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).
Competitive analysis of a Lagonda car, evaluating its performance and characteristics against Rolls-Royce models.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 128\1\ scan0349 | |
| Date | 23th June 1938 | |
| -2- Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}10/R.23.6.38. The brakes are not adequate to deal with the high top speeds attained by the car. They will probably deal with this by fitting some sort of servo. The directional stability of the car at high speeds is as good as that of B.III, but it is hard work driving the car at low speeds round lanes. We understood from W.O. that they were producing about 5 cars per week, and had already sold about 70. Their weakness would seem to be that they have lost their best men just when needing them most, i.e., when service troubles are beginning to appear. These troubles seem to be rather overwhelming W.O. at present. At Brooklands the car achieved a lap speed of 93.5 m.p.h., and we understand that the short chassis has done considerably better than this. A recent figure obtained on 6.E.IV on the overdrive was 89 m.p.h. Summarising the impression created by this Lagonda, we think that B.III would be infinitely more desirable to drive as a Sports car, but that we shall have to try and get a top speed performance comparable with that of the Lagonda to justify our smaller seating accommodation. The P.III, or the Wraith, are, of course, much more desirable town carriages. For a man, however, who desires a combination of both types of car, the Lagonda will represent a fair compromise when they have got their steering, brakes and durability up to the required standard. The success of the Lagonda enterprise, however, would seem to depend almost entirely on whether they can deal with, and adequately survive the complaints which are bound to arise during the first 12 months the chassis is in the customers' hands. At the moment they appear to have more than enough aircraft work to compensate for any falling off in car sales. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||