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).
Comparative road test report on Napier, Lanchester, and Packard cars against a Rolls Royce standard.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 127\1\ scan0112 | |
| Date | 11th November 1920 | |
| -2- DAL/AH11.11.20 ----------- NAPIER (contd) pulled well at low speeds, climbing a hill which I should judge to be about 1 in 16 at six miles an hour without faltering except towards the top where it began to miss and knock badly, and transmission chunking became apparent. At my request the driver flung the car about from side to side with the steering wheel, but the rolling was very slight. The car is fitted with a special anti-rolling device. The springing, however, was not very good, and was distinctly uncomfortable in the back over a bad road, and, no doubt, this would account for some of the absence of rolling. The gears were distinctly noisier than the Rolls Royce. They were what one would describe as bad. The car was able to do 40 miles per hour on third gear, and to change at that speed into top quite easily. It is, of course, a single plate clutch with dry ferodo discs. The back axle drive was very quiet. The brakes were not very powerful, and were harsh and noisy in action, but they did not produce jaggers as far as I could make out. I was not able to make this man apply his brakes as suddenly as in the case of the Hispano-Suiza driver. The driver claimed 55 to 60 miles per hour as the maximum speed that he could get, and 13 miles to the gallon consumption. LANCHESTER. This was much the worst of the four cars. The engine was full of rattles and noises, and was not as smooth running as either of the two previous cars. It appeared, however, to have a fair amount of power, but not as much as the Napier. The gearbox was extremely noisy on all the speeds, and the driver did not care to let it run for more than a few seconds. The springing was good, but certainly no better than Rolls Royce. As the car was an open one it was not possible to judge the rolling, but it appeared to be about the same as Rolls Royce. The steering was quite light and self-centering, but the road shocks were distinctly felt on the wheel. The transmission brake had a fair amount of power, and was fairly smooth acting, but the hand brakes were noisy; neither were they as smooth as the average Rolls Royce, and in the point of power, I should think, distinctly inferior. In this case also I could not make the man produce jaggering though he stopped fairly suddenly on one or two occasions. PACKHARD. In some respects this appeared to be the nicest of the four cars. The engine was very smooth and quiet, though it had a period at about 18 M.P.H. which could be felt all over the car. Running light it was distinctly quiet, though not as quiet as the average Rolls Royce. It appeared to have a fair amount of acceleration and power. The gears were noisy though I was asked to admire the particular note they gave out by the driver. The brakes were bad both as regards power, smoothness and noise. The steering was very heavy and tiring to handle - the driver himself admitting that it could not be compared with the Rolls Royce. The driver tried hard to produce brake jaggering, but he was not able to do so. | ||