Rolls-Royce Motor Cars recently unveiled the most powerful car in the marque’s history Black Badge Spectre, ‘made for clients who fearlessly reject convention’.
The Black Badge versions of the manufacturer’s main models provide the highest available performance specifications – leading horsepower and torque figures, as well as superior handling – along with the unmistakable Black Badge styling that brings a darker edge to these already outstanding icons.
Boasting bold exterior finishes, vivid interior details and innovative opportunities for Bespoke, Black Badge Spectre can also summon 1,075Nm, with a record 659hp making it the most powerful Rolls-Royce in history.
The decision to craft such a potent car was driven by the extraordinary expectations of the marque’s Black Badge clients, a group of whom allowed engineers access to their anonymised driving data, enabling analysis of their driving behaviour across hundreds of thousands of collective miles. This showed clients exploited maximum power in short pulses more than over extended periods.
Driving Force
The concept of power bursts required two powertrain innovations utilising functions that are new to Rolly-Royce Motor Cars but were previously seen in aircraft powered by the legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, including the Supermarine Spitfire.
The first is the unique Infinity Mode, a tribute to the Infinity symbol used to signify a Black Badge Rolls-Royce. Unlocked by pressing the Infinity ∞ button on the steering wheel, the full 659hp of power is made available, providing a more direct throttle response. Once activated, the dials become more vibrant to match the change in the car’s character.
The new model also features Spirited Mode, which allows a burst of intense, instantaneous acceleration. When the car is stationary, the driver engages this function by fully depressing the brake and throttle at the same time, waiting for a haptic and visual response signalling the car is ready, before fully releasing the brake. This raises the torque output to a landmark 1075Nm, unleashing a surge of force that speeds the car from zero to almost 100km/h in just 4.1 seconds.
Specialist Chassis
Several changes have been introduced to give drivers confidence when wielding the unprecedented power of Black Badge Spectre. Steering weight is increased and roll stabilisation adjusted for greater feedback from steering inputs and reduced body-roll during cornering. Enhanced dampers also increase body control, reducing ‘squatting’ under acceleration or deceleration. These upgrades balance an enhanced sense of engagement with the effortless operation and fêted ‘Magic Carpet Ride’ of Rolls-Royce vehicles.
A Dark Beauty Black
Badge Spectre debuts in a new Vapour Violet paint finish, a deep black-violet inspired by the neon ambience of 1980s’ and ’90s’ club culture – familiar to many clients. A painted Iced Black bonnet creates a bold contrast that can be paired with the marque’s palette of 44,000 ‘prêt-à-porter’ colours. Or there’s the option for owners to develop a Bespoke hue reserved for their exclusive use, in collaboration with Rolls-Royce Bespoke designers.
Alongside the regular shoulder and fender coachline options, clients can commission a ‘waft’ coachline, accentuating a crisp design line on the lower third of the body.
The model also introduces a bold new 23-inch, five-spoke forged aluminium wheel design available in a part-polished or all-black finish. Highlighting the increasingly broad geography of Black Badge clients, winter tyres are available for the new wheelset from launch.
As with all Black Badge models before it, Black Badge Spectre’s mirror-polished brightwork is presented in a signature dark finish, signalling its subversive, noire character. This includes the marque’s hallmark Pantheon Grille surround, Spirit of Ecstasy and the double ‘R’ Badge of Honour, as well as the door handles, expansive side window surround and bumper accents.
Lighting the Darkness
Rolls-Royce has developed a unique feature that enhances and intensifies Black Badge Spectre’s Illuminated Grille. A new backplate is offered in Tailored Purple, Charles Blue, Chartreuse, Forge Yellow and Turchese, allowing clients to extend their chosen colour onto this new canvas or create a unique accent to complement a coachline or the interior. This vibrantly coloured illumination can extend into the interior with newly developed Illuminated Black Badge Treadplates, available in 10 complementary colours.
The Inner Sanctuary
The rebellious character of Black Badge Spectre is obvious from the minute you open the doors.
The interior features a unique pattern on the Illuminated Fascia, which is an abstract expression of the Spirit of Ecstasy and now incorporates the Infinity symbol used across the wider Black Badge family. The fascia comprises more than 5,500 ‘stars’ of varying proportions and intensity, set in a Piano Black ‘sky’.
Framing this advanced craft feature is a richly complex Technical Fibre surface finish. This diamond-shaped weave uses carbon and fine metal thread on top of a black Bolivar wood base. The thread is laid by hand in a diamond pattern between layers of carbon fibre, creating a three-dimensional effect. Once cured, each interior piece is sandblasted, sealed with six layers of lacquer and hand-polished to a flawless finish, adding striking depth and clarity. The Black Badge Infinity symbol is also stitched into the leather ‘Waterfall’ section, which separates the rear seats.
The instrument dials can be curated with a choice of five colour themes: Vivid Grellow, Neon Nights, Cyan Fire, Ultraviolet and Synth Wave, allowing clients to harmonise the physical and digital surfaces via the SPIRIT operating system. This digital architecture of luxury also grants access to remote charging and location information and the marque’s exclusive digital members’ club, Whispers.
Design With Drama
Black Badge Spectre is born of fearless expression and focus, meticulously crafted in the image of the daring individuals it was made to serve. Its landmark power output, chassis technologies and expansive potential for Bespoke open a vivid new chapter in the highly successful stories of Black Badge – the formidable alter ego of Rolls-Royce.
Launching this groundbreaking model, Chris Brownridge, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars CEO, said: “Black Badge Spectre is one of the clearest statements of power and purpose we have ever made. It has been created in the image of our boldest and most audacious clients, with meticulous attention to detail. From the beginning of its journey, the clients who requested this extraordinary motor car dared us to share their fearless spirit. In response, our engineers combined data science, qualitative feedback and their own deep knowledge of the brand’s alter ego to craft an intense and uncompromising character and the most powerful Rolls-Royce in history. Reflecting the Black Badge character, our designers and artisans realised their most dramatic and provocative vision with vivid details and exquisite contemporary crafts. The result is Black Badge Spectre: the alter ego of our brand, amplified.”
Please visit www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com for further information.
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