Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection!

suhaas307 · 22nd August 2018, 18:07

Most automobile enthusiasts, particularly Porsche fans, are familiar with the USA based 911 “resto-mod” outfit ‘Singer Vehicle Design’.

For those who don’t, here's a little something about them:

Singer Vehicle Design was founded by artist, rock-star and 911 aficionado Rob Dickinson. The Brit guitar player and front-man of the Catherine Wheel, who is also incidentally Iron Maiden front-man Bruce Dickinson’s cousin, is obsessed with the 911 and has been ever since kinder-garden. You can see the obsession in the Porsche 911s he has restored over the years.

When Rob Dickinson decided to set up a workshop, his team had proposed to call the firm "Norbert", after Norbert Singer - Porsche's chief test driver who played a key role in the 16 overall race victories between 1970 and 1998 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Something about the name Norbert didn't sit well with Rob Dickinson, especially for a boutique car-firm. But the name Singer was the perfect fit, owing to Dickinson's tryst with rock-and-roll.

The ethos of the Firm is to take tired and old 911s and give them a new lease of life. They've been churning our bespoke 911s with alarming consistency and have even commissioned a few 911s for the Asian markets in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. Recently, Singer Vehicle Designs revealed their #100 car, for a lucky Alabama client. Singer fondly calls it the Alabama Commission.

Singer also revealed, at Goodwood Festival of Speed - July this year, a very special 911 they call Dynamics and Lightweighting Study (DLS), conceived by them in collaboration with ‘Williams Advanced Engineering’ and a certain chap named Hans Metzger – the brainchild behind the famous Metzger flat-six that propels pre-991 Nine-Elevens, including the legendary 997 GT3 RS 4.0.

Seldom do we get a star-studded cast working together on a project. But when they do, the results are as you can see, spectacular!

The DLS is based on a 1990’s 964 911 that has been re-sinned and reworked thoroughly from the ground-up. It’s safe to say though, that it shares nearly nothing with the 964 except for its basic shape. With the body forged out of carbon-fiber and several other components fashioned out of similar lightweight materials, the DLS Williams-Singer weighs in at around a paltry 1000 kilos. Couple that with a taut suspension-setup and oily bits engineered by Williams (surprise surprise!), not to mention the aero trickery inspired by Formula-1 tech (We’ll come to the suspension, engine and other oily bits in a bit), and the DLS should theoretically keep up with modern entry-level Hyper-cars.

The idea behind the DLS 911 was to create an '80s gentleman's racer, designed specifically to invoke the vintage race-car feel, thereby distinguishing it from the more touring-inclined and "regular" Singer 911s

Studio shots of the DLS prior to Goodwood are of an olive-ish green 911 with questionable light-red interior upholstery and trim.

The DLS 911 revealed at Goodwood had large, white “70”s draped over a stunning shade of red that Singer-Williams fondly calls Heart Attack Red. The one pictured here, however, is a beautiful Parallax white.

The styling at first is sure to divide opinions. It looks hot-rodded and not ‘clean’ per se. Various parts look ‘bolt-on’ and the macro-styling looks generally fussed. In fact, it looks over-styled and treads the line breached by a certain Japanese bloke who makes phat Nine-Elevens and calls them RWB. But the DLS 911 quickly grows on you, and to my eyes it’s the best looking hot-rodded 911 ever conceived.

From start to finish, it has taken all the promoters and engineers about 2 years to put together the DLS 911. Singer-Williams has announced that 75 will be made and the price tag should read nothing short of a million USD - eye watering by modern supercar standards, but the ‘new normal’ amongst the resto-mod crew.

Source: https://www.autoblog.com/2018/07/12/...e-lightweight/

suhaas307 · 22nd August 2018, 18:30

Delve deeper into the design and one can easily get caught up on the touches and details. Form meets function, and you can easily tell the number of hours, weeks and months spent meticulously tweaking a part of the bodywork in order to manipulate the air flowing around it.

A new front intake serves as venting for the oil cooler. There's a new front splitter designed specifically to negate front axle lift that plagues the arse-heavy air-cooled Nine-Elevens. A roof channel and roof spoiler that gathers airflow, works in tandem with an optimized ducktail spoiler which generates down-force for effective application on the rear axle. A new, streamlined underbody keeps the vortices tidy under the floor-pan.

The car sits on machine-polished period Fuchs 18” wheels with center-locks, forged by BBS and dished-out for maximum effect whilst wearing DLS specific Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber.

The engine is a 4.0 litre unit that churns out about 500 horsepower and redlines at a scarcely believable 9,000 RPMs! Components such as dual overhead cams, titanium valves, lighter throttle bodies, a new lubrication system, and Formula 1-inspired upper and lower fuel injectors assist the engine in achieving that nearly sports-bike like redline.

Ram-air intakes mounted in-lieu-of the rear quarter-glass windows along with intake ducting routed through what used to be the rear passenger cell of the cabin, and through the engine bulkhead eventually finding it's way into the engine-compartment, serves as a reminder that this is a serious piece of kit.

The stand out detail however has to be the gorgeous ceramic-white exhaust plumbing that can be seen through the bumper's mesh-grille, as well as those lovely '70s vintage exhaust-tips inspired by the lovely 3-liter RSR.

The deck-lid vents help channel more air to the power-plant for additional ventilation and cooling. The shortened Hewland six-speed manual transmission is presumably a delight to use and the magnesium casings with hollow shafts are devised to shave rotating weight.

Ultra-light-weight double wishbones are employed at the front axle whilst aluminum trailing arms are used at the back and come with integrated brake cooling.

Four-time Indy-Car champion Dario Franchitti, and "Top Gear" presenter Chris Harris helped hone the suspension including the remotely adjustable dampers. Brembo was called upon to lend their carbon ceramic brakes and mono-bloc calipers for braking duties, and Bosch supplied their top-drawer electronic systems such as ABS, TCS and ESP.

suhaas307 · 22nd August 2018, 18:32

An inspection of the DLS 911’s cabin and its extraordinary details, will establish that this isn't any run-on-the-mill 911. This car is without doubt, a bespoke, handcrafted automobile, tailored to absolute perfection. There’s the sense that every little touch and detail has been agonized over by people who consume caviar and champagne and listen to smooth Jazz on a slow Tuesday. You could spend hours in the cabin, soaking in all the intricate details this remarkable and perhaps ostentatious jewelry-studded cabin has to offer.

Unique carbon fiber Recaro seats and a carbon Momo steering wheel lend a bit of a retro-racer vibe to it whilst swathes of frankly-audacious light-tan leather that Singer-Williams refers to as ‘Norfolk Yellow’ drape the rest of the trim and the seats as well.

The raised, booted shifter is complemented by a drilled-out, carbon fiber knob, and sits atop exposed gearbox linkage, milled and hewn out of magnesium and titanium billet - the purpose of which is to demonstrate the shifter-mechanism, a la the erstwhile Spyker C8 and more recently the Pagani Huayra as well as the Lotus Exige Sport 350.

Oh, and the characters on the gauges are applied by hand! Beat that!

A carbon fiber dash, lightweight HVAC system, and drilled carbon and titanium pedals help shed weight even further. The only cars that can hold a candle to the DLS 911’s borderline-grotesque, jewelry-cased interior is of course the Pagani’s Huayra and the Spyker C8.

suhaas307 · 25th August 2018, 19:47

NOTE FROM T-BHP SUPPORT: Thread moved from Assembly Line to The International Automotive Scene.

camaroZL1 · 27th August 2018, 13:11

Oh I've been following this car since Goodwood. It is nothing short of breathtaking. If I could afford it, I'd give 5x more if they asked for it without flinching.

starter · 27th August 2018, 13:32

Thanks a lot for sharing this Suhas.
I happened to watch a couple of top gear videos on them.
Here is one for the same model i guess

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4iyYeVIc4

Cheers,
Deepak

ChiragM · 27th August 2018, 18:06

Excellent thread Suhaas. Thanks for sharing.

Singer is known to produce extremely detailed re-works of original 911s and I believe most of them are named after their destination city, each car being unique.

Will each of these DLS cars continue to have unique points for each car?

For those who don't know about Singer, here is James May's review of the car:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihhFf-9wLHs

Nikhilb2008 · 28th August 2018, 07:18

Honestly, rather than buying a modern hypercar, I would buy this. This just looks so beautiful!

It stirs something deep inside me which I cannot explain. Sure, looking at the LaFerrari makes me want to buy. However, all the new hypercars seem to have lost out on the passion, that "feeling" that a car owner is supposed to feel. It feels like it's a business now.

Is the LaF faster than the P1? Or the 918? Oh wait, you cant buy the LaF unless you have a gazillion previous Ferraris. Many other factors.

It just seems like the people making it or marketing have forgotten why people spend this kind of money on a car. Sure, there are the collectors and speculators. However, the TRUE car enthusiast needs something that touches his soul.

This car touches my soul deeply. It connects with something deep inside that defines me today.

And yes, the NA 4.0 litre engine with 500 bhp is just the cherry on the icing on the cake.

extreme_torque · 28th August 2018, 07:35

I have always loved 911's and Singer 911's have been the 911's of 911's but this one is on a different plane altogether and with a price tag to match. If I had the money I would buy this one in a heartbeat over many similarly priced cars. Its about the purity of emotion, motoring in its most basic form. And when not driving I would park this in my living room and stare at it for hours. Gorgeous gorgeous car.

suhaas307 · 28th August 2018, 22:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by starter

Thanks a lot for sharing this Suhas.
I happened to watch a couple of top gear videos on them.

Thank you for sharing the Video Deepak! There aren't too many other videos on this particular car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiragM

Excellent thread Suhaas. Thanks for sharing.

Singer is known to produce extremely detailed re-works of original 911s and I believe most of them are named after their destination city, each car being unique.

Will each of these DLS cars continue to have unique points for each car?

Yep, each "commission" is named after the city / district / country (in some cases).

Unique in terms of paint, interior colour and trim, etc.? I'm certain. Asides this white, Singer-Williams unveiled a red DLS at Goodwood, and the 'Launch Edition' olive-ish green with red interior.

The powertrain, running gear and bodywork however should remain the same for all DLS 911s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

And yes, the NA 4.0 litre engine with 500 bhp is just the cherry on the icing on the cake.

Don't forget the 9000 RPM redline!

Quote:

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

And when not driving I would park this in my living room and stare at it for hours. Gorgeous gorgeous car.

There is no other suitable space than the living room. Not even a posh garage.

__________________________________________________ ___________

Now that we've got the studio and glamour shots out of the way, here are some pictures of the DLS 911 in flesh at:

1) Goodwood Festival of Speed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=QA4bwbAEnvM

2) Pebble Beach (source: https://uk.motor1.com/news/263653/si...ebble-beach/):

P242 · 29th August 2018, 01:22

And this is how it sounds like, just glorious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLlEgTyGpg0

Nikhilb2008 · 29th August 2018, 09:10

Quote:

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Don't forget the 9000 RPM redline!

I had forgotten about it! On paper, my H22 has a redline of 8500 rpm. So, I will try to live vicariously through my Honda!

Maverick5490 · 29th August 2018, 11:39

Can just sit and admire this beauty all day long! Amazing attention to detail, what a stunner!

Alisiddiqui · 8th September 2018, 11:47

Wow. Simply wow. Always been a fan of Porsche and this is a beauty. Strangely though the videos of it laying still were much better than the ones in action. A lot of jerks or maybe the driver needed more time with the car. �� but that engine simply looked awesome. Lot of detailing has gone into that car. Just awesome and truly the new one didn’t hold a candle to it.

suhaas307 · 8th September 2018, 19:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alisiddiqui

Strangely though the videos of it laying still were much better than the ones in action. A lot of jerks or maybe the driver needed more time with the car. ��

Hello Ali,

The man behind the wheel of the Singer-Williams DLS 911 was none other than Chris Harris, who played an integral role in the development of this car.

The reasons why he had trouble driving it initially are the single-mass flywheel and racing clutch that the car is equipped with. It is increasingly hard to find the right biting point with such a clutch, and the SMF greatly hampers driveability. Even the most experienced drivers would struggle with such a setup.

Oh, and for more detailed shots of the car, I have taken the liberty of sharing additional photos (Part I - Exterior and Details) of the car courtesy Speed Hunters:

22nd August 2018, 18:07	#1
suhaas307 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 8,830 Thanked: 12,255 Times	Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! Most automobile enthusiasts, particularly Porsche fans, are familiar with the USA based 911 “resto-mod” outfit ‘Singer Vehicle Design’. For those who don’t, here's a little something about them: Singer Vehicle Design was founded by artist, rock-star and 911 aficionado Rob Dickinson. The Brit guitar player and front-man of the Catherine Wheel, who is also incidentally Iron Maiden front-man Bruce Dickinson’s cousin, is obsessed with the 911 and has been ever since kinder-garden. You can see the obsession in the Porsche 911s he has restored over the years. When Rob Dickinson decided to set up a workshop, his team had proposed to call the firm "Norbert", after Norbert Singer - Porsche's chief test driver who played a key role in the 16 overall race victories between 1970 and 1998 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Something about the name Norbert didn't sit well with Rob Dickinson, especially for a boutique car-firm. But the name Singer was the perfect fit, owing to Dickinson's tryst with rock-and-roll. The ethos of the Firm is to take tired and old 911s and give them a new lease of life. They've been churning our bespoke 911s with alarming consistency and have even commissioned a few 911s for the Asian markets in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Japan. Recently, Singer Vehicle Designs revealed their #100 car, for a lucky Alabama client. Singer fondly calls it the Alabama Commission. Singer also revealed, at Goodwood Festival of Speed - July this year, a very special 911 they call Dynamics and Lightweighting Study (DLS), conceived by them in collaboration with ‘Williams Advanced Engineering’ and a certain chap named Hans Metzger – the brainchild behind the famous Metzger flat-six that propels pre-991 Nine-Elevens, including the legendary 997 GT3 RS 4.0. Seldom do we get a star-studded cast working together on a project. But when they do, the results are as you can see, spectacular! The DLS is based on a 1990’s 964 911 that has been re-sinned and reworked thoroughly from the ground-up. It’s safe to say though, that it shares nearly nothing with the 964 except for its basic shape. With the body forged out of carbon-fiber and several other components fashioned out of similar lightweight materials, the DLS Williams-Singer weighs in at around a paltry 1000 kilos. Couple that with a taut suspension-setup and oily bits engineered by Williams (surprise surprise!), not to mention the aero trickery inspired by Formula-1 tech (We’ll come to the suspension, engine and other oily bits in a bit), and the DLS should theoretically keep up with modern entry-level Hyper-cars. The idea behind the DLS 911 was to create an '80s gentleman's racer, designed specifically to invoke the vintage race-car feel, thereby distinguishing it from the more touring-inclined and "regular" Singer 911s Studio shots of the DLS prior to Goodwood are of an olive-ish green 911 with questionable light-red interior upholstery and trim. The DLS 911 revealed at Goodwood had large, white “70”s draped over a stunning shade of red that Singer-Williams fondly calls Heart Attack Red. The one pictured here, however, is a beautiful Parallax white. The styling at first is sure to divide opinions. It looks hot-rodded and not ‘clean’ per se. Various parts look ‘bolt-on’ and the macro-styling looks generally fussed. In fact, it looks over-styled and treads the line breached by a certain Japanese bloke who makes phat Nine-Elevens and calls them RWB. But the DLS 911 quickly grows on you, and to my eyes it’s the best looking hot-rodded 911 ever conceived. From start to finish, it has taken all the promoters and engineers about 2 years to put together the DLS 911. Singer-Williams has announced that 75 will be made and the price tag should read nothing short of a million USD - eye watering by modern supercar standards, but the ‘new normal’ amongst the resto-mod crew. Source: https://www.autoblog.com/2018/07/12/...e-lightweight/ Attached Thumbnails Last edited by suhaas307 : 25th August 2018 at 21:42.
	(23) Thanks

22nd August 2018, 18:30	#2
suhaas307 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 8,830 Thanked: 12,255 Times	Re: Porsche 911 Singer DLS (Williams) Delve deeper into the design and one can easily get caught up on the touches and details. Form meets function, and you can easily tell the number of hours, weeks and months spent meticulously tweaking a part of the bodywork in order to manipulate the air flowing around it. A new front intake serves as venting for the oil cooler. There's a new front splitter designed specifically to negate front axle lift that plagues the arse-heavy air-cooled Nine-Elevens. A roof channel and roof spoiler that gathers airflow, works in tandem with an optimized ducktail spoiler which generates down-force for effective application on the rear axle. A new, streamlined underbody keeps the vortices tidy under the floor-pan. The car sits on machine-polished period Fuchs 18” wheels with center-locks, forged by BBS and dished-out for maximum effect whilst wearing DLS specific Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber. The engine is a 4.0 litre unit that churns out about 500 horsepower and redlines at a scarcely believable 9,000 RPMs! Components such as dual overhead cams, titanium valves, lighter throttle bodies, a new lubrication system, and Formula 1-inspired upper and lower fuel injectors assist the engine in achieving that nearly sports-bike like redline. Ram-air intakes mounted in-lieu-of the rear quarter-glass windows along with intake ducting routed through what used to be the rear passenger cell of the cabin, and through the engine bulkhead eventually finding it's way into the engine-compartment, serves as a reminder that this is a serious piece of kit. The stand out detail however has to be the gorgeous ceramic-white exhaust plumbing that can be seen through the bumper's mesh-grille, as well as those lovely '70s vintage exhaust-tips inspired by the lovely 3-liter RSR. The deck-lid vents help channel more air to the power-plant for additional ventilation and cooling. The shortened Hewland six-speed manual transmission is presumably a delight to use and the magnesium casings with hollow shafts are devised to shave rotating weight. Ultra-light-weight double wishbones are employed at the front axle whilst aluminum trailing arms are used at the back and come with integrated brake cooling. Four-time Indy-Car champion Dario Franchitti, and "Top Gear" presenter Chris Harris helped hone the suspension including the remotely adjustable dampers. Brembo was called upon to lend their carbon ceramic brakes and mono-bloc calipers for braking duties, and Bosch supplied their top-drawer electronic systems such as ABS, TCS and ESP. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by suhaas307 : 25th August 2018 at 21:07.
	(16) Thanks

22nd August 2018, 18:32	#3
suhaas307 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 8,830 Thanked: 12,255 Times	Re: Porsche 911 Singer DLS (Williams) An inspection of the DLS 911’s cabin and its extraordinary details, will establish that this isn't any run-on-the-mill 911. This car is without doubt, a bespoke, handcrafted automobile, tailored to absolute perfection. There’s the sense that every little touch and detail has been agonized over by people who consume caviar and champagne and listen to smooth Jazz on a slow Tuesday. You could spend hours in the cabin, soaking in all the intricate details this remarkable and perhaps ostentatious jewelry-studded cabin has to offer. Unique carbon fiber Recaro seats and a carbon Momo steering wheel lend a bit of a retro-racer vibe to it whilst swathes of frankly-audacious light-tan leather that Singer-Williams refers to as ‘Norfolk Yellow’ drape the rest of the trim and the seats as well. The raised, booted shifter is complemented by a drilled-out, carbon fiber knob, and sits atop exposed gearbox linkage, milled and hewn out of magnesium and titanium billet - the purpose of which is to demonstrate the shifter-mechanism, a la the erstwhile Spyker C8 and more recently the Pagani Huayra as well as the Lotus Exige Sport 350. Oh, and the characters on the gauges are applied by hand! Beat that! A carbon fiber dash, lightweight HVAC system, and drilled carbon and titanium pedals help shed weight even further. The only cars that can hold a candle to the DLS 911’s borderline-grotesque, jewelry-cased interior is of course the Pagani’s Huayra and the Spyker C8. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by suhaas307 : 26th August 2018 at 09:23.
	(25) Thanks

25th August 2018, 19:47	#4
suhaas307 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 8,830 Thanked: 12,255 Times	re: Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! NOTE FROM T-BHP SUPPORT: Thread moved from Assembly Line to The International Automotive Scene.
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27th August 2018, 13:11	#5
camaroZL1 Newbie Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Mumbai Posts: 20 Thanked: 45 Times	Re: Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! Oh I've been following this car since Goodwood. It is nothing short of breathtaking. If I could afford it, I'd give 5x more if they asked for it without flinching.
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28th August 2018, 07:18	#8
Nikhilb2008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 5,196 Thanked: 10,138 Times	Re: Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! Honestly, rather than buying a modern hypercar, I would buy this. This just looks so beautiful! It stirs something deep inside me which I cannot explain. Sure, looking at the LaFerrari makes me want to buy. However, all the new hypercars seem to have lost out on the passion, that "feeling" that a car owner is supposed to feel. It feels like it's a business now. Is the LaF faster than the P1? Or the 918? Oh wait, you cant buy the LaF unless you have a gazillion previous Ferraris. Many other factors. It just seems like the people making it or marketing have forgotten why people spend this kind of money on a car. Sure, there are the collectors and speculators. However, the TRUE car enthusiast needs something that touches his soul. This car touches my soul deeply. It connects with something deep inside that defines me today. And yes, the NA 4.0 litre engine with 500 bhp is just the cherry on the icing on the cake. Last edited by Rehaan : 28th August 2018 at 15:32. Reason: Tiny typo
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28th August 2018, 07:35	#9
extreme_torque Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Melbourne Posts: 4,377 Thanked: 5,105 Times	Re: Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! I have always loved 911's and Singer 911's have been the 911's of 911's but this one is on a different plane altogether and with a price tag to match. If I had the money I would buy this one in a heartbeat over many similarly priced cars. Its about the purity of emotion, motoring in its most basic form. And when not driving I would park this in my living room and stare at it for hours. Gorgeous gorgeous car. Last edited by extreme_torque : 28th August 2018 at 07:37.
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29th August 2018, 11:39	#13
Maverick5490 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Thane Posts: 1,464 Thanked: 1,818 Times View My Garage	Re: Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! Can just sit and admire this beauty all day long! Amazing attention to detail, what a stunner!
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8th September 2018, 11:47	#14
Alisiddiqui BHPian Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 126 Thanked: 69 Times View My Garage	Re: Singer-Williams' Porsche 911 DLS (Dynamics and Lightweighting Study) - Handcrafted perfection! Wow. Simply wow. Always been a fan of Porsche and this is a beauty. Strangely though the videos of it laying still were much better than the ones in action. A lot of jerks or maybe the driver needed more time with the car. �� but that engine simply looked awesome. Lot of detailing has gone into that car. Just awesome and truly the new one didn’t hold a candle to it.
	(1) Thanks