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 drives of a 4 Litre Delage and 3¼ Bentley, detailing performance issues.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 22\5\ Scan153 | |
| Date | 27th November 1934 | |
| -2- Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Gry.{Shadwell Grylls}10/KW.27.11.34. The car was exceedingly tractable on the direct 3rd gear, but the gear ratios either side of this 1.6 * up and down seemed too wide. The synchromesh on 2nd and 3rd hardly worked at all, but the Maybach stops for the indirect top were very easy, a little skill however being required to prevent jerks in the transmission. 4 Litre 100 m.p.h. Delage. We also had a short run on one of these cars fitted with a Figoni openable Coupe which rattled everywhere. Ten years ago this might have been a good car. It was very noisy, very rough, had a loud exhaust boom and rode very harshly. The performance was slightly marred by the brakes seizing, the latter were spongy and the pedal went to the boards without locking any wheels or providing much deceleration. The gearbox was noisy and had no easy change devices. A run on this car brought home to one what a good car the 3¼ Bentley is. Hs{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair}/Gry.{Shadwell Grylls} | ||