Rolls-Royce’s newest, and most compact model is an open tourer-badged SRH. It took 400 hours of bespoke hand-crafting to create, its two-tone body mirroring more grown-up models like the Wraith with an Andalusian White and Salamanca Blue paint job, finished with St James Red coachlines.
Signature Rolls-Royce features for the first electric Rolls include self-righting RR wheel centres, two-tone steering wheel and of course the famous Parthenon grille, topped by a version of the Spirit of Ecstasy created using a 3D printer.
All in all a very special Roller then…and it is for some very special people. The clue is in the name: SRH stands for St Richard’s Hospital. The model car – created at Goodwood by members of the firm’s Bespoke team in their spare time – is Rolls-Royce’s gift to the Chichester hospital’s paediatric day surgery unit.
Children awaiting surgery will soon be driving themselves along hospital corridors to theatre in a Rolls-Royce. All whisper-quiet of course at a top speed of 10mph.
To make sure the latest car from Goodwood is up to snuff, two test drive volunteers from the paediatric unit, Molly Matthews and Hari Rajyaguru, were invited to the plant to drive the car off the line – an R-R tradition with the arrival of every new model, but until now only with the CEO behind the wheel.
“We are a proud member of the community here in West Sussex,” said Rolls-Royce chief Torsten Müller-Ötvös. “The paediatric unit at St Richard’s does vital work in providing essential care to young people and their families. We hope the Rolls-Royce SRH will make treatment a little less stressful.”
Marianne Griffiths of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “Just like the joy it will bring to our young patients, the Rolls-Royce SRH is simply priceless.”
Rolls-Royce