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).
The poor acceleration of the 20/25 HP chassis compared to its predecessor and competitors.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 27a\1\ Scan185 | |
| Date | 7th November 1934 | |
| PRIVATE. COPY. Paris To Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} c. Tr.{Capt. F. W. Turner - Finance} re 20/25 HP. Chassis. Herewith please find extracts of my today's Showroom Report, with which I consider you ought to be conversant. I waited longer than I intended, before bringing this matter to a head, because I wanted to be quite certain that I was not being influenced by the performance of the Bentley. It is now obvious to me that the latest type 20/25 h.p. for some reason which I fail to understand, has not got the acceleration of the old 20/25 h.p. I am getting rather worried about this state of affairs, in view of the fact that most of the customers we had on our list for a 20/25 h.p., and to whom we demonstrated the car, have purchased Packards, which sell at the same price as our chassis, and have a far better acceleration. It may be of interest for you to know that I have carried out two distinct tests with the 20/25, viz., one with Mr. Poberejsky's GAE-2 against Baron de Reuter's GNU-10 which is now a year old and fitted with a body of identically the same weight to within 10 kilos, and there is no doubt that on top speed from 10 kms. to 60 kms. an hour, the latter car has considerably better acceleration. The same remarks apply to the other test made with Mr. Boucherit's GXB-32, fitted with a body of similar weight to within a few kilos. A standing start, passing through the gears, showed a tendency for the modern 20 /25 h.p. to be a little faster, especially in 3rd speed. Mr. Poberejsky had a long talk with me about his car, and made no effort to hide his disappointment. He is anxious to know whether we can fit a lower rear axle ratio gear. I would like to point out that if we are to bring the 20/25 h.p. back to life again, after the set back we have had so far with the new model, something will have to be done to improve its acceleration. Its maximum speed of 120 kms. an hour is not a point that is worrying us, or our customers. I am very loth to trouble you with matters of this sort, but this, in my opinion, is an important one. (Sgd.) Sr. | ||