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 from a trip through France and Italy detailing car performance and various issues encountered.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 97\4\ scan0261 | |
| Date | 16th December 1938 guessed | |
| [Handwritten text] from Rm{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} [text crossed out] Note last para. 4006. unintroubles Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} noted nice conditions no By [Typed text] COPY. Hotel Moderne & Des Trois Dauphins, Rue Felix Poulat, GRENOBLE. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}, Joyce will have rung you up to say that the car is going well. Owing to 3½ days continuous rain (and are the French roads slippery ?) we staggered into Milan late on Saturday night. Having got lost on the way we had to go on a secondary road resembling a river bed. Stones bent the tin shield for the hand brake ratchet, jammed the gear lever and altered the range of damping up to hitherto unattainable amounts. Italian roads on wet nights are not my idea of motoring. To-day we have done a few miles from Menton to Lyon and thence here, and to-morrow will get the car over a pit at Chateauroux to have a look underneath. The oil cons: is improving but the gearbox still leaks at the front end. Yesterday morning on the Autostrada to Bergamo the max. mean speed allowing for speedo optimism was 94 m.p.h. Shake of the whole car is getting worse and worse. The wings, lamps and radiator all move very noticeably. The body rattled "par tout". Steering and brakes are excellent, One can go down into the gutter and out again as and when desired and never reappear on the crown of the road sideways-on as on a B.II. Air temperature until to-day has hovered round 0°C, which adds to the excitement of wet roads. Gry.{Shadwell Grylls} P.S. the nut securing the front end of the triangular stay to the torque arm is too low and dented the main street in Carcassone. | ||