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Senna director working on biopic about Rolls-Royce founders

Asif Kapadia, the director of the amazing motorsports documentary Senna, has signed on to helm Silver Ghost, a film about the earliest days of Rolls-Royce. Martin Scorsese is among the movie's producers, and Lord Richard Attenborough was involved with the project before his death. Silver Ghost would tell the story of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce at the beginning of the 20th century. Automotive pioneer Lord John Douglas-Scott Montagu and his wife would also have roles. It seems that the film will involve the story of how Montagu's mistress, Eleanor Velasco Thornton, inspired the iconic Spirit of Ecstasy hood ornament. "What struck me when I read Silver Ghost was how this true story weaves together the lives of five remarkable people that changed the destiny of the Western world and I am delighted to be working together with the legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese and Anthony Haas to bring it to the screen," Kapadia said in the announcement. "Most of the filming is due to take place in England and the intention is for production to begin later this year," project spokesperson Brigitte Hill told Autoblog. She wouldn't unveil anything about the cast at this stage, understandably. We first heard about Silver Ghost in 2012 when Scorsese and Attenborough were working on it. They reportedly had a script from Goldeneye screenwriter Jeffrey Caine and playwright Sharman Macdonald. Silver Ghost is among several automotive biopics that could arrive in cinemas. A Ferruccio Lamborghini film might start shooting this summer, and Robert De Niro has a Ferrari movie in the works. Leonardo Di Caprio also already has the big-screen rights to a future book about the Volkswagen diesel scandal. That's a huge crop of car movies, and we couldn't be more excited about it. Related Video: X ASIF KAPADIA TO DIRECT FEATURE LENGTH DRAMA SILVER GHOST PRODUCED BY MARTIN SCORSESE & ANTHONY HAAS 29/01/16 from Beaulieu Print this page Add this release to Your Downloads Asif Kapadia is to direct the Martin Scorsese/Anthony Haas produced feature film drama SILVER GHOST. The project will be a co-production between Scorsese's Sikelia Productions and Zuma Productions.

Bloodhound hits 210 mph in test for land speed record run

It was actually 210 miles per hour, 10 mph faster than promised. The rest of the day went swimmingly, and on schedule, by the Bloodhound land speed record team. "The car ran for 20 minutes, and it did two full-power runs, with full power for 5 seconds, and 0 to 200 mph in just under 9 seconds," said Mark Chapman, Bloodhound's chief engineer. "So the exciting bits were about 18 seconds long, but people were here from dawn to dusk. The atmosphere was unbelievable." Bloodhound, which will travel at 70 mph simply on the idle of its EJ200 jet engine, had to be held back on the brakes before wing commander Andy Green floored it for 5 seconds. The jet flamed and roared on afterburner and then it was over. I might have given a little squeak; it was mightily impressive. "This is a really big engine," said Richard Noble, Bloodhound project director and former land speed record holder, "and when it runs, there's a flame and a crackle and boom, and people think, 'My goodness, that's really something.'" It was, and Green might well have thought so when he first came to apply the brakes in testing for the inaugural public run last week on the runway at RAF St Mawgan near Newquay in Cornwall. "We've had some interesting times working out how carbon brakes work, because they do take a while to warm up," said Chapman. "The cockpit footage online shows Andy's eyes looking like dinner plates when he puts his foot on the brake and nothing happens for a bit." Typically, Green took it all in his stride. He is one of just three people alive to have traveled at 600 mph on the ground (Richard Noble and Craig Breedlove are the others) and was hugely impressed with Bloodhound. "The car is absolutely fabulous," he said. "From day one, it felt right: crisp and precise, you can feel it on the road; it's super. There was only one slight surprise on the braking and that was more to do with the engine over-swing." This meant that the Rolls-Royce Eurofighter engine wouldn't shut off immediately when Green lifted from the throttle. "That delay was a real surprise to us," he said, "because all previous jet cars have had mechanical fuel-control systems where a rod closes a valve and a quarter of second later, all thrust has gone. The EJ200 engine, though, manages its own fuel supply based on what the digital throttle request is, and it takes quite a lot longer to stop.

Rolls-Royce's CEO shares his 3 favorite details of the Spectre EV

Rolls-Royce's first electric car, the $420,000 Spectre, has arrived. At a press event marking the EV's launch, the brand's CEO, Torsten Muller-Otvos told Insider he's proud of what Rolls-Royce has achieved in a big-picture sense — by transplanting the essential character of a Rolls into a vehicle with a completely novel powertrain and fuel source. But when asked about his absolute favorite parts of the new model, a few smaller, more subtle details sprang to mind.  Those taillights Rolls-Royce is renowned for painstakingly making sure every detail on a vehicle is as elegant as possible. Look closely at the Spectre's taillights and you'll notice they're single, uninterrupted parts, plunged into a smooth, uninterrupted body panel. Rolls-Royce says this sophisticated look is meant to evoke "islands in a lake." Most cars' taillights are broken up by a trunk lid, or butt up against a gap in the bodywork. That makes things easier, the brand's design director, Anders Warming, said. But the Spectre isn't most cars.  Achieving that look and making sure everything was water-tight took lots of engineering, Muller-Otvos said.  "The effort we've put into those rear lights to give them that shape and also more or less stick them into the body was quite something," he said. "We finally got there, and it works." A grille? On an EV? What's a Rolls-Royce without its iconic, upright grille? It's such a recognizable design element that Rolls-Royce decided to keep it for the Spectre, even though there's no radiator or engine up front. "I also love the detail of the Pantheon grille, because that was also something not in any way debatable," Muller-Otvos said. "You might argue you don't need a grille because there is no cooling air needed, but obviously this is such a signifier of our brand that we said it's unthinkable not to have one." Muller-Otvos said the company went to great lengths to adjust the grille's design so it would deflect air around the car and aid aerodynamics. In an EV, every bit of drag you can eliminate adds driving range.  A brake pedal with a new feature Every new Rolls has doors that electronically swing shut at the push of a button. The Spectre introduces a new feature that makes things even more effortless. Now all you need to do is hop in and press the brake pedal, and the driver's door closes automatically.  Read the original article on Business Insider