The Rolls-Royce Landspeed Collection celebrates record-breaking SPEED

Welcome to yet another run of limited-edition Rolls-Royces. The ‘Landspeed Collection’, which consists of 35 Wraiths and 25 Dawns, is an homage to a chap called George Eyston. 

Never heard of him? Born in 1897, Eyston was a racing driver, engineer and inventor. After serving in WW1, and rising through the ranks to become a Captain, he went on to set a number of land-speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. Three of these records were set in an eight-wheeled, seven-tonne goliath called ‘Thunderbolt’, which used a pair of supercharged 37-litre Rolls-Royce aero engines making “well over” 2,000bhp. Each. 

It made its debut in 1937, when it bettered the 301mph record set by Maclom Campbell’s Bluebird two years earlier. Eyston’s third and final record – 357.497mph, set in September 1938 – stood for a just under year before it was beaten by John Cobb. 

To commemorate Eyston’s achievements, these limited edition Wraith and Dawn Black Badges are finished in a special two-tone colour scheme that “transitions under sunlight from light blue to silver, illustrating the reflections of both the vast sky over Bonneville and the crisp salt flats on Thunderbolt’s aluminium body”. 

Inside, notable features include the ‘Starlight’ headliner that depicts the sky as it was on the night of Eyston’s final record, sketches of Thunderbolt etched into the centre console and dashboard trim that's supposed to replicate the Flats’ cracked surface. 

The Wraith Black Badge Landspeed will take to the hill at this weekend’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where Rolls is also displaying several uniquely specified models to show-off its ‘Bespoke’ personalisation programme.