My cup of tea is... a Ghost!

Since I was a kid, it was only one thing that I really liked, cars. Then, I had to choose what I wanted to do for a living and I ended up studying BEng in Automotive Engineering Design. In order to cut a long story short, I do like cars a lot. Unfortunately, the cars I would like to own will remain in 1:43 scale, and believe me, I've got a lot of them "parked" in my home.

So far,  I have owned a Honda Civic, a Volvo C30 and now I drive an Opel Insignia. But, I always seek for a better car. You may be about to ask, "what is theny our ideal car?", but this is a tricky question. This is due to the fact that there is no perfect car, since we cannot be objective with the term "perfection". If you ask me, then perhaps a BMW 5 Series F10 is my down to earth "perfect" car, but then again, it may not be the one. Sometimes I wish for something faster that the one I drive, sometimes for more luxury, better refinement, craftsmanship, handling etc.

National lottery may be the only solution to my dreams, but since dreaming is free, sometimes I wonder what I would choose if I was loaded. Assuming that I would buy only one car (which I wouldn't...), which one would that be?! Hmm, there are so many options if you have the money... an Aston Martin DBS, a Bentley Brooklands or Azure T, a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, a McLaren MP4-12C, a Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coup� and many more. But remember, just one car! So, my final answer is... a Rolls-Royce Ghost. That's the one for me, my cup of tea!

I am not sure how I would configure it (RR doesn't have an online configurator available), but a first guess would be in English White with Silver Satin finish on the bonnet and windscreen surround, main leather hide in Pine Green, secondary hide in Seashell, Elm Cluster veneer and 20" Light alloy wheels.

If I would weak up tomorrow morning with over �300K in my bank account  (starting price in UK is around �210K), I know exactly the way to spend them... ;-)

Here are some interesting points about the new Ghost:

•  Little was seen of the new car, codenamed RR4, until the spring of 2008, when Rolls-Royce released the first official sketches


• As sightings of secret development models on the road increased, Rolls-Royce unveiled 200EX, the experimental forerunner to Ghost, at the Geneva motor show in March 2009


• The principle of delivering simplicity out of complexity runs throughout Ghost


• Designers found inspiration in contemporary furniture, architecture and luxury yachts. Ghost�s flowing lines are dominated by its majestic �Yacht Line� styling


• �Simplicity is the hardest design principle to follow.� Ian Cameron, Chief Designer
  


• The classic Rolls-Royce proportions are all present and correct: the ideal 2:1 ratio of the height of the wheels to the height of the body; the long wheelbase and bonnet; the short overhang at the front and the long overhang at the rear


• The rear doors are traditional, rear-hinged coach doors, opening to a generous 83 degrees


• �Ghost is as refined and cosseting as anything this marque has ever produced.� Charles Coldham, Interior Designer


• Contemporary interior with large expanses of soft full-grain leather, natural wood veneers and deep 100% wool Blenheim carpets


• Individual lounge seating is offered as an alternative to the standard lounge configuration. This allows the addition of a massage function and also perforated leather for a cooling stream of air from the seat surface
  


• Airsprings, electronically controlled dampers and Anti-Roll Stabilisation help create the magic carpet-like ride Rolls-Royce is famous for


• Ghost is built around a steel monocoque body, which means there is no separation of chassis and body


• The body has been engineered with a double front bulkhead to help insulate the interior from engine noise. It is constructed from steel sections and then wrapped in steel panels, which are brazed by hand. This allows a near-seamless join, which is then sanded by hand until it is perfect. In total, Ghost�s frame contains 4.9 m of seam weld and braze and 6,988 spot-welds. The bonnet and windscreen surround are then honed from aluminium


• Ghost accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4.9 seconds. It's powered by a twin turbo 6.6-litre V12 engine generating 563 bhp and delivering a maximum torque of 780 Nm available from as low as 1,500 rpm


• �Our challenge,� says Engineering Director Helmut Riedl, �has been to preserve the prerequisite levels of comfort while delivering the most modern, dynamically interesting drive ever in a Rolls-Royce.�


• Ghost is not only the most powerful car that Rolls-Royce has ever produced, but also more driver-focused than any Rolls-Royce car before it


• Ghost passes through 60 pairs of hands before it�s handed over to the customer. Modern manufacturing processes combine with traditional craft skills to turn the bodyshell into the finished car. In all, it involves over 2,000 individual operations and takes 20 days to complete


• Ghost shares the same paint shop as Phantom, and the same mirror-like finish. It takes seven days to achieve. In that time, they spend longer sanding the bodyshell between coats by hand than they do painting it. Once the fifth and final coat, a layer of clear lacquer, has been applied, it receives a further five hours of hand-polishing. Which is why when you look closely at the car's paint work, you�ll see a perfect reflection of yourself staring back at you

If you are interested enough in RR Ghost, below is the brochure of it which you can also download.