Rolls-Royce recreates 1911 London-Edinburgh Trial

Rolls-Royce has taken the Silver Ghost 1701 to re-enact its astonishing run in the 1911 London-Edinburgh Trial.

The car, designed as an 'Experimental Speed Car', won the original event locked in top gear for the entire 1,286km return trip between the two capitals. Given the primitive state of Britain's Edwardian roads, its average speed of 32km/h was highly impressive.

To prove that the car had not been modified in any way, it achieved 126km/h on a half-mile speed test conducted immediately after the trial and also became the first Rolls-Royce to exceed 160km/h (100mph) in a later test at the fabled Brooklands circuit in Surrey.

The re-enactment was as faithful to the 1911 event as possible. The car, now a priceless collector's item and wearing registration R-1075, departed from the Pall Mall headquarters of the Royal Automobile Club (which oversaw the original Trial) at 5 September 2021, then travelled to Edinburgh on a route that followed the old Great North Road as closely as practicable- locked in top gear just as it was 110 years before.

To add to the spectacle and sense of occasion, 1701 was accompanied by a further nine Rolls‑Royce Silver Ghosts, all of a similar age and in equally magnificent condition, from the 20-Ghost Club. And to complete the pageant, the cavalcade was escorted all the way to Edinburgh by a brand-new Ghost, hand-built at the Home of Rolls-Royce at Goodwood and finished in Tempest Grey.

The run concluded with a grand reception at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Edinburgh on 6 September 2021.