Turbocharged version of Dynamics and Lightweighting Study to debut at Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Dreaming of owning an unmolested, standard Porsche 964 Series 911? With its elephant ears wing mirrors, Design 90 alloy wheels and perhaps a linen coloured interior to go with, say, it’s gleaming Guards red paintwork. You’ll need to get a wriggle on and find one because ‘restorers’ of 964 Series 911s, Singer, plans to take another 99 off the road to create the same number in DLS-T-form, a 522kW turbocharger homage to the 1977 934/5 Group A IMSA race car.
This latest project from California’s most famous Porsche restorer merges the philosophy of its two previous projects – the Dynamics and Lightweighting Study and the Turbo Study – to achieve Singer’s founder, Rob Dickinson, aspiration of faithfully recreating a celebration of the ‘70s racer he first witnesses in action as a 12 year old.
To this end the 964’s body is modified using carbonfibre to reduce the kerb weight and stiffen the structure before the Singer additions are added, such as those wider front arches and box items at the rear. There’s also a sizable front air-intake and white line snorting splitter with a hooped rear wing that can be replaced with a ducktail should you be one of the more introverted $2m+ car owners. If you go down this route, Singer has also designed a revised front end to balance the aero.
Not that it’s all about aero performance, as with all of Singer’s restorations the emphasis is on cars having a performance bandwidth that works on the road and track. And to do this the DLS-T takes the front suspension that was designed for the DLS, which uses an upper wishbone with a lower multi-link set-up, but tuned to the blown car’s performance. Ceramic brakes are standard with a 19 and 20-inch wheel front to rear available with either.
Requiring all the air cooling provided by the NACA ducts and vents that have been integrated into the carbon body is a new 3.8-litre turbocharged flat-six engine, with four-valve cylinder heads and electric wastegates for the two turbochargers attached to it, along with air-to-water intercoolers. The result is 700bhp and a motor that revs to 9000rpm, sent to the rear axle via a new six-speed manual gearbox.
Making its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, each DLS-T will be built to every individual customer’s bespoke requirements.