Key Points:

The Rolls-Royce Wraith is a luxury grand tourer, based on the chassis of the Rolls-Royce Ghost. Named after the original 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith, it has a two-door pillar-less coupe body style with suicide doors; a design which until the Wraith, hadn’t been utilised by Rolls-Royce since 1955.

The Black Badge is a special performance-focused edition of the Wraith, which features black detailing (including the trademark ‘Parthenon’ grille and the Spirit of Ecstasy mascot), while the interior is fitted with either aluminium-threaded carbon fibre composite or gloss black trim.

Its 6.6-litre twin-turbocharged V12 puts out the same 623bhp as the standard Wraith, though it now produces 642lb ft of torque (an increase of 52lb ft), driving the rear wheels through a new eight-speed transmission with its own specific software mapping. While in sport mode, it will use lower gears for longer, downshift earlier and swap ratios faster than normal. This mode works with a new throttle map, which adjusts the timing and speed of gearshifts according to how hard the driver accelerates; a stark contrast to the deliberate delay built into the standard chauffeur-focused Wraith. 

The front brake discs are an inch larger, not to supply extra performance, but to allow more ‘feel’ through the brake pedal. There are new drive shafts, lightweight alloy and carbon fibre wheels, and a reworked suspension and steering set-up designed to react faster and resist body roll. The result is a 0-60mph time of 4.3 seconds, and a limited 155mph top speed. 

Rolls-Royce declines to call the Black Badge a performance car, but it does describe it as ‘the most powerful, fastest and most engaging to drive Rolls-Royce that we have ever made.’ In 2016 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, racing driver Justin Law hustled the Black Badge up the iconic hill climb in the sixth-fastest timed road car run of the weekend, finishing ahead of the Jaguar F-Type SVR, McLaren 675 LT, McLaren P1 GTR and Aston Martin Vantage GT8.