The day was not an easy one, with the usual six in the morning flight to Munich, a photo session and interview with Volkswagen engineers, followed by an afternoon flight to London and transfer to not far from the Silverstone circuit. and a half northwest of London. All for a session driving (at an airfield and on public roads) the new Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost.
Driving session… at night, for the limousine's darkened expression not to be detected by anyone, but also in keeping with the Black Badge strain: “it's not a sub-brand, it's a second skin, a kind of canvas for our special customers to give expression to its individuality”, explains Torsten Mueller Otvos, the executive director of the British brand in the hands of BMW.
Right. As is the fact that almost 1/3 of orders today are from this line, which makes the uprising its really special ingredient and which the British brand says comes from its own founders: Sir Henry Royce and C. S. Rolls.
Sir Henry Royce was born into a humble family and became one of the most renowned mechanical engineers of his time. C. S. Rolls came into the world as an aristocrat, but became known as “Dirty Rolls” for participating in important events at his Cambridge University with his white tie decorated with huge oil stains…
Disruptors ahead of time
Non-conformism and refusal to accept adhering to well-established conventions define the personality of these two men who, if they lived today, would necessarily be called “disruptors”. A neologism that had not been invented in its time, but that today is inseparable from other minds as brilliant as restless today, such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg or Richard Branson, for example.
And that, to a certain extent, life is made easier because in the middle of the century. XXI there is more tolerance and space for alternative paths than at some point in human history.
The rebirth of the brand, in 2003 by BMW, materialized with the Phantom, but soon Rolls-Royce realized that there was a new type of customer, for whom luxury and quality matter, but with less ostentation and more personalization .
That's how Ghost was born in 2009, which quickly rose to the top selling Rolls-Royce in history, even as the later release of the Grand Tourer Wraith, Dawn convertible and Cullinan SUV still failed to dethrone it.
It all started with a tuning
Black Badge is therefore a permanent range of bespoke models and it all started with a chance meeting between the CEO of Rolls-Royce and a customer.
This customer took his Wraith and made it spend a «season» in the garage of a tuning company, from which he left with the Spirit of Ecstasy, the wheels and some other parts and interior finishes dyed in black.
And as it was not a singular desire of a single customer, Rolls did what many thought was unthinkable, starting to study “dark” versions for each new model, following parallel movements in fashion with Varvatos, McQueen, among others; in architecture with the black house of O'More College; or even in the design of accessories such as the iconic black suitcase by Rimowa or the black Cassette bag by Bottega Veneta.
In 2016, the Black Badge lineage was born, which seduces the growing wave of less conservative and younger customers, both in the United States, China, Russia and even in the rest of Europe, to the point where it is possible that, with the launch of this Black Badge Ghost, half of the brand's total production will be “factory darkened”.
But with colorful accents amidst the interiors marked by technical and monochromatic materials, as Rolls-Royce designers seek to subvert the meaning of luxury associated with black. As can be seen in the Black Badge Ghost, which we finally arrived at.
a shiny black
It's touted as the purest, most minimalist and most post-opulent Black Badge to date, aimed at customers who don't wear a suit for work meetings, replaced banks with blockchain and change the analog world with their digital initiatives .
This Ghost can be dyed in one of the 44,000 shades that Rolls-Royce provides for its long robe, but it's true and well known that an overwhelming majority of customers ordering it want it well… black.
It won't be exactly as Henry Ford claimed in 1909 in preparing his Ford Model T — "it can be any color, as long as it's black" — but almost...
45 kg of the blackest paint is atomized and applied to an electrostatic charged bodywork before drying in an oven and then receiving two more coats of paint and being hand-polished by four Rolls-Royce artisans for about four hours (something totally unknown in mass production in this industry), to come up with a black that shines.
On the grid and on the Spirit of Ecstasy the treatment is different, with a chromium electrolyte (one micrometer thick, about 1/100th the width of a human hair) being introduced in the traditional galvanizing process, for the desired darkening effect. . The 21” wheels are fitted with 44 layers of carbon fiber, the wheel hub is in forged aluminum and is attached to the wheel with titanium fasteners.
A diamond pattern made of carbon and metallic fibers is embedded in the dashboard panel over multiple layers of compressed wood and cured at 100°C for over an hour.
If the customer has requested, the “Cascata” technical fiber section, on the individual rear seats, receives the mathematical symbol of the Black Badge family representing the infinite potential known as lemniscate, designed in aerospace aluminum on the cover of the Black Badge champagne cooler Ghost. It is applied between the third and fourth of six subtly dyed lacquer layers, creating the illusion that the symbol floats above the technical fiber varnish.
Air vents on the front and rear panel are darkened using physical vapor deposition, one of the few metal staining methods that ensures parts do not discolor or tarnish over time or repeated use.
Lemniscate, the symbol of infinity.
Shooting Stars
The smallest Black Badge watch ever is flanked by a world innovation debuted in Ghost: the illuminated panel (152 LEDs), which displays an ethereal glowing lemniscate, surrounded by more than 850 stars. Both the constellation and the symbol (on the front passenger side) are invisible when the interior lights are not on.
To ensure that the illumination is even, a 2mm thick light guide is used, featuring 850 stars that join more than 90,000 laser-engraved dots across the entire surface of the ceiling.
Being at night, the starry sky effect of this ceiling is even more impressive, especially when one or another shooting star passes by, which should be celebrated with another insinuating sip of a refined French sparkling wine (the function can be turned on/off).
Already sitting in the seat sometimes given to the driver (but less and less, according to Rolls marketeers) I notice that there are no shift paddles behind the steering wheel but there is, of course, the traditional "power reserve" indicator on the control panel. digital instruments, “dressed” to look like analogue.
Before the acceleration course, deep and zigzag through cones on the airfield, it is worth remembering that the Ghost is made in an aluminum structure and a specific platform (unlike the first generation, which used the base of the BMW 7 Series of the height) and which paved the way for a lower center of gravity and the fact that the engine was pushed behind the front axle was instrumental in generating a 50/50 (front/rear) weight distribution.
The latest Rolls-Royce V12 engine?
The 6.75 l twin-turbo V12 is itself a piece of engineering excellence and with added “historic value” as it is likely to be Ghost's last internal combustion engine — Rolls-Royce has already announced that it will be an all-electric brand after 2030 and as each generation of Ghost lasts no less than eight years… well, it's easy to do the math…
It's a shame that it wasn't possible to provide the Black Badge Ghost with a plug-in hybrid engine, because it would be a good way to bridge the 100% electric future of the brand, and it would also blend in well with the silence on board. of any Rolls and would make it more “compatible” with urban spaces and aligned with the minds of many of its disruptive customers.
The V12 engine is coupled with the familiar eight-speed automatic (torque converter) transmission, which extracts data from the car's GPS to pre-select the ideal gear for every occasion.
For this application, the Black Badge received an additive: 29 hp and 50 Nm more, totaling, respectively, 600 hp and 900 Nm, duly celebrated with a more solemn exhaust sound, courtesy of a new exhaust resonator and specific hardware.
Contributing to even stronger dynamics, we can select the Low mode on the fixed rod on the steering wheel (Sport would not be acceptable on a Rolls…), which causes a faster accelerator response and allows 50% faster gear changes at 90% of travel the right pedal.
Driver also has fun
Even though it was a night driving experience, this time behind the wheel of the Black Badge Ghost was even more enlightening than the journey on public roads, because the fact that it was a closed and safe route allowed for some abuses which, in turn, revealed the merits the “Planar” suspension (in honor of a geometric plane that is completely flat and level), which uses stereo cameras to “see” the road ahead and proactively (rather than reactively) adjust the suspension.
And the truth is that I could feel more variation in behavior in this Rolls-Royce (which does not have selectable driving modes for those who drive) than in most cars (some even sports) that pass through my hands with half a dozen of different suspension, engine and steering programs.
The suspension stiffens (not least because in this version the air springs gained volume to further limit the rolling of the massive 5.5 m Ghost body), the two steering axles become more incisive and the engine/box more instantaneous in response above the 100 km/h, hitting it right with the purpose of making the Black Badge Ghost more sporty…, sorry, dynamic — even keeping the shot up to 100 km/h in 4.8 seconds and the peak speed limited to 250 km/h — than Ghosts with less dark soul.
On public asphalts the damper over damper system (there is a damper in the upper triangle above the front suspension assembly) continues to function perfectly and swallows almost anything that is not flat on the road. As it should be in a Rolls-Royce, darker or less dark.
Technical specifications
| Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge | |
|---|---|
| Motor | |
| Position | longitudinal front |
| Architecture | 12 cylinders in V |
| Capacity | 6750 cm3 |
| Distribution | 4 valve per cylinder (48 valves) |
| Food | Injury direct, bi-turbo, intercooler |
| power | 600 hp at 5000 rpm |
| Binary | 900Nm between 1700-4000 rpm |
| Streaming | |
| Traction | 4 wheels |
| Gear box | 8-speed automatic (torque converter) |
| Chassis | |
| Suspension | FR: Independent of overlapping double triangles with Planar system; TR: Independent multiarm; FR |
| brakes | FR: Ventilated discs; TR: Ventilated Discs; |
| Turning direction/diameter | Electro-hydraulic assistance/N.D. |
| Dimensions and Capabilities | |
| Comp. x Width x Alt. | 5546mm x 2148mm x 1571mm |
| Length between the axis | 3295 mm |
| Cargo box capacity | 500 l |
| Wheels | FR: 255/40 R21; TR: 285/35 R21 |
| Weight | 2565 kg (EU) |
| Provisions and consumption | |
| Maximum speed | 250 km/h |
| 0-100 km/h | 4.8s |
| Combined consumption | 15.8 l/100 km |
| CO2 emissions | 359 g/km |
Note: The published price is an estimate.