AUTONEWS

Rolls-Royce Phantom Extended Regatta

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has unveiled the Phantom Regatta, a unique Phantom Extended that pays homage to the racing yachts of the English south coast and the regattas they compete in each summer on the Solent - including the historic Cowes Week.

These features, along with the neighbouring port of Chichester, are visible from the Goodwood estate, where the car will be unveiled during the upcoming Festival of Speed. They are also linked to the marque's co-founder, Sir Henry Royce, whose beloved home, Elmsted, is in the coastal village of West Wittering, just eight miles from the marque's current headquarters.

The car's exterior is painted Regatta Blue, a deep marine shade, over an English White underbody, applied as a hand-applied two-tone finish that evokes the line where a yacht's hull meets the water. The car sits on 22-inch fully polished wheels, their surfaces reminiscent of the polished steel winches of a racing yacht.

The interior color scheme evokes a yacht under full sail: deep blue water below, with white canvas above. The front is upholstered in Navy Blue leather; the rear is finished in Grace White. The seat and door trims, contrast stitching and steering wheel are presented in both shades, and the RR monograms are embroidered in turquoise, the same turquoise as the clear coastal water.

Piano Milori veneer is paired with Open Pore Royal Walnut. The picnic tables alone required around 120 hours of precision craftsmanship. They are finished like the yacht’s deck, each composed of 16 “planks” of Royal Walnut, cut from the same piece of wood to ensure uniformity in the slat pattern. Between them runs a thin piece of black Bolivar wood, just two millimeters wide and cut as a single piece to avoid visible joints, in the manner of a closed deck.

The centrepiece of the interior is a hand-painted artwork that runs the full width of the cabin. The work, called ‘Watercolour’, was created by the brand’s artist using specially developed paints on an open-pore wooden base. To capture the movement of waves and open water, the artist created a new mixing technique, perfected over two weeks on numerous test panels while the colours and application methods were tested and adapted to their vision for a faithful interpretation of the sea.

The interior, the brand’s craftsmen created the ‘Bespoke Starlight’ ceiling. The pattern design consists of 1,307 hand-laid fibre optic ‘stars’ and is inspired by the swirling tidal currents around the Isle of Wight. This exquisitely crafted reference is complemented by illuminated doors.

The car hides a detail. Each eye-shaped air vent is engraved with a set of geographical coordinates, visible only when the vent is tilted forward. The passenger-side air vent contains the coordinates of Goodwood House, 50°52'12"N 00°44'24"W; the driver-side air vent carries the coordinates of Rolls-Royce House, 50°51'13"N 00°44'40"W. The two points are located a mile apart and together fix the Phantom Regatta to where it came from.