The Ghost: The Purest And Most Technologically Advanced Black Badge

Adorning the dark mantle, Rolls Royce presents their most technologically advanced Black Badge motor car to date, a product that represents a new kind of Post Opulent expression.

Reengineered to characterise the alter ego of Rolls Royce that is assertive, dynamic and potent, this is the purest Black Badge motor car in the marque’s history. This is Black Badge Ghost.

Rolls Royce Motor Cars’ chief executive officer, Torsten Müller-Ötvös, remarked, “Today, we announce a product that represents a new kind of Black Badge motor car, one that seizes on the minimalist, Post Opulent design treatment that has recast the legend of Ghost but amplifies and subverts it with the application of black.”

First and foremost, the exterior. Clients are free to select any of the marque’s 44,000 ‘ready-to-wear’ colours or create their own entirely unique Bespoke hue.

Even so, the overwhelming majority of women and men who requested this darker expression of Ghost have selected the signature Black.

As such, in creating the motor car industry’s darkest black, 100 lbs (45 kg) of paint needs to be atomised and applied to an electrostatically charged body in white before being oven-dried.

After that, the motor car receives two layers of clear coat before being hand-polished by a team of four craftsmen to produce the marque’s signature high-gloss piano finish.

This process happens between three and five hours, and it is this depth of darkness that serves as the perfect canvas for clients to add a high-contrast, hand-painted Coachline.

At which, it has done much to create the Black Badge ‘black and neon’ aesthetic that has come to characterise this vivid family of Rolls Royce motor cars.

On that note, to match this dramatic coachwork, the marque’s Bespoke Collective of designers, engineers and craftspeople have collaborated to create an entirely customisable process.

Interestingly, it allows Rolls Royce hallmarks such as the high-polished Spirit of Ecstasy and Pantheon grille to be subverted.

In lieu of simply painting these parts, a specific chrome electrolyte is introduced to the traditional chrome plating process that is co-deposited on the stainless-steel substrate, darkening the finish.

To really notice the craftsmanship, one has to use a magnifying glass as its final thickness is just one micrometre, around one-hundredth of the width of a human hair.

Most importantly, each of these components is precision-polished by hand to achieve a mirror-black chrome finish before it is fitted to the motor car.

Then, complementing the overall layout, the exterior treatment is further paired with a Bespoke 21-inch composite wheelset.

Designed in the Black Badge house style and reserved for Black Badge Ghost, the barrel of each wheel is made up of 22 layers of carbon fibre.

Said layers are laid on three axes, then folded back on themselves at the outer edges of the rim, forming a total of 44 layers of carbon fibre for greater strength.

Besides that, a 3D-forged aluminium hub is bonded to the rim using aerospace-grade titanium fasteners and finished with the marque’s hallmark Floating Hubcap of the Double R monogram.

Notably, to stress the remarkable surface effect, a lightly tinted lacquer is applied to the finish but still allow clients to observe the technical complexity of the wheel’s unique carbon fibre construction.

Transitioning inside, advanced luxury materials have been meticulously created and crafted for a unique ambience in the interior suite.

Keeping close to the dramatic mechanical intent of Black Badge Ghost, the materials are accurate to the Ghost’s Post Opulent design philosophy.

Thus, a complex but subtle weave that incorporates a deep diamond pattern rendered in carbon and metallic fibres has been created by the marque’s craftspeople.

Also, multiple wood layers are pressed onto the interior component, using black Bolivar veneer for the uppermost base layer, which forms a dark basis for the Technical Fibre layers that follow.

Next, leaves woven from resin-coated carbon and contrasting metal-coated thread laid in a diamond pattern are applied by hand to the components, creating a three-dimensional effect.

Furthermore, to seal this extraordinary veneer in place, each component is preserved for one hour under pressure at 100°C.

Following that, it then gets sand-blasted to create a keyed surface for six layers of lacquer, which is hand-sanded and polished before being incorporated into the motor car.

Other than that, upon request by the client, the Technical Fibre ‘Waterfall’ section of the individual rear seats can include the Black Badge family motif of the infinity symbol known as a Lemniscate.

Rendered in aerospace-grade aluminium on the lid of Black Badge Ghost’s Champagne cooler, it is applied between the third and fourth layer of a total of six layers of subtly tinted lacquer.

Captivatingly, this creates a kind of illusion where the symbol is floating above the Technical Fibre veneer.

Apart from that, the marque’s design team elected to further enhance the noir ambience of Black Badge Ghost by subduing the brightwork.

This is where the air vent surrounds on the dashboard and in the rear cabin are darkened using physical vapour deposition.

Significantly, it is one of the few methods of colouring metal that ensures parts will not discolour or tarnish over time or through repeated use.

Moreover, the Post Opulent principles of simplicity have also been applied to dramatic effect in the Black Badge Ghost timepiece design.

Only the tips of the hands and the twelve, three, six and nine o'clock markers are picked out in a subdued chrome finish, creating a remarkably minimal clock.

Additionally other timepieces are also available within the Black Badge Ghost to suit the client’s aesthetic preference.

The timepiece is flanked by a world-first Bespoke innovation that debuted with ‘Ghost: The Illuminated Fascia’, which displays an ethereal glowing Lemniscate, enclosed by more than 850 stars.

Speaking of which, it is located on the passenger side of the dashboard, and the constellation and motif are completely invisible when the interior lights are not in operation.

For Ghost, the Lemniscate motif is illuminated via 152 LEDs mounted above and beneath the fascia, each meticulously colour-matched to the cabin’s clock and instrument dial lighting.

Ensuring the Lemniscate is lit evenly, a 2 mm-thick light guide is used, featuring more than 90,000 laser-etched dots across the surface.

Fascinatingly, this not only disperses the light evenly but creates a twinkling effect as the eye moves across the fascia, echoing the subtle sparkle of the Shooting Star Starlight Headliner.

That’s not all, the Black Badge Ghost is not just an aesthetic eye-candy, it is an experience that provides the best of everything.

Therefore, the Bespoke treatment of the Black Badge Ghost extends from the design atelier into the marque’s engineering department.

Hence, the people at Rolls Royce have collaborated to create a vivid driving personality that matched Black Badge Ghost’s visual intent without compromising the marque’s magic carpet ride.

Key to its potent character is the Architecture of Luxury, Rolls Royce’s proprietary all-aluminium spaceframe architecture that debuted with the Phantom.

Delivering more than just body stiffness, its flexibility and scalability allowed Ghost to be equipped with all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and the award-winning Planar Suspension system.

Created for the Ghost, these unrivalled qualities have been extensively re-engineered, including the fitting of more voluminous air springs to alleviate body roll under more assertive cornering.

In terms of the engine performance, the capacity of the Rolls Royce twin-turbocharged 6.75-litre V12 engine was deemed sufficient.

However, the flexibility of this celebrated power plant has been exploited further to generate an extra 29 PS (28 hp), creating a total output of 600 PS (592 hp)

.

Not to mention, the sense of a single infinite gear has also been dramatised with the addition of a further 50 Nm of torque, making for a total of 900 Nm.

Mated to that setup are Bespoke transmission and throttle treatments to further enhance the engine’s increased power reserves.

Featuring the ZF 8-speed gearbox and both front and rear steered axles, they work collaboratively to adjust the levels of feedback to the driver, depending on throttle and steering inputs.

Just like all products in the marque’s Black Badge portfolio, the ‘Low’ button situated on the gear selection stalk unlocks the Black Badge Ghost’s full suite of technologies.

This is asserted by the amplification of the motor car's engine through an entirely new exhaust system, subtly announcing its potency.

Transmitting instant power, all the torque is accessible from just 1,700 rpm and, once it is in Low Mode, gearshift speeds are increased by 50 percent when the throttle is decreased to 90 percent.

Braking prowess is needed with all that power, thus to bolster confidence when exploiting Black Badge Ghost, the braking bite point has been raised, and pedal travel decreased.

As such, a new suite of bold high-temperature brake calliper paint colours has been developed in preparation for forthcoming Black Badge Ghost commissions.

Müller-Ötvös concluded, “In the five years since Black Badge became publicly available, this bold family of motor cars has come to symbolise the pinnacle of a new type of super-luxury product, setting in motion a shift across the wider luxury industry. Subsequently, nearly all luxury makers create products that seek to capture the Black Badge spirit.”