About 10 days ago on Thursday, April 4, I was driving from San Luis Obispo back to Los Angeles at the tail end of an auto museum tour of California when I got a phone call. It was my friend Gerry Spahn, the Head of Communications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA. He asked what was I doing on Sunday and Monday. I responded, “I don’t know, Gerry, what am I doing on Sunday and Monday?”
He then said I was going to go to Toronto to drive Spectre and to watch the total eclipse. I was really not surprised by this answer as Rolls-Royce has a history of having some of the most fun and interesting press events in the world.
How does this tie into Rolls-Royce? Well, they had just recently announced their Ékleipsis Private Edition of the Black Badge Ghost model, and we were going to watch an actual eclipse to celebrate.
I got back from LA late Friday night, did laundry, had dinner with my wife on Saturday, and Sunday morning was on an Air Canada flight to Toronto.
I was met at the airport by a member of the Rolls-Royce agency team and given the keys to a new Rolls-Royce Spectre electric car. I got behind the wheel and headed out for the 30 mile drive to my hotel.
if you do not already know about it Spectre is the first production Rolls-Royce electric car. Spectre is a fantastic car, and is quite simply the finest electric car in the world. This is a car that redefines luxury cars to the point that there is literally nothing to compare Spectre or any other modern Rolls-Royce with.
The idea of an electric powered Rolls-Royce has caused some people to grumble, but if there was ever a car manufacturer that perfectly fit with the way an electric car works it is Spectre. Acceleration is otherworldly with the 6,800 lb car able to go from 0-60 in 4.4 seconds. If that is not impressive, I’ll say it again. It is a 6,800 lb car that can go 0-60 in 4.4 seconds.
The most interesting and impressive part of the Spectre is if you did not know it was an EV, you would be easily forgiven by not figuring that out when driving it. The car drives like a car, a fabulously opulent luxury car, but Spectre feels like a car running on gas. It is a seamless experience.
We got to The Pearl Hotel where I checked in and headed immediately to a fun dinner. There were six other motor journalists at the event, and Gerry Spahn had put together an interesting group. Dinner ended up lasting around three hours, and then we headed to bed.
The next day we had a quick group breakfast where we went over the day’s agenda for our drive to the eclipse viewing. After the breakfast my friend Justin and I got into our Purple Spectre and joined the Rolls-Royce convoy to Stratus Vineyard where we were going to view the eclipse.
The 75 km drive to the vineyard was the very definition of comfort. There is simply no better car in the world to take on a trip either long or short. The miles drift away and the Spectre is the perfect cocoon from the world around you. Except for the metal music we were listening to, the car covered the route absolutely silently and smoothly.
We arrived at Stratus Vineyards and parked our small Rolls-Royce parade amid a number of people taking pictures of our arrival on their phones and went into the vineyard. This is one thing to remember about arriving in a modern Rolls-Royce. It is not a car to own if you don’t like attention, as every drive you take becomes an event for those who see you.
We went into the vineyard and after a tour of their facility, had a wonderful lunch that they prepared for us.
After lunch we headed out to get ready for the eclipse viewing. We were then joined by a planetary scientist who discussed what we were about to see and what to look for, not only in the sky but in the nature around us. We learned that an eclipse is particularly confusing to many animals as they think that during an eclipse it is actually night and they go to their homes to sleep.
As she was explaining this the sky started to get dark and we experienced what seemed like the fastest sunset ever. The sky continued to darken as we watched the sun disappear behind the moon, watching it all through the special eclipse sunglasses Rolls-Royce had provided each of us. I had never experienced a total eclipse before and seeing the sky darken to the point that the starts came out was the experience of a lifetime.
Just like the planetary scientist told us, the birds were flying home and the entire feel at the eclipse’s totality was eerie with the world seeming incredibly silent and still. It was different from a sunrise as the far horizon looked like a sunset but in 360 degrees. It is impossible to explain exactly what it was like beyond that except that it is something everyone should try to see once in their lives.
About four minutes later it started to get light again, and we donned our glasses again to look at the sun peeking back out. Even though there was cloud cover it was clearly visible. A few minutes later it was light again and the confused birds flew in the opposite directions they had flown a few minutes before.
The 75 km drive back was interesting in that it took Justin and me 3 1/2 hours to get back to the hotel. This was because the 1,000,000 people who came to the Niagara area for the eclipse were all headed back too. Despite the endless stop and go traffic, the Spectre did not miss a beat and the car so well isolated us from the outside world that even during a tedious drive like this, we were both not only comfortable, with seat massages going the whole time, but also not stressed out. It is hard to get stressed out while behind the wheel of a Rolls-Royce. The Spectre is the perfect car for times like this and makes even a 3 1/2 hour drive at an average of 15 mph seem easy.
That night we had a nice three hour curated winemaker’s dinner followed by drinks in the hotel bar and then headed back to our rooms for the night.
I got to the airport the next day, and while sitting in the Air Canada lounge ran into another journalist friend. We talked about the day before and how amazing it was to not only see the eclipse but also how lucky we were to be able to do this. We also discussed Spectre and came away with the same impression of the car. The Rolls-Royce Spectre is simply the highest quality and most breathtaking two door car ever built.
If for some reason you did get to see the Eclipse or you simply want to be able to relive the experience each time you take a drive, then you might want to consider trying to get one of the Rolls-Royce Black Badge Ghost Ékleipsis Private Edition cars. The starlight headliner of this edition actually recreates a solar eclipse so you can get to see an eclipse every time you take a drive.
Thank you Rolls-Royce North America for the invite of a lifetime.
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