Rolls-Royce Motor Cars kindly invited Lusso to its HQ at Goodwood in Sussex to tour the factory and take out a Rolls-Royce Phantom for the afternoon. Hey, who were we to refuse?
After an illustrious heritage of over 100 years even the name Rolls-Royce is now an expression of perfection in many endeavours far beyond just motoring. It’s always been an icon of style and engineering but with the new home and the German ownership we were intrigued to see if this luxury brand and the cars themselves still lived up to the name.
My compatriot for the day was Tim Rock – Founder of Origin Technologies, the manufacturer of the Origin b2 Driver Safety Information System. Tim is a committed motor car enthusiast and what he doesn’t know about cars is not really worth knowing. We drove down from London to Goodwood in his new Porsche Carrera S which I felt was the perfect vehicle to start the day off with – a luxury marque indeed, but such a contrast to the car we would be driving later in the day.
As we got closer to the Rolls-Royce factory I was delighted to see that the area was ideal driving country and thankfully not at all congested. I already had butterflies about driving such a large and expensive automobile, so traffic free roads would certainly help. Tim on the other hand is used to driving all manner of vehicles and was very keen to get behind the wheel. Both of us were looking forward to sitting in the back of the car as we knew that the luxury of the rear passenger must be a paramount consideration in the design of such a vehicle. After all, many Rolls-Royce owners will never actually drive the car themselves. We were not to be disappointed.
As we approached the Rolls-Royce building, we were struck by the sleek design that seemed to blend into the landscape. The factory was built in 2001 and we were informed that this harmonic design feature was intentional and that the whole plant is based on environmentally aware principles. Stepping through the huge glass automatic doors I wondered how many company reception areas could comfortably display three Rolls-Royce cars and still remain so incredibly bright and spacious.
This feeling of light space is not confined to the reception and as we ventured upstairs to the first walkway over the plant, we were amazed by the cleanliness of the factory itself. It smelt almost as sterile as a hospital with not a trace of oil, grease or dirt on the floors, walls or equipment.
Our guide for the day, Jon Stanley from Rolls-Royce informed us that the factory was designed to allow as much natural daylight into the plant as possible, as this helped enormously with the highly-detailed work required in production. This skilled and intricate work became more and more apparent as we wandered around the shop floor observing employees consumed in their task with such deep concentration. A stark contrast to most of the factories I’ve previously visited!
From a distance I saw a bespectacled man poring over something which I presumed to be a technical manual of some description. Upon closer viewing I realised that he was actually checking a hide of leather in fastidious detail for even the slightest of imperfections. The leather is a significant part of a Rolls-Royce automobile and not only does it take the hides of eighteen bulls to make just one interior, the bulls also have to be from a trusted free-range source - as happy bulls make for a better hide!
When one considers that 450 separate leather pieces are required for the interior of a single car it’s easy to see why there is a team of eight people employed on site solely to stitch hides. Perhaps even more painstaking is the work required to produce the trademark wooden veneers that give the Rolls-Royce interiors their classic luxury touch. The Burr Walnut, Figured Mahogany, Elm Cluster, Birds Eye Maple, Black Tulip and Oak Burr veneers are all produced by building up thin layers in a process of pressing, ironing and finishing - all by hand and all judged entirely by the eye.
“Mind your backs please gentlemen” was a common cry as we toured the factory floor. Each time I would wonder why as I could hear nothing, but upon turning around I would see a huge Rolls-Royce Phantom being driven past so silently that one would swear the engine wasn’t actually switched on. I’d heard that the old factory walls had signs emblazoned with “Beware – Silent Cars” and I now realise that this was no exaggeration.
Despite the company’s reliance on the craft of the human hand and eye, equipment incorporating the latest technology was also in evidence. This marriage of old and new, human and machine epitomises the new Phantom - and the more times we caught a glimpse of the cars, the more excited we got at the thought of taking one out on the open road.
The last time I remember feeling like this was when touring the Guinness Brewery in Dublin when the thought of the pint at the end of the tour made me want to speed up proceedings no end!
My parting memory of the factory was the realisation that the whole operation was a text-book example of organisation. Perhaps that’s the German influence – with BMW now owning this previously most British of companies. The only item that looked out of place in the whole plant was a 50th birthday helium balloon tied to a chair!
