Driving Impressions Our interaction with the cars involved two separate sessions of driving. The first evening we drove the Wraiths on a new Speedway on the outskirts of the city. While not much longer than a large gokart track, the circuit had a couple of tricky corners and two reasonable straights that allowed the test drivers to show us how the Wraith could increasingly become easier to handle on the track. As the chassis tightens up, you can modulate the car better than ever before, avoiding the tail going out, while the straights were just about enough to hit 160 before braking hard. The next day’s session was much better. We first flew out in helicopters to a craggy outpost overlooking the Colorado River, deep in the Grand Canyon; the flight took us over the Hoover dam and Lake Mead. After a quick picnic lunch, we flew back again, through a refuelling stop over to a Golf course north of the city. This served as a base for the invitees to take out the Wraith Black Badge on a combination of highway and hill roads that skirts Mt Charleston and brings one back to the city. We had been warned that someone on a previous wave had been pulled over for speeding by the police and faced a hefty fine. That certainly didn’t stop us from opening up on the less populated hill roads, where we managed a bit more than expected. But the Wraith was already a quick car to start off with and although the extra torque is noticeable, what we really liked was that faint hint of raspiness out of the tail end. Again, the car isn’t go-kart steady as you take had curves, but that would be very surprising considering the bulk. What it is, is predictable. You don’t get so much of the weight shift that you normally feel; the chassis does tighten up proactively and the gearshifts are very very quick. You do take bends a little faster than you would normally have and all of this happens while the interiors stay so very ‘Magic Carpet’ like. Verdict If we were to hazard an instant, spur of the moment reaction we would say that Rolls-Royce is on to a good thing here. Instead of the usual limited runs, which undoubtedly do a lot for collectors here they sell a product at a premium and can keep that going. If you were in the market for a Wraith, you would have to be very focussed to not upgrade to the Black Badge. Either that or you really love the two-tone colour scheme. Because the Wraith is already seen as an owner driven car unlike the Ghost; which owner wouldn’t want the extra performance? But a deeper look at the Black Badge does reveal some pitfalls that the company has to steer clear of – how much do you allow the package to dilute? Do you allow regular customisation to include reserved elements at some stage? Do the wheels become available for regular models or indeed as replacements? And how do you prevent outside tuning houses from mimicking some degree of Black Badge customisation? And at what point does the new engine power settings become the new standard for the Ghost and Wraith? SEP 2016
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