00:00Welcome to a very secret corner of Goodwood, the home of Rolls-Royce motorcars.
00:05It's here in our dedicated coach-build facility that the first expression in the next chapter
00:11of our contemporary coach-building movement was hand-crafted. La Rose Noire Droptail represents
00:19a bold, daring and sophisticated personal expression inspired by the black baccarat rose.
00:27Now, as a design team, the significance of creating the only modern interpretation of
00:33the roadster body style was not lost on us. In many ways, we felt liberated to fundamentally
00:39re-examine the tenets of Rolls-Royce design, and that is perhaps no more evident than here
00:45with the interpretation of our iconic Pantheon grill. For the first time in the Marx history,
00:52the normally upright and straight veins are actually inclined here at the top with this
00:57kinked impression. And this kink together with the deeply recessed headlamps creates this strong,
01:03heavy brow impression to the front of the car. Now, also down in these lower corners where we
01:08would typically have a rectangular conclusion to the grill, we have introduced for the first time
01:12a chamfer. And this chamfer together with the deep drawer projects a more functional aesthetic to the
01:18grill that is familiar with the roadster concepts of old. What you will also notice here is a unique
01:25finish to the grill treatment itself that also extends to all of the metal work across the exterior.
01:31And here, we actually developed an entirely new technological finish, which we've named HydroShade.
01:37As we move to the flanks of the car, you can see how we have been guided by the pursuit
01:42of reduction.
01:42In pairing back the surfaces, and what remains is executed with a level of clarity that can only be
01:50achieved with a hand-built, coach-built motorcar. In the lower areas is a unique lower intake that
01:56also carries the colour of the exterior paint True Love. So as touched on, La Rose Noir is inspired by
02:04the
02:04black Baccarat Rose. Native to France and beloved by the mother of the commissioning family,
02:10its deep pomegranate hue and velvet-like quality is transformed under intensive light to show
02:18accents of red. Now, in side view, we can immediately appreciate the unique stance that
02:24Droptail carries, particularly its proportions. In the first instance, you have a very short front
02:30overhang, but also a strong rearward inclination to the face of the car. In the rear, we have a more
02:35compact overhang than we are typically used to seeing on Rolls Royces. But perhaps more profoundly,
02:41you have this extremely generous body side section to a very shallow windscreen proportion. This
02:47visually pushes the occupants deep down inside the interior, cosseting and protecting them a particular
02:53attribute of a roadster body type. What you will also notice is a general distillation and purification
03:00to the form. Here, together with the clients, we were insistent that the surfaces must remain
03:05uninterrupted. Typically, we would find the Rolls Royce monogram together with the indicator in this
03:11area on the car. And we took the unprecedented step of integrating the indicator into the forward
03:17area of the door handle and also taking the Rolls Royce badge and for the first time in its history,
03:23deconstructing it and visually representing it here with this beautiful silhouetted double RR executed
03:29with the ingot and laid atop the sail cowl elements. Now, as we come to the rear of drop tail,
03:36we can
03:36immediately appreciate the strong impression of sculpture, particularly the taper towards center
03:42line. The view is dominated by this transom surface, which in many ways mimics the construct of a yacht.
03:50It also serves as an uninterrupted canvas for the placement of these jewel-like rear tail lamps.
03:56And while highly modern in their execution here, they actually serve as a historic nod to the early
04:02roadster bodied Rolls Royces. The dynamic nature of the roadster body is also evident in the proportion
04:10of the lower diffuser element that establishes the width, particularly the rear track of the car.
04:16This is, of course, a driver's car, and therefore there are demands aerodynamically placed on this
04:24rear area. Now, we were able to, let's say, develop and work with these demands by creating an
04:30aerodynamically sculpted profile in this rear deck area, which together with this floating element here,
04:37provides the downforce for the car when it's traveling at speed.
04:40And as we follow the car line back up, we arrive at the interior, where we can immediately appreciate
04:47the three key design gestures. The first is the shawl element that takes the line that develops off the
04:53front of the grille, comes rearwards into the waste rail, before then enveloping the two occupants and
04:59cosseting them. This provides the level of romance, the level of intimacy that one would expect with a
05:04two-seater proposition. Secondly, you can see the centre console plinth, this beautiful elliptical element
05:12that is more akin to what you would expect to find in an architectural space rather than in an automotive
05:18one. And this element sits high, again giving the impression that the occupants are deep down and
05:23protected within the cabin space. And the final gesture is, of course, the instrument panel, reflecting the
05:29materials and the colours of La Rose Noir, in particular the inclusion of the red accent together with the
05:35high precision metalwork, but as a first for us also the incorporation of the parquetry into the centre
05:43needle coins of the dials themselves. By way of the client's request, we work together with Audemars Piguet
05:50to produce and integrate one of their unique high complication timepieces into the fascia panel of
05:58the car itself. But moreover, fulfil the exacting wishes from the client that it should also be
06:04wearable on the wrist. Now, when the client is to enter the car, they can then remove the timepiece
06:10and place it into the clasp holder here, where it will retreat back into the instrument panel and the
06:16straps can be stowed separately. And then, of course, to the real showpiece of La Rose Noir.
06:21The simple request from the client was to create the impression of floating roses as if they had
06:27been scattered across the interior by hand. Here, there's this beautiful merger between the tried and
06:33tested techniques of an age-old practice of parquetry with an achingly modern design that represents an
06:40abstract depiction of the rose petals. These triangular elements are made up of 1,603 individual
06:48pieces. It took three years to move from the formative development through to the production of
06:54the piece that you see in here. Now, this highly contemporary depiction of the rose petals is not
06:59just exclusive to the interior. We actually bring the theme out onto the aft deck here. Now, interestingly,
07:06we execute it with a completely different technology, pulling on the very best skills within our paint
07:11area. Here, the artisans depicted 96 individual rose petals executed in the true love paint that we find
07:21on the main flanks of the car, building on the foundation of the mystery base layer. But more
07:27interestingly, they're all hand stenciled and hand sprayed, but done so in a way as the client insisted
07:33that there could be no visible detection between the surfaces to understand that they had been
07:39applied by hand. With the roof fitted, droptail is transformed from a lithe open top roadster into
07:45a dramatic and formidable looking coupe. Here, as a design team, we actually studied 1930s hot rods from
07:53the west coast to appreciate the generous body side section to the very shallow glass proportion in here,
08:00together with the fast and accelerating roof line here. This was actually a feature that the
08:07commissioning client of La Rose Noire droptail pushed us further with, to really exaggerate the speed and
08:13the length of the line work, pulling it as far rearward as it could possibly go before truncating it here
08:18at the rear, mimicking the treatment of the cap roofs on 1920s Rolls-Royce Roadsters. And here, we pioneered a
08:27large application of glass, a beautiful uninterrupted and rather pure treatment here that sits across the
08:34entire upper surface of the roof itself. Now, while that is impressive, the real ingenuity is that it
08:40incorporates electrochromatic technology, allowing the client at the touch of a button to transform from
08:47an opaque sun-shaded protection to complete translucency, taking in the view up and out of the cabin of the
08:54car.
08:55Our contemporary movement of CoachBuild is about creating something artful that has real meaning.
09:02La Rose Noire droptail is glamour distilled, imbuing the personal passions and distinctly bold visions
09:10of the commissioning couple. And it is all the more extraordinary for it. It is an elevated statement
09:19of true connoisseurship.
09:24Self-induced consciousness and feeling of the landscape.
09:24So, I think that it is an elevated statue of the town, like remember the main object of the
09:25body, and on the display of the house.
09:25This is a very huge form of true connoisseurship.
09:26It's an elevated statue of the house in the mainная area.
