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 2 of a road test report detailing a car's performance, handling, and suspension characteristics at high speed.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 3\6\ 06-page081 | |
| Date | 6th November 1935 guessed | |
| -2- impossible test with the average sports car, and generally resulting at least in oiled or sooted up plugs. Nothing happened at all; there was not the slightest trace of oil smoke from the exhaust pipe on opening up to clear the plugs. The remainder of the day's run was accomplished at the highest speed possible under the prevailing traffic conditions; returning to London through Bournemouth, Salisbury, Andover, Newbury and Maidenhead. I mention all this to show you what sort of a run I gave the car. The route is exactly the same that I took a Phantom Rolls which you lent me once before. It is a very good test run as it involves all sorts of roads met with under ordinary conditions, though not, of course, any hill work. The route is one that I have frequently taken my own cars over and I know exactly what they can do. The cars which I compared the Bentley to are the Mercedes S.S., Alfa-Romeo type 8 c. and the 6 cyl. The maximum speed that I attained was 4,500 revolutions on top. I succeeded in getting to this on two occasions, once between Basingstoke and Winchester, and once again going across Salisbury Plain. The speedometer showed 100 m.p.h. exactly, but I do not know whether the speedometer is accurate or not. At all speeds the car was extremely steady, did not tend to snake at all on the road, and appeared to be relatively unaffected by the existence, or otherwise, of high camber. The car is not sprung for really high speeds; the springing appears to be very light and supple, and the shock absorbers do not dampen out sufficiently the pitching motion of the car when going over hump-backed bridges, or along inferior stretches of road. I tried to see whether it was possible to adjust the shock absorbers but could not really find any means of doing so. Some form of tele-control shock absorber would have been a great improvement. I found that the springing also affected the cornering at high speeds, giving the car a tendency at times to wander in front on fast bends. Contd.. | ||