A Widebody Kit on a Rolls-Royce? It Shouldn't Work, and Yet Spofec Nailed It

Despite using V12 engines with lots of power, the Rolls-Royce brand is all about elegance. OK, maybe a bit of opulence as well, but these two can go along quite well if the right balance is stricken. And the Goodwood-based company is famous around the world for being able to do just that.

That makes the job of a tuner extremely difficult. They would have to be careful at all times not to tip the scales one way or the other, or risk ending up with either a dull project (if they went the elegance way) or an absurd one (if opulence won). Spofec seems to walk the fine line between these two with grace, with only just the orange upholstery perhaps going a bit too far (though we kind of like it).

Spofec is a division of Novitec that specializes in Rolls-Royces. The name comes from the first letters of the brand's symbol: the SPirit OF ECstasy. The fact it rimed with Novitec must have convinced the company's top brass it was a good idea, so it stuck.

The main attraction of this tuning package called "Overdose" has got to be the carbon fiber widebody kit. Anything that adds width to a Rolls-Royce is welcome as it takes away from that very tall and steep front end. Coupled with the special design 22-inch wheels, it actually makes the Dawn's proportions seem more... normal.

Carbon fiber has been employed for the convertible's all-new front and rear bumpers as well as the side skirts connecting the two wheel arches. Aesthetic modifications end here, but special praise has to go to the gray paint job and orange interior leather combination.

Spofec will only make eight of these, but they will each be highly customizable, so expect other Overdose Dawns to sport different trim. What will be the same is the new power output of the 6.6-liter V12 engine which has gone up from 570 hp to 685 hp. The maximum torque has received a similar treatment and now sits at 723 lb-ft (980 Nm). That's enough to shave 0.3 seconds off the 0-62 mph acceleration time which the Dawn Overdose will complete in 4.6 seconds.

Finally, Spofec replaced the brake rotors with ceramic ones to handle the extra grunt and the colossal mass. Speaking of mass, this move alone removed 38 kg (84 lbs) from the vehicle's unsprung weight, which should provide a minute bump to its handling. The air suspension system remains in place, but the tuners did install a new control module that can lower the Dawn at higher speeds by 40 mm (1.57 inches).

Interested in knowing how much it costs? Well, if you are then you probably won't afford it. Spofec remained tight-lipped about this part, but a limited-run packaged like this for a vehicle like the Rolls-Royce Dawn is going to be very, very expensive.