FIRST DRIVE Singer Goes Turbo The Whale Tail Returns

Pretty isn't it? A classic Porsche 911 Turbo. Obviously been fettled a little bit because the stance, the way it looks, is just subtly different. Not wrong, just different. And then you start to look a little bit more closely and you realise that this isn't just some well-looked-after old-timer. This is a 911 that's had the Singer Turbo treatment and it is what's the word I'm looking for here? It's incredible. This is the Turbo, Singer's latest celebration slash resto mod of the iconic Porsche 911. But this time it's a turbocharged take on the 930 Turbo of the mid-1970s based on a later 964. Any 964, by the way, because it doesn't have to be an original Turbo to get this root-and-branch makeover. Power ranges from 450 to 510 brake horsepower depending on spec and you can have a super lightweight car like this one with carbon seats and thin bits that weighs about 1200 kilograms or a more luxurious take that weighs a few more. So they're rapid. Oh, and they're all rear-wheel drive and six-speed manual so built for engagement rather than point-scoring speed. Sounds good, no? But the thing about a Porsche 911 that's been gently assaulted by Singer's reimagination team is the details. So let me run you through a few of the highlights. Bodywork. The entirety of this car has been stripped down to its skeleton and the bodywork is entirely carbon fiber which is really good for dynamics apart from the doors which are still steel so they have a nice clunk sound when you close them. The thing is all the carbon extras are not showy or sticky out. They're an evolved kind of sophisticated version of a 930 turbo. There is a lot of change. You just have to pour over it to see it. A good example is the front bumper. It's got all the visual cues of an older car but it's kind of smoother, slicker, more integrated and more aerodynamic. The stance. Classic Fuchs wheels but absolutely fettled perfectly into the arches. I mean look at the dish on those. The interesting thing here is this car isn't too low. It's not tucked and the way it sits is just... The brakes. Now these are Brembo carbon ceramics derived from the ones on the DLS and they're not some track spec squealers that take a long time to heat up. These work straight away and they stop hard, fast and straight. Those shark fin details on the front of the rear wheel arches are now air intakes for the engine which is back here. Though I do fear they will get filled with gravel at some point. Let's not mention that. The rear spoiler above the Porsche Legend is the best and most iconic thing about a 930 turbo, right? Well Singer has rethought it. It's longer and higher than the original but this isn't really about downforce. It's just stability and it looks good too. This is a 3.8 litre flat six with a pair of Borg Warner turbos strapped to it from a 992. It's got electric wastegates and the intercoolers tucked into the intake plenums to clean it up. I could and probably would eat my dinner off this. And that's before we even get to the inside. Now every 911 owner on the planet will recognise the basic grammar of this interior but while it's unfamiliar it's not quite the same. So for a start this is Singer's idea of a slightly lighter, more driver focused version of a turbo. So it's got less carpet than some of them. It's got a semi-roll cage in the back and these fixed back carbon bucket seats with this wicked sort of green check on them. But the five dials in front of you is pure 911. If you look in the middle of the rev counter though there's a boost gauge which is a detail I think is absolutely fantastic. But things like the wheel. It's a carbon wheel but it's got a leather rim and it's the perfect thickness and the perfect diameter for people who like to drive to get a real bit of torque onto that wheel and turn the car in. And then the floor hinge pedals, absolutely classic 911. But the gear stick, it's this really small stubby gear lever which falls right in the middle of your hand. So when you reach for a gear change you immediately touch it in the right place. It makes for a car that immediately feels like the ergonomics have all been sorted. And when you touch things in this car, funnily enough these little dials feel like the Bakelite-type switches that you got in the original 930 Turbo. It feels familiar but then there's a little screen that has things like a rudimentary sat-nav and some HVAC controls for things like fan speed and temperature. And you can do it all by feel. You don't have to look at these. This isn't some big screen that you have to go through loads of menus. There are some modern touches however. There's proper air con so it feels cold when you want it to be cold. And also there's a magsafe thing for charging your phone just here. So you just pop your phone there, look, and it sticks which is fabulous. It has proper modern ABS and traction control from Bosch, all that kind of stuff. And the button to play with it is down here and it's really simple. You click it a couple of times one way to go into sport and track modes and once the other way to go into a wet mode which makes it super paranoid and super safe. This is the kind of car where you look around it constantly trying to find the bad bit, the bit they've hidden, and genuinely you can't. But as with any Singer Restored car you can have pretty much any specification you want and that goes far beyond basic colour and trim. You can have one with luxurious trim and proper back seats, big fat and blooming gorgeous electric leather chairs instead of the lightweight fixed back carbon efforts, a more convenient fuel filler on the side instead of in the middle of the bonnet, and soft touch bellows with classic bumperettes, a sunroof, rear wiper. It's small stuff that can make the car properly yours, bespoke, unique. Do you know what it's also got? An old school key. And you know what that does? Do you know what? When life is loud I find this kind of noise actually quite calming because this is a car that I'm enjoying driving because you know what? I'm having to drive it. This does not let you off and it feels great. It's got a six-speed manual gearbox and it feels like there's very little rubber in there so it's kind of click click go and when you change down the pedals are in the right places to actually do proper heel and toe without moving your foot all the way across so you brake. It just feels right. It is very very fast with roughly 510 brake horsepower and minimal weight it gets down the road like you wouldn't believe but I kind of admire the singer tuning because they haven't just put 750 brake in this car for extra internet points. If you can get everything out of this car at 510 brake horsepower you are a better man than me. I'm using a bit of it and I'm having a whale of a time and it's very quick. But underneath all the speed is confidence. This is an old school Porsche 911 with modern suspension brakes and tyres and that makes it a very different beast to the Widowmaker 1970s version. Even on a really bumpy UK Moors Road where there's a lot of stuff to The reason for that is that it feels taught and new and the suspension has been specifically developed by Singer for this application. Wider wheels and tyres more grip better damping but without making it feel fake or disconnected. The steering is heavy-ish but you can still park it without blowing a gasket. Plus there's ABS and traction control developed in conjunction with Bosch that actually works. There's a myriad of subtle differences that add up to a familiar experience seen through new eyes. I keep changing gear just for the sake of it and yes I have driven an old 930 turbo an original one and they did have a generous amount of lag so you'd put your foot down you'd wait and wait and then they'd come on boost and they'd go and this car still has a generous amount of lag it doesn't get going until about three and a half thousand rpm but when it does it's just a big surge of turbo it just pulls far forward it's got about 400 pound feet of torque and that's enough in a car of this weight and it's just like the naturally aspirated engines which tend to be more operatic more kind of sing-song and aggressive this one is a bit more sophisticated. You know what impresses me the most? Back in the day I was the first journalist to drive a Singer Vettel 911 and I loved it because at first glance it just looked like a really amazing restored 911. It's only when you started to really look at it became something wondrous. It was the subtlety that made it amazing the idea that this was a daily driver. Well since then Singer has done a lot more extreme cars with wings and race engines and mad price tags and they don't appeal to me as much they're a bit showy but this turbo this is a bit of me it's back to Singer nudging perfection along honing the edge of a 911 without losing the character this is still a Porsche 911 turbo just enhanced. The thing is all of this comes at a cost because if you get a 911 turbo that's been Singerified it will cost you 1.1 million dollars and that's not including the cost of the original 964 which is what this car is based on plus shipping taxes all the rest of that stuff. Singer's already taken some 300 plus orders for this car even with that 1.1 million dollar price tag and I can see why because this thing is a proper gentleman thug in a world of flashy supercars this is kind of a connoisseur's effort. Now this car doesn't actually feel all that rear-wheel drive bizarrely it's a dry road with modern tyres and it just sticks like glue but if you were driving a modern supercar they wouldn't move around like this the steering wouldn't buck like it does in this car you have to get used to how to make this car go quickly like you did an old 930 turbo they're not going to let you off absolutely everything you have to work with the car and I love that I feel like I'm having to drive it and I love that these are the perfect roads for it as well and they're really bumpy and the weird thing is this car gets better the faster you drive it the suspension works harder the steering still writhes through your palms you're still actually having to drive the car you've got to change gear you've got to make the car work but as you do it comes with you you've got to watch out for sheep this is awesome this is what driving's about. So what do we have here a massively expensive resto mod that's amazing to drive fantastically put together and endlessly interesting but it's also a car of nuance and niche the waiting list might be three years long but that's not actually that many cars and that's got to be the appeal these aren't cars that you buy to flip you spec it ultra specifically and then keep it forever more like an heirloom than a car. You know what I was talking to Rob Dickinson who's the executive chairman and founder of Singer Industries the other day and he was telling me about the first ever time he went in a 911 which is basically why all of this exists and he was about 11 or 12 years old and he had a go in an ex-Sultan of Brunei car he was a passenger obviously because he was a child and it was a black 930 turbo with a red leather interior and the interesting thing was when he started talking he got really animated he got really excited about telling me this story about this car about being a passenger in his first Porsche 911 and he can remember every single detail and I said to him well if that car made you feel that what should this car make me feel when I drive it and he said I don't really want it to make you feel anything I just want to recapture moments of wonder. Well I've been driving this car for a couple of days now and I don't think it recaptures moments of wonder I think it is a moment of wonder the strange thing is I think there's a lot in this car that would really annoy a modern supercar owner it's ultimately not the fastest it hasn't got the most grip it does some really quirky things with steering and handling and you have to drive it you have to make sure your feet and your hands and your brain are all engaged when you drive this car fast. I mean I don't think this is a perfect car by any means but for me those quirks make it better so it's not perfect but it's pretty damn close.