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).
Trial results for Chassis 25-WJ, focusing on suspension, tyre performance, and the horn.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 18\3\ Scan050 | |
| Date | 13th January 1930 | |
| Styres P/W "Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}" x 7760. Psl/RB.{R. Bowen}13/1/30. Re: Chassis 25-WJ - Paris Trials I am giving you an extract of Hk{Col. T. Harker - Sales}'s Report on the impression he has formed of our Trials car. He says that, although it is without exception the best Trials car we have ever had, he finds that when the car is driven at speed and sitting in the back of the car, the springing appears too light and the damping effect of the shock-absorbers does not seem sufficient, and on a long run is liable to bring on sickness. With regard to the tyres, he was riding in the car recently when the roads were wet, and he found them to be most unsatisfactory as regards skidding. After a trial of some miles on a wet macadam road, his conclusions were that it would be far preferable to use tyres which might not be so noiseless as the present ones than to proceed in crab-like fashion, skidding first in one direction and then in another. He suggests for Trials purposes that during wet and wintry months we should use the Buttress Tread tyres, which give a far better grip on the road. There is of course something in this complaint of Hk{Col. T. Harker - Sales}'s in regard to the springing and also the tyres. I have explained to him that if we adjust the shock-absorbers so as to give a greater damping effect at high speeds, we shall increase the trouble which we have been experiencing of harshness at slow speeds over cobbles and pot-holey roads, and then again, with regard to the tyres, by fitting the Buttress type we are producing something which we are anxious to avoid, and for which the "Silent Tread" tyre was evolved. I suggest as a compromise, that for Trials car purposes, it might be a good plan to have a spare set of wheels already fitted with Buttress tread tyres which could be kept in the Stores, and used when we know that we are going on an important trial, and the roads are wet, as you must know with your experience on Continental roads which are well cambered, that it is somewhat dangerous to drive at high speeds with a car which is not shod with non-skid tyres. In this respect, we recently had to change over the tyres on a new car we sold, because the owner refused to ride in the car with the Silent Tread type fitted. After trial, another point which "Hk{Col. T. Harker - Sales}" has raised is the necessity for a good reliable Klaxon, which he rightly calls a "road clearer", as he finds our present Klaxon is insufficient for high speed work. RB.{R. Bowen} oqb sx | ||