Rolls Royce wins major award for the centenary Alpine Trial.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars is delighted to announce that the 2013 Centenary Alpine Trial, supported by the company earlier this year, has won 'Best Rally or Tour of the Year' at the prestigious International Historic Motoring Awards in London.

On 14 June 2013, 47 vintage Rolls-Royce Silver Ghosts departed from Vienna, wafting through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Italy before returning to Vienna on 29 June 2013 – exactly 100 years to the day since privateer entrant, James Radley, emphatically completed the original event, helping to cement the marque’s reputation for peerless reliability and mechanical excellence. The cars tackled 1,800 miles over some of the world’s most spectacular and challenging mountain passes.

Echoing events a century ago, a Rolls-Royce Works Team took part in the trial. The original ‘James Radley’ 1913 Silver Ghost was joined by a contemporary homage created by Bespoke designers and craftspeople at the Home of Rolls-Royce in Goodwood, England. Finished in an exterior hue that takes inspiration from the Radley car, the 2013 Alpine Trial Centenary Ghost features exquisitely crafted Bespoke touches that elegantly tell the story of the 1913 Trial. The clock displays the stages of the rally and timings, whilst inlays to rear picnic tables and the front fascia express the topography and distances of the Alpine route. A hand-painted coachline referencing the four Rolls-Royce motor cars that took part in the 1913 Alpenfahrt and headlining, colour-matched to the hood of Radley’s car, completes a beautiful tribute.

“The Centenary Alpine Trial embraced the spirit of adventure that is synonymous with Rolls‑Royce, and this award is a wonderful conclusion to an extraordinary event,” said Andrew Ball, Corporate Communications Manager. “The 1913 Alpenfahrt led commentators to declare that Rolls-Royce built the ‘Best Car in the World’. The 2013 Centenary Alpine Trial reinforced that message, and demonstrated that the Company continues to do so to this day.”

The International Historic Motoring Awards are the most coveted awards in the classic car industry, showcasing excellence, rewarding innovation and providing the benchmark by which the world of historic cars judges itself. The 'Best Rally or Tour of the Year 2013' trophy was received by Nick Naismith and Tim Forrest of the 20‑Ghost Club at the event last night.

The 1913 Radley car and the 2013 Alpine Trial Centenary Ghost will be reunited at the BMW Museum in Munich on Friday 22 November for the unique ‘Night of the White Gloves’, where visitors are issued with white gloves and invited to explore the cars close up. Both cars will remain on display until the New Year.