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Rolls-Royce's design team renders kids' drawings from worldwide design contest

Back in April, Rolls-Royce put out a call to action to kids around the world. The British luxury carmaker wanted to see children design their dream Rolls-Royce of the future. The motivation for doing so? Winners get to enjoy a chauffeur-driven ride to school in a Rolls-Royce with a friend of their choice. Not a bad prize for a kid who is obsessed with cars. It’s been a few months now, and Rolls-Royce has selected a number of winners. Rolls-Royce ended up slotting all the entries into four categories: Technology, Environment, Fantasy and Fun. That means there are four winners, but three other ideas were so good that Rolls gave them “Highly Commended” awards. Rolls-Royce said it received submissions that were inspired by unicorns, space travel, bumblebees, Pablo Picasso and the Egyption pyramids. After selecting all the winners and “highly commended” entries, Rolls-Royce had its design team transform the drawings into digitally-rendered illustrations. They used the same software and processes that theyÂ’d use when working on an actual Rolls-Royce design. You can click through the winners in the gallery at the top, or scroll down below to see them all, along with their corresponding descriptions. Winners: Technology: Bluebird II Rolls-Royce is back to breaking world speed records! Environment: The Capsule For Earth lovers and those that have peoplesÂ’ health at heart. Fantasy: Turtle Car Inspired by sea and land turtles, the Turtle Car can transport patrons not only by sea and land but by air too. Fun: Glow A dream for the future. This timeless Rolls-Royce demonstrates the full spectrum of creative vision. Highly Commended: Bolt The Pinnacle of Intergalactic Space Travel Prosperity The Rolls-Royce Prosperity is only for the most exacting patrons, who believe ease of travel should never be compromised. House of Esperanto This ultimate flying machine can communicate with every creature and combines all the convenience of a house with the mobility of a car. The ground-breaking technology that allows this development is brought to humanity by a mysterious bird that has been living in outer space for a million years.

Rolls-Royce debuts Phantom Drophead Coupe Waterspeed Collection

For the next act in its Bespoke Collection, Rolls-Royce has found one of its own to celebrate with the Phantom Drophead Coupé Waterspeed Collection, noting the achievements of British land and water record-holder Sir Malcolm Campbell. Like a few other racers of his era in the 1920s and 1930s, Campbell used his Bluebird Motor Company and Bluebird Garage to fund his interest in motorsports. He would break the waterspeed record in 1937 in his Bluebird K3 powered by a Rolls-Royce R engine, traveling 126.33 miles per hour on Italy's Lake Maggiore.
We've seen sketches of what Rolls-Royce intended with the Waterspeed Collection, and the real thing is just as handsome, and the new model includes a number of firsts for the marque. The Maggiore Blue exterior paint is also used for highlights on the engine, the polished wheels, two-tone steering wheel and the dashboard. The tonneau cover normally finished in teak is instead done in hand-finished brushed steel, a closer contrast to the Windchill Grey interior. The Abachi wood veneers have also been bookmatched so that their grain evokes the wake of a speeding boat.
The droptop will be shown first at the Bluebird Garage Cafe in London on the site of the original garage, after which it will get its first wider showing at the Concorso D'Eleganza at Villa D'Este later this month. The press release below has a lot more detail on the finer detailing of the Drophead Coupe Waterspeed, and the images above are worth at least 8,000 words.

Rolls-Royce spotted testing even sportier Wraith

A Rolls-Royce is not what you'd typically consider to be "sporty." Luxurious. Stately. Even powerful, packed as they are with twelve-cylinder engines displacing in excess of six and a half liters. The Wraith set out to change that with a sportier package, more rakish profile and an even more potent version of the Ghost's 6.6-liter twin-turbo V12 to make it the fastest and most powerful Rolls-Royce ever made. But now it seems Goodwood is working on an even more aggressive version.
Spotted undergoing testing in parent company BMW's home country of Germany, this particular Wraith might strike you as the same one we've already seen, save for a few telltale details. It may be wearing the same rolling stock as the existing model, with what look like the same tailpipes protruding ever so elegantly around back, but at the bottom of the front bumper and atop the rear trunklid you'll notice more assertive spoilers added on.
To what end, we cannot be certain, but our spotters on the ground seem to think this is a prototype for a more extreme version of the Wraith - possibly inspired by the attention garnered by the Bentley Continental GT3-R. Could we be looking at a Wraith V-Specification like we saw with the Ghost? We'll have to wait to find out for sure, but in the meantime you can scope out the virtually undisguised prototype in the gallery of high-resolution spy shots above.