Dario Franchetti Visits Workshop

2017 marked 110 years of the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost. Goodwood recognised this at their Festival of Speed with a special class in the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours, entitled ‘The Best Car in the World’. Each year their television coverage focuses on specialists behind the event and to our immense pride we were chosen due to our renowned restoration work with Silver Ghosts. The filming took place over two days and was a brilliant experience for all our team.

Goodwood were keen to focus on special Silver Ghosts in our collection. One of the fascinating examples we spoke about was the 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, chassis no. 1733, which was awarded fourth place in the second Monte Carlo Rally. This chassis exemplifies the technical mastery of Rolls-Royce at the point the cars would have come from the factory.

One of the highlights of the filming was meeting the racing legend, Dario Franchetti MBE. Dario is a British four times IndyCar Series champion, as well as three times winner of the Indianapolis 500. Since his retirement he has presented the ITV Goodwood Revival coverage. Dario was very keen to experience driving a Silver Ghost. Therefore we took him out in chassis no. 120 EU, a 1925 torpedo tourer, bodied by Barker. 120 EU is famed for being the last Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost produced for the home market. Once we had found him a hat for his hair in the wind, Dario had a fantastic time! Unsurprisingly he was a very good driver, although he said it took time to adjust to the tactile experience of a Ghost.

Please watch the attached link to see Dario in action.