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).
Road test report on steering performance under various conditions, including different tyre pressures and shock absorber settings.
| Identifier | WestWitteringFiles\P\2July1926-September1926\ Scan060 | |
| Date | 1st August 1926 guessed | |
| contd :- -2- 33 X 6.75" and inflated to 38 lbs/sq.in., Michelin tread. ROAD PERFORMANCE OF STEERING. The steering is nice and light. We should say that under similar conditions the steering of 12-EX would be slightly lighter. Having regard to the weight of the complete car (2000 kgs.) and the steering ratio, either the mechanism must be much less efficient or some friction must be purposely introduced on the Panhard. The steering self-centres nicely but is not very selective for driving in traffic, comparing with our 1500 lbs. side steering tube springs. Nevertheless, it is quite a nice steering in town. We tried the car on a very bad road at speeds up to 55 m.p.h. The immunity from road shocks provided by the steering was excellent, the wheel scarcely moving and no 'echo' taking place after a shock. We let the tyre pressures down to 25 lbs/sq.in. and undid the shock absorbers. We could not put the wheels out of balance as Mr. Weymann was with the car all the time. Nevertheless he says that he does not bother to balance them and has no bad results. With soft tyres and no damping, the steering was not nearly so good at high speeds though there was still relative immunity from road shocks and we could not produce a wobble at speeds up to 60 m.p.h. However we felt that with a little out of balance on the wheels, this car could be made to shimmy under these conditions, and that the makers rely on the shock dampers to save it. On the whole the steering is very similar to that of the Bentley. contd :- | ||