Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coup Waterspeed Collection makes European debut

Rolls-Royce has launched yet another Bespoke collection this time for the Phantom Drophead Coupé. The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection pays tribute to Sir Malcolm Campbell and his speed records on water with the Bluebird K3 hydroplane boat powered by Rolls-Royce’s R-engine. 35 specially designed Phantom Drophead Coupés will be produced using the finest contemporary materials and an exclusively developed Maggiore Blue colour scheme. The Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection made its European debut at the the Concorso d’Eleganza at Villa d’Este.

The Maggiore Blue colour scheme, apart from adorning the exterior of the Phantom Drophead Coupé, also flows into the interiors and other parts of the car as well. For the first time in Rolls-Royce’s history, the engine is also enveloped in the same colour and so is the two tone steering wheel. The blue accents are present all over the car including the 21-inch alloy wheels.

The Phantom Drophead Coupé’s advanced aluminium spaceframe provides refined driving experience and a lower centre of gravity, combined with the reduced wheelbase and incredibly stiff body. Powered by a 6.75-litre naturally aspirated, V12 engine, the Coupé can accelerate to 60 mph under 6 seconds thanks to 453 hp of power and 720 Nm at 3500 rpm of torque. The car goes on to a maximum speed of 240 km/h and 75% of the engine power is available at just 1000 rpm.

“Sir Malcolm Campbell’s successful pursuit of world-speed records on land and water were the result of his commitment to the most exacting standards of British design and engineering excellence,” comments Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. “Such attributes are hallmarks of every Rolls-Royce motor car, ensuring the marque’s position at the pinnacle of super-luxury manufacturing. This special Collection serves to display the breadth of Bespoke personalisation available to every Rolls-Royce customer.”

For the Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection, over 400 hours are invested in each car without including the time taken to build the engine. Waterspeed’s exterior lines echo typical Rolls-Royce styling  with a long bonnet, large-diameter wheels, short front and long rear overhangs and the quintessential dynamic line descending along its flanks. Inside, the design emphasizes the airy openness of top-down motoring, embracing the elements and creating a stunning, social environment. The company’s Bespoke team has also designed a new imagining of a Bluebird logo that adorns the sides of Waterspeed in a contrasting blue.

“With Waterspeed, we have a beautiful design aesthetic combined with engineering excellence and innovation as well as the craftsmanship so associated with Rolls-Royce. Those things together have created this wonderful car and this wonderful story,” concludes Torsten Müller-Ötvös, Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

A journalist and a motor racing obsessive, Sir Malcolm Campbell is a British legend who had already won three consecutive London to Land End Trials motorbike races by the age of 23. His obsession with speed reached a new level when his Bluebird car was fitted with the 2,300bhp 36.5-litre V12 Rolls-Royce R37 aero engine. On 3 September 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell broke the 300mph barrier on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah setting a speed of 301.129mph becoming the fastest man on land. But he wanted to conquer the water and to take the record away from the competition, Garfield ‘Gar’ Arthur Wood, an American inventor, entrepreneur, motorboat builder and racer who held the record of fastest person on water at the time. The craft, Bluebird K3, was in production for 18 months and got the same Rolls-Royce R37 engine from his land-speed record car.

On the morning of 1st September 1937, Sir Malcolm took the Bluebird K3 to Lake Maggiore and set a new world water-speed record of 126.33mph. Not content with the achievement, Sir Malcolm took K3 again the next day and powered to a new record of 129.5mph, making him the fastest man on land and water.

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