Rolls-Royce sends off last V12-powered Wraith with 12 ultra-rare editions

Rolls-Royce has unveiled the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow to mark the end of production of this range and the last V12-powered vehicle it will make before embarking on a new electric era.

Only 12 examples of this special Wraith will be made.

The Wraith was launched in 2013 as a more performancefocused luxury car than the Phantom and Ghost, aimed at attracting younger customers to the brand.

In 2016 it was followed by the Black Badge Wraith, a potent expression of this dramatically styled fastback.

When considering how best to mark the end of the Wraith era, Goodwood’s designers and engineers looked to 1938, to Captain George Eyston, who set a world land speed record of 575.335km/h with a polished aluminium-bodied, seven-tonne, eight-wheeled leviathan equipped with two Rolls-Royce V12 “R” Series aero engines.

Nicknamed Thunderbolt, the shimmering body made it almost impossible to tell precisely when it passed the timing equipment, thus Eyston’s solution was to paint a large yellow circle motif with a black arrow on the car’s sides.

This is what gives today’s Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection its name and historical context.

Bespoke finishes include a full colour graduation between two tones — Celebration Silver and Black Diamond.

A glass-infused “Crystal” paint overlayer has been applied to the Black Diamond paint, achieving a motion blur effect from front to rear.

Contrasting with the paint are bright yellow bumper inserts and pinstripes, V-struts, located behind the radiator grille and a bright yellow ring around the carbon fibre Spirit of Ecstasy.

Inside, bright yellow leather seats and exclusive artwork on the fascia that depicts the V12 engine are further highlights.

The Black Arrow’s coach doors are also lined with openpore black wood, designed in multidirectional, lasered marquetry to mimic the cracked, irregular surface of the Bonneville Salt Flats where Thunderbolt broke the records.

The starlight headliner incorporates 2,117 fibreoptic “stars” arranged as they would have appeared over the Salt Flats in Utah on September 16 1938, the date of Eyston’s final record.

An exclusive plaque inscribed with the V12 monogram in bright yellow is mounted on the engine cover to signify this as the last V12 ever to be fitted to a RollsRoyce coupé.

Outputs of the 6.6l V12 remain at 450kW and 840Nm. All 12 cars in the Black Badge Wraith Black Arrow Collection are already spoken for. —