The miniature Rolls-Royce

Sometimes being in the Rolls-Royce hometown of Chichester in West Sussex has its perks. The British marque commissioned, in 2017, a special project that would brighten the lives of children at St Richard’s Hospital Pediatric Day Surgery Unit for years to come: a pint-sized, fully-detailed and operational Rolls, powered by a 24v gel battery and capable of a top speed of 16kmh.

Christened the Rolls-Royce SRH (for the hospital), the miniature was built to allow children due in the operating theatre to drive themselves there, guided by faux traffic signs placed along the hospital corridors. The grand aim? To help reduce the anxiety and apprehension these children feel before an impending operation.

The usual rules of excellence applied to the SRH: think details such as a hand-applied coachline, a self-righting steering wheel (two-tone, it was added) and a custom treadplate. The project took the RR Bespoke Manufacturing team  over 400 hours of development, and required the use of contemporary technologies such as 3D printing.