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Rolls-Royce Spectre electric coupe testing moves to sunny southern France

Rolls-Royce's first series-produced electric model is well on its way to production. Called Spectre, the big coupe is undergoing shakedown testing on and off the track in the sunny south of France, and the British firm announced that development work is about 40% complete. Going electric isn't an excuse for Rolls-Royce to stray from the reputation for excellence that it has earned over the past 116 years, so engineers are putting the Spectre through the most rigorous testing program they've ever subjected a new model to. We're told that, when all is said and done, the prototypes will have covered over 1.5 million miles of testing, which represents on average more than 400 years of use for a Rolls-Royce. Some test mules were sent to freeze in Sweden near the Arctic Circle, while others were shipped to the French Riviera. Testing in France will be split into two parts. First, the Spectre will be put through its paces on the track that Rolls-Royce parent company BMW operates in Miramas, a town located about an hour west of Marseilles. Engineers will notably get the opportunity to drive the prototypes on handling courses, on a 3.1-mile oval with steep banks, and in standing water. when they have passed every challenge with flying colors, the prototypes will be sent out to the picturesque roads that zig-zag through the countryside surrounding the test track. Rolls-Royce explained it's putting a tremendous amount of effort into fine-tuning the Spectre because the coupe packs more technology than any model it has previously released. It features "141,200 sender-receiver relations and has more than 1,000 functions and more than 25,000 sub-functions," according to the company, which is around three times more sender-receiver signals than in a typical Rolls-Royce. The Spectre will inaugurate a new suspension system that promises to take the firm's Magic Carpet Ride to the next level. It relies on technology that scopes out the road ahead and on data sent by the navigation system to decouple the anti-roll bars when needed, such as on a straight road, and recouple them as the car approaches a corner. The suspension system also gets firmer ahead of a bend. Rolls-Royce hasn't released powertrain specifications yet, and the Spectre's final design remains hidden by camouflage, but the few official numbers available are impressive.

Is your brain predisposed to make you love Rolls-Royce?

XCAR has taken a look at what could very well be one of the most quintessential British cars ever built: the 1973 Rolls-Royce Corniche. The question at hand is whether or not expensive luxury items like artisan foods, designer clothing and yes, high-end automobiles are worth their monetary cost. Do they bring some undefined additional value to the table over their low-buck counterparts, or are they simply an excellent way to part a fool from his dollar bills? While the video below can't comment on four-course meals or $400 jeans, our valiant host does have a word or two on the joy a Rolls-Royce can bring to your life.
That's even true of a model like the '73 Corniche. Built during one of the darker days of the company's history, the convertible was designed and manufactured by an automaker on the verge of collapse. Still, it manages to hold on to that essential spirit of luxury so crucial to the Rolls-Royce brand. Check out the video below to see what we mean.

Rolls-Royce debuts Phantom Drophead Coupe Waterspeed Collection

For the next act in its Bespoke Collection, Rolls-Royce has found one of its own to celebrate with the Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection, noting the achievements of British land and water record-holder Sir Malcolm Campbell. Like a few other racers of his era in the 1920s and 1930s, Campbell used his Bluebird Motor Company and Bluebird Garage to fund his interest in motorsports. He would break the waterspeed record in 1937 in his Bluebird K3 powered by a Rolls-Royce R engine, traveling 126.33 miles per hour on Italy's Lake Maggiore.
We've seen sketches of what Rolls-Royce intended with the Waterspeed Collection, and the real thing is just as handsome, and the new model includes a number of firsts for the marque. The Maggiore Blue exterior paint is also used for highlights on the engine, the polished wheels, two-tone steering wheel and the dashboard. The tonneau cover normally finished in teak is instead done in hand-finished brushed steel, a closer contrast to the Windchill Grey interior. The Abachi wood veneers have also been bookmatched so that their grain evokes the wake of a speeding boat.
The droptop will be shown first at the Bluebird Garage Cafe in London on the site of the original garage, after which it will get its first wider showing at the Concorso D'Eleganza at Villa D'Este later this month. The press release below has a lot more detail on the finer detailing of the Drophead Coupe Waterspeed, and the images above are worth at least 8,000 words.