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).
Test drive report from France detailing vehicle performance on hills and in wet weather.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 73\3\ scan0430 | |
| Date | 19th August 1924 | |
| BJ. Henning's report from France. Roanne. Tuesday August 19, 1924 We did 193 miles to-day, wet weather. We climbed hills of steep gradient of ½ mile long on second on route 81 between Thiers and Roanne, a road with many virages(?) and very slippery. The brakes worked wonderfully well. The absence of skidding on slippery corners was remarkable. One notices a pull to the right on applying the foot brake; at first I thought it due to the camber of the road, but on trying it in centre of the road it was the same, and again I went over to the left side and even then the pull is to the right. It does not worry one but still it is there, a sort of Tuck under (?) on the right pivot. The union on Thermostat again worked loose, and smothered the front cylinders with rusty water. After running from London to Paris I measured the water in top of Radiator and it was 4⅞ inches from the top. This morning it was 5½ inches from top, and one pint of water brought it up to 4⅞ inches again. The loss was not due to boiling but to the Thermostat union working loose. No boiling to-day even on second. We started a long incline to-day at 35 m.p.h. and she picked up to 67 on the incline and on a slight decline she reached 77 for a moment. J.H.Henning. | ||