For 5 days, we got the keys to a Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge. To learn everything you need to know about the car, read our review here. To test the car we took the Ghost Black Badge on a two day trip into Snowdonia. The goal was to show off this modern example of British engineering in impressive and unaltered landscapes of the country.
Set off From Birmingham
We set off from Birmingham, heading for the Snowdonia region of Wales, with our final destination for the evening being The Royal Victoria Hotel. 50% of the journey to Wales is motorway or dual carriageway roads and as you can imagine, in the Rolls-Royce Ghost there is no better way of travelling. The car was impressively smooth to drive and the noise insulation in the car is incredible – the best around. Cruising on the motorway, having a catch up with the team (Ross Jukes and Daniel Barnett) and discussing the plan ahead was similar to sitting in your own living room, perfect.
Getting Into The Wild
Off the motorway, powering our way through various country roads isn’t the typical environment for a Rolls-Royce. The car has large dimensions and did start to feel big on some of the tighter bends and narrow roads. As the driver, I did take it pretty easy as I didn’t want any damage to come the way of this £300,000 masterpiece.
After around 2.5 hours we got our first glimpse of the impressive landscape and copped a good eye of the Snowdonia beauty. As soon as we saw the landscape we took the time to park the car up and take a look at it all firsthand. The scene was perfect. There were tall ever green hills either side and a lake lining the bottom of the valley with moody clouds over above. We did improve this environment a little by placing a 5.4 m Rolls-Royce Ghost in the middle of it, but, of course, we might be biased.
Photoshoot Begins
Excited by arriving in the area, we were keen to make the most of the car and create the best media possible. We got the cameras out the car and got moving. I love the pictures we got from the area. There is something really attractive about the Ghost Black Badge in this evergreen environment.
We explored the region looking for the best roads, landscapes and light to shoot the car in. Snowdonia spoilt us in every way possible here. You can see from the pictures that pretty much everywhere we looked there were rolling hills with endless sweeping clouds gently moving over them. Take a look below. You are looking at one of the greatest pieces of engineering of all time, in a setting of historic hills that were formed by the last ice age over 10,000 years ago. It’s incredible really.
Car Design
Spending this much time shooting the car, in the evening you spend a lot of time looking at the car. And for me I love the look of the Ghost in Black Badge trim. The car has style and appeal like nothing else I have seen. Rolls-Royce have created the Black Badge range to give a different look to their cars and possibly reach a new audience. Without a doubt, I think the styling will certainly attract a younger audience.
Exploring The Surroundings
Our last stop before arriving at our final destination was an old slate quarry and more specifically the slate museum. We liked this area as all the buildings were made of slate stone, which worked really well with the colours of our Cobalto Blue Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge. The pictures also give you a good perspective of just how wide this car is.
Resting For The Night
We arrived at our final destination for the night – The Royal Victoria Hotel. As night came we planned to take some rest and start again in the morning. It was fantastic to be able to start right in the heart of the Snowdonia region but we didn’t rest long as sunrise was around 4.30 am. We wanted to make the most of it.
Rising Early
We could head out to our chosen location and get the car in place, all before the other motorists had started their day. We had scoped out the best locations for the car beforehand and headed for one. Then, we just had to wait for the sun to rise.
Dawn Came and the Ghost Black Badge Was Ready
Once the sun came up we had everything in place for a set picture. Take a look below because we certainly managed it. We had an open road, tall Welsh mountains, nice soft light from the sunrise and a Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge. It doesn’t come much better than this. Luckily, our planning worked out in our favour.
Without a doubt the scenery was fantastic and shows the Ghost Black Badge in the best light possible. The beautiful soft light we had for this location didn’t last more than 10 minutes. It was soon covered in clouds, but we had enough time to capture two great pictures and then move on.
Moving On
We took the Ghost for a drive on the open roads, looking for the right location where the sun was hitting nicely. It didn’t take much time to find the next spot to make the car look great. Sometimes you have to take a look at the details and they don’t come more detailed than the Spirit of Ecstasy. I was quite happy with this shot that has the sunlight shooting over the back of the famous lady.
This location was up in the mountain road and overlooked a valley. As you can see, the sunlight was lighting the scene very nicely. If you didn’t know better you may have guessed the scene was shot in the south of France or similar. It was certainly a pleasant morning.
Heading On Home
Once the sun was fully up we packed away our gear and took on the 100 miles back through the windy country roads to Birmingham. Here I got plenty of opportunities to put that V12 engine into full force. To learn more about the Rolls-Royce Ghost Black Badge read the full review.
Video Highlights
