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).
Letter reporting on the performance and issues encountered during a Goshawk amateur trial.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 46\2\ Scan370 | |
| Date | 20th July 1922 | |
| S/W Hs.{Lord Ernest Hives - Chair} Y4086 C8/C20.7.22. Goshawk Amateur Trial. ------------------- Dear Hives, I've finished my tour on the Goshawk and the car ran splendidly the whole time. I took it to Paris on Wednesday (outside), and Wallis returned it to me on Thursday afternoon, so I lost 24 hours. I took it there to change the front springs and one rear tyre. On arrival they found one bracket holding the battery had broken and that the end of the battery box was supported only by the terminals, so I was lucky in taking it in then. Wallis made new brackets and supported by the battery itself only, the battery box being broken and they had not another to fit. The air valve I cleaned after about 550 miles running; the engine was losing power badly. The Rudge Whitworth offside rear wheel squeaked badly but not until after about 750 miles. I tightened up twice, but it was still squeaking when I handed the car over to Bk.{A. Birkett - Commercial Manager} He tightened up both rear wheels. The new front springs were a great improvement on the old, particularly, of course, on the bad pave roads. They stopped the pitching to a great extent and I think made the jerking of the steering wheel less severe. The noisy tappet about which Maddocks no doubt reported, did not appear to get worse. The body is top-heavy, and rolls a good deal, especially when one gets half off the crown of the road. The other drawbacks to the body we already know. There is one point that caused me a good deal of discomfort, viz. cramp in the knee, due I think either to the angle or the position of the accelerator pedal; I don't know which. You will know whether anyone else has noticed it or whether it is peculiar to me, but when I got the adjustable seat fixed where it suited me to get strength on the other two pedals, I seemed to have to hold my knee in an unnatural bend to use the accelerator pedal. In the five days running I had I did 856 miles, so you win your bet that I would not do 200 miles. I could | ||