e. some thing like 30 lbs. for town work, and 45 lbs. for fast country work, is what my experience demands. The 25 HP. tyre pressures are often very low without any ill effect. R.{Sir Henry Royce} | ||