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).
Page from a vehicle test report comparing steering, gearbox, and braking performance against Mercedes and Alfa models.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\6\ 06-page082 | |
| Date | 6th November 1935 guessed | |
| -3- The steering appeared to be somewhat lower geared than in the case of the Mercedes, or the Alfa; in fact I should say that the steering had probably been designed for the average performance of the car rather than for any attempt to reach its maximum speed. At speeds of about 60/70 m.p.h. the steering appeared to be very good, but at higher speeds one rather missed the more direct steering of the Mercedes and the Alfa. The gear-box is obviously a beautiful bit of work, but the position of the gear-change lever is awkward. I found that it was impossible to get through the gate from second to third without assisting my hand with my leg; it seemed to me that the lever should be more out towards the edge of the car, or else that a rocking type of lever should be fitted. The hand-brake lever was almost impossible to get at, that is to say, it could be done by reaching down past one's legs and past the side of the body and feeling for it underneath the facia-board, but it is in a very inconvenient place. As, however, it is merely a parking brake it does not really matter very much, but under such conditions I could not help wondering whether one could not have fitted an ordinary pull-up hand arrangement, or else a handle on the facia-board which need only be pulled straight out towards the driver. These are merely two ideas which occurred to me, but what I really mean is some more convenient and more accessible means of applying the hand-brake. The brakes were really wonderful. On two or three occasions I did my best to see whether I could make the brakes overheat and lose their efficiency, but they were quite unaffected by anything that I was able to do with the car, and did not appear to get very hot. I was rather surprised at this because the drums are small in comparison to the Mercedes or Alfa, but the brakes are every bit as efficient. I did not go into the question of adjusting the brakes, and I have no knowledge as to whether this is an easy matter or not, though I did see a thumb screw on the brake drum in front which I presumed was there for the purpose. P.T.C. | ||