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).
Feedback on a car's performance, covering issues with the clutch, hot starting, and suspension.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 109\5\ scan0024 | |
| Date | 24th March 1938 | |
| 654 Sg.{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD} from Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} O.{Mr Oldham} Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} O.{Mr Oldham} C. O.{Mr Oldham} Cx.{Major Len W. Cox - Advertising Manager} O.{Mr Oldham} LA.{L. A. Archer} Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer}9/AH.24.3.38. WXA-1. With reference to sg{Arthur F. Sidgreaves - MD}14/H21.3.38., we tried this car in company with Mx.{John H Maddocks - Chief Proving Officer} before he left for France. We agree with your remarks re the clutch, the poor hot starting is obviously inter-connected with the carburetter flooding. With regard to firing back, we have never made much impression on this problem, but in view of the fact that this has been obtained on wraith we will go into the matter again. Fortunately, this trouble never appeared on the quarterly complaint list, and does not occur if the throttle is closed when the engine is switched off. We have carefully considered your remarks re suspension. We agree that the car can be made to hit the buffers too easily and this is being rectified. The general characteristics of the suspension, however, represents what we are proposing to standardise. As a matter of fact, your car had rather more damping than the chassis in France, but we are altering this. Briefly, we have established what we consider to be the best compromise and are anxious to have outside opinion as to whether it will suit the average Rolls-Royce customer. We could not appreciate that the ride on your car was likely to make anyone sick. We should like to make it clear that it is always easy to make the springing of a car harder, but it is very difficult to make a car really comfortable, and, at the same time possess good road ability. We think we have been fairly successful in achieving this on the wraith. Rm.{William Robotham - Chief Engineer} | ||