There was one car on display at Luft GB that wasn’t like the others.
It seemed out of place. In fact, were it not for a little insider knowledge, or an eye for the several intriguing clues littered around the patchy and mismatched bodywork, you would be forgiven for thinking that someone had parked their half-completed project Porsche in the wrong place.
Appearances aside (although I think it looks cool in a Mad Max kind of fashion), make no mistake – this is a very special and very capable 911.
What you’re looking at is Singer’s test mule for the recently revealed Williams-Singer Dynamics and Lightweighting Study (DLS) that we brought you from Goodwood Festival of Speed earlier this month.
Very much a car designed to perform above all else, if you like all go and no show, then this is for you.
Look closely and the clues are there. Clues like the various temperature indicator labels stuck to different parts of the car’s bodywork, or remnants of them left on the exhaust tips.
There’s the biggest clue; the unique rear three-quarter window intakes seen on the finished DLS, but here made from composite and painted in matte black so as not to give away their purpose when the car was being tested.
Or the fact that the mule wears the exact same Fuchs-style 18-inch forged magnesium BBS centre-lock wheels, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes, and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres as the polished DLS.
Or the odd sensor taped down, or holes left exposed in the bonnet. These were both likely from when the car’s Bosch ESP system was being tested on a frozen lake in Sweden – at one point the mule had a light bar installed on the bonnet.
The stone-peppered rear fenders are different to the finished version, and peering through the intakes at the front there’s an oil cooler clearly visible. Obviously Singer felt that the cutout wasn’t required on the finished product.
However that distinctive ducktail spoiler is almost exactly the same as on the DLS.
And the crude holes at the rear edges of the front bumper line up almost exactly with where the sculpted carbon fibre front lip surrounds a similar opening on the finished product.
Then there are unexplained and curious modifications, including the additional panel that’s been tack-welded and bonded onto the existing roof. Maybe the mule was a less desired sunroof model and this panel gives it the rigidity of the solid roof?
Inside, a pair of Recaro seats and OMP steering wheel are surrounded by wires and unlabelled buttons. Various management systems are fixed behind the front seats, hidden on the perfected DLS by the lavish interior.
The bonnet was completely locked off, however a sneaky peek underneath revealed part of that Williams engine and drivetrain, looking much more polished than the exterior. A pair of blanket-encased turbos cats and the same white ceramic-coated exhaust system as the DLS are all that you can see from here.
Is it just me that is fascinated and loves this kind of thing? It’s a car so purely functional, and completely lacking in any of the design-conscious Singer touches that the brand is best known for.
Jordan Butters
Instagram: jordanbutters
jordan@speedhunters.com
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