Rolls-Royce Landspeed Collection revealed

Rolls-Royce has unveiled a pair of strictly limited-edition models in honour of three-times world land-speed record holder, Captain George Eyston.

Just 60 examples of the Rolls-Royce Landspeed Collection models – including 25 versions of the Dawn and 35 of the Wraith – will be produced and all of them are already been spoken for.

Special touches for Landspeed Collection models include a Starlight Headliner that features the same night sky as the Bonneville Salt Flats on September 16, 1938 – the date Eyston and his vehicle ‘Thunderbolt’ set the third and final world land-speed record.

Meanwhile, exterior design touches including two-tone yellow and black bumper inserts representing the original Thunderbolt’s simple paint scheme, while inside the cabin there’s a clock finished in the same colour scheme.

Rolls-Royce Dawn Black Badge Landspeed Collection models come with the Silver Island mountains engraved on the surface between the rear seats, while wooden veneer panels on every Landspeed Collection model’s dash and centre console have been resurfaced and engraved with tiny fissures to represent the distinctive texture of the Flats.

Rolls-Royce says a subtly perforated dark detail in the upper-centre of the steering wheel also extends to the centre-line of the driver’s seat, to accentuate both Wraith and Dawn’s driver-focussed appeal.

Each model will also feature Thunderbolt’s silhouette, as well as its three record-breaking speeds, laser-engraved on the front tunnel, while the driver-side door of each vehicle features the same ‘Grosgrain weave silk’ and ribbon colours awarded to Eyston during his lifetime.

The Collection celebrates Eyston, a Cambridge University graduate racing driver, gifted inventor and engineering genius who broke the world land-speed record three times in the late 1930s with the same car – Thunderbolt.

It was powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce R supercharged 37-litre V12 aero engines producing an enormous 1491kW. The motors are now preserved and on display at the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon and the Science Museum in London.

Thunderbolt itself, however, was destroyed in 1946 when fire ripped through the building it was stored in.

“With this Collection, we have revived Eyston’s memory and retold his remarkable story,” said Rolls-Royce Motor Cars boss, Torsten Muller-Otvos.

“Throughout Wraith and Dawn Landspeed, clients will find numerous subtle design element and narrative details that recall and commemorate his amazing achievements, grand vision and exceptional courage.”