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Rolls-Royce Spied on Customers to Create the Superlative Spectre
The Black Badge Spectre is not only the most powerful Rolls-Royce ever made, but it’s also the first to be developed with the aid of espionage. Rolls-Royce engineers analyzed the driving behavior of a group of its best Black Badge customers (with their permission, of course) over hundreds of thousands of miles to determine exactly how they used their cars.
The data captured from this real-world use revealed that customers tended to access maximum power for short bursts of acceleration rather than over longer periods. That led to a new Infinity mode for the electric coupe which unleashes the maximum 650 hp and triggers the most direct throttle response.
There’s also a Spirited mode that provides “a burst of intense, instantaneous acceleration,” otherwise known as launch control. When activated, the Black Badge Spectre will hurl itself from 0 to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds.
To cope with the increase in power (73 hp, up from the standard Spectre’s 577), Rolls-Royce has wisely made a number of tweaks to the chassis, including increasing the steering weight and reducing body roll with enhanced dampers which also tame acceleration squat and brake dive without a negative impact on the Spectre’s Magic Carpet Ride.
Vapour Violet paintwork makes its debut on the Black Badge Spectre, along with a contrasting hood in Iced Black. Buyers can pick from more than 44,000 colors or even create their own unique paint hue. There’s a new, hand-painted coachline dubbed “waft” and 23-inch five-spoke alloy wheels, while all the brightwork is now dark—including the Spirit of Ecstasy herself.
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She features inside as well, as part of an abstract artwork on the fascia that incorporates the infinity symbol and is made up of 5500 “stars” set against a Piano Black “sky.” It’s contained within a frame made of carbon fiber, metal thread, and Bolivar wood. The Black Badge symbol is stitched into the section between the rear seats. Digital customization of the interior allows owners to choose between five different color themes for the instrumentation.
All of these features were developed in collaboration with a select group of clients who were so keen to get their hands on a Black Badge model that Rolls-Royce built them an early “clandestine fleet” before the car was officially announced. These customers had to promise not to spill the secret, and they seemingly were delighted to be part of the conspiracy.
“A small tranche of secret Black Badge Spectres was built for a group of clients who requested the earliest possible access to this motor car,” says Dr. Bernhard Dressler, director of engineering for Rolls-Royce. “They emphatically approved of our engineering response, highlighting the powerful connection between Rolls-Royce and its clients.”
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I’m ordering mine as soon as I get this canvas camisole off…
I doubt anyone will thank you for sharing.
I do like the Purple Reign color we have going on here. You might have to be a Prince to own it.
And you would enjoy A Little Red Corvette a lot more.
Calling it espionage and spying is a stretch when they had customers’ permission but it did get me to open an article I otherwise wouldn’t have, and catch a clear typo at the horsepower increase.
Hard to find a more boring group to spy on. Oh, and the 0-60 time for a ZR1 Corvette is 2.3 seconds. Is 4.1 seconds correct?