An homage to Porsche’s classic 934/5 racecar, the Singer DLS Turbo pairs old-school cool with modern tech and performance.
If you know anything about Singer, you’ll understand the hype around the name. For a certain type of purist enthusiast, there’s no better modified driving experience than a retro Porsche 911, updated to perform like a modern sports car – and that’s exactly what Singer delivers.
It’s a fairly tame but exceedingly well-executed – and highly effective – recipe, which over the years has served Singer well. These days, if someone utters the word ‘restomod’, Singer is the company that springs to mind first, and as a result, a lot of very rich people have come crawling to their Californian workshop to order their next automotive showpiece.
And frankly, we can’t blame them. Singer isn’t just a boutique fad, it’s a genuine engineering powerhouse, whose creations come with a quality worthy of OEM status. And then there’s the experience of driving one. Every person that’s ever had the honor will swear that a freshly-commissioned Singer is worth every penny. And trust us, it takes quite a lot of pennies to buy one.
Trouble is, when you’ve got such a specific product portfolio, how do you keep people interested? How do you attract new eyes? Well, it seems as though Singer is starting to reinvest all that accumulated wealth and has finally let its creative minds fully off the leash. First came the ACS safari-style rally raider, and now, there’s this…
What is a Singer DLS Turbo?
Essentially, the DLS Turbo is an evolution of the ‘regular’ (but still hugely desirable) DLS – or Dynamic Lightweighting Study, to give it its full name. That means that clients have to provide Singer with a donor 964-gen Porsche 911 and a big wedge of cash. They then completely rework the 964’s mechanical internals, running gear, interior design and exterior, resulting in what many might consider to be the ‘ultimate expression of Porsche’.
The DLS Turbo is a limited-run offshoot of that DLS package, incorporating wildly different exterior styling and an extra splash of horsepower, while retaining the same core DLS engineering fundamentals. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly the package involves.
Singer DLS Turbo Specs
The most obvious feature of the car is the aesthetic alterations, which are a reimagination of the classic Porsche 934/5 racecar. However, those carbon fiber body panels are about more than just show. There are two different variations of the DLS Turbo that you can opt for; a track-focused version, or a street version. The track car is pictured here in orange, and as you can see, when compared with the champagne-colored street car above, it sports a much more aggressive rear wing.
After all, it’s a track car, so you’re gong to be needing more downforce. The track car’s rear wing even has an adjustable upper element, permitting fine tuning of your setup. Meanwhile, at the front, the track variant gets a much larger splitter, and a different mouth.
Interestingly, you don’t have to make a definitive decision between one style or the other. At your request (and presumably at added expense), Singer can modify the car in such a way that the different body parts can fit interchangeably, allowing you to drive your car to the track in street mode, before adding all the performance-aiding aero for your assault on the circuit.
As for the powertrain, exact output figures aren’t yet publicly known, but so far Singer has revealed that the DLS Turbo’s 3.8-liter flat six will produce more than 700hp (an extra 200hp compared to the standard DLS), and redline beyond 9000rpm. It’ll also benefit from electric wastegates and air-to-water intercoolers. Then, as Singer customers will be accustomed to, the power is fed down the chain to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission.
There’s no word on pricing yet, but expect to hear more later in the year, when the car makes its public debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
