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 discussing the composition and quality of various petrols available in France.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 150\1\ scan0145 | |
| Date | 25th July 1936 | |
| Paris. Sr21/Dn25.7.36. RE: ETHYL-LEAD PETROLS. ---------------------- Referring to your H17/H23.7.36 as you know, most grades of petrol in France, contain a certain amount of alcohol, and this was all the more true a couple of years back. Since then the numerous inconveniences have altered this state of affairs, and to-day French carburants such as Esso, Azur, Pegase, etc. can favourably be compared with your English products. The Ethyl-Lead spirits have only been marketed in France fairly recently, and have gone to improve the quality of the already existing special grade petrols such as those referred to above. Prior to that, certain of these petrols were inclined to have a greater percentage of alcohol than others such as Azur, whereas Esso had a greater proportion of Benzol. Pegase, incidentally, is very similar to Esso. We feel sure you will appreciate that a mixture of Benzol, Alcohol, and ordinary petrol, provided they are properly mixed, is a very difficult mixture to beat. After all, this is more or less what the various super-petrols in France are worked upon. Unfortunately, in many cases, the alcohol is not properly refined, and therefore could not be mixed perfectly, the result being that some people had trouble with their carburation. There is one thing we do know, and that is that we have been using all these different grades of petrol long enough in France to be quite certain of their respective values, also that they do not in any way affect the running of our cars, but rather the contrary. Sr. | ||