SINGER’S DLS PROJECT

The Dynamics and Lightweighting Study. That’s how Singer refers to its latest reimagined Porsche 911. Surely the name tells you what’s been done: weight has been lightened, the dynamics have been, er, studied.

Singer developed its own double wishbone front suspension for the DLS to improve front end grip, precision and steering. It put the iconic ducktail spoiler through a regime that sees it serve an actual aerodynamic purpose, now 22mm taller and a few degrees more upright. A ruthless approach to mass and a liberal approach to terrifyingly expensive materials sees a raw DLS tip the scales at a little over 1,000kg.

Anyway, given the name and the lengths gone to already, you’d imagine the engine would be the one thing that got a pass. Porsche’s air-cooled flat six, a 4.0-litre with 400bhp as fitted to previous cars Singer has restored, is hardly lacking charisma, noise, power or response. And yet...

Over all the other elements that make the DLS as spectacular as it is, the engine stands proud. It is a masterpiece of engineering. An air-cooled 4.0 flat six with four valves per cylinder (something Porsche never dared fit to that generation of road car engines), those valves made of sodium-filled titanium, with an exhaust made from Inconel and titanium, the familiar fan on the back and its housing, all magnesium. It’s entirely redesigned, largely the work of Williams Advanced Engineering, revs to 9,300rpm and sounds divine. The sort of noise that addictions are made of. How could you ever stop driving, when that simple act delivers such richly textured, howlingly pure, furiously orchestral, soaringly strident, whisperingly pure notes straight down your lugholes?

So what if it’s lost a little of the guttural tones, the familiar breathy air-cooled chunter? No matter where you are in the rev range, what gear you select (that’s another delectable device), this motor delivers like no other. A motorsport engine with pop-to-the-shop manners. It’s irresistible.