Rolls‑Royce Dawn Black Badge revealed, and it's debuting at FOS!

And this time, in a Rolls-Royce first, it comes with a dashboard button, marked ‘Low’, to change the standard V12 exhaust woofle to what Rolls says is a “menacing bass-baritone”, in keeping with the extra driver focus the Black Badge offers.

The Dawn is the third Black Badge model after Ghost and Wraith and makes its debut – noisily, we hope! – at the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, up the road from where it was conceived and made.

Black Badge has proven a hit since it was first unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in 2016, in what the company says was a “transformative” moment. Black Badge customers tend to be younger disruptors who see themselves differently from the popular idea of a Rolls-Royce owner.

Now it’s time for the Dawn to get something of the night about it…

As well as offering “a new and darker sensual dimension” – basically that means turning all the shiny trim parts black, including the Spirit of Ecstasy – there’s been a fundamental engineering update.

The Dawn BB gets bigger brakes, quicker steering, that new exhaust system, and suspension aimed at “more spirited driving”. There are also tweaks to the twin-turbo V12 that result in more responsive throttle and transmission as well as another 30bhp (now 593bhp) and a small torque boost to 620 lb-ft. It all amounts to what Rolls calls “a perfectly stately Rolls-Royce touring experience at low speeds and a highly engaging drive when the driver seeks to ‘push on’.”

Pushing on the Goodwood hill at the weekend will be a Dawn Black Badge in…black. In fact, it is what Rolls calls “the deepest, darkest and most intense black to ever grace a production car surface.” 

If you don’t see it coming you’ll certainly hear it! 

See the Dawn Black Badge in action at FOS! Tickets are still available for the 2017 Goodwood Festival of Speed. For more information visit ticketing.goodwood.com!