102 CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK | APRIL 2019t didn’t start like this,’ remembers Mazen ‘Maz’ Fawaz
as he flicks the ignition key and 4.0 litres of very special
Porsche flat-six erupts like a Doberman catching a
sudden whiff of postie. ‘It started as a simple Club
Sport-type project. The classic Singer coupe is a fairly
luxurious gentleman’s car so we thought it would be
cool if we dialled it up, took a bunch of weight out.’
So far, so sensible.
‘But then things kind of went crazy.’ He slots second
gear, pins the right pedal and the revcounter needle makes like a pinball
flipper, firing upwards almost instantly. ‘We had no idea back then that
we’d end up where we are now.’
Where we are now is inside the orange wrapper of an early-’90s 911
re-engineered by an F1 team and costing some $1.8m (£1.4m). That’s getting
on for Bugatti Chiron money, and is six times as expensive as a 911 GT2 RS,
the priciest roadgoing 911 you can currently buy from Stuttgart. Yet again,
Singer is setting the agenda when it comes to old Porsches.
For the best part of the last decade Singer Vehicle Design, founded by
expat Brit and one-time rock singer Rob Dickinson, has been crafting ex-
quisite fusions of old and very old 911 from its base in southern California.
Over 100 cars have been finished so far, each based on the 964-generation
911s that Porsche originally built between 1989 and 1994 – and most costing
their owners over $600,000 by the time they’ve had the car detailed to their
requirements. But the cars developed as part of Singer’s DLS project are a
whole new level of insanity.
And not just because of that $1.8m price. DLS stands for Dynamic and
Lightweight Study and the resulting cars are co-developed and constructed
by Williams Advanced Engineering, the UK-based road car and consultan-
cy arm of Williams F1. Virtually every single component has been changed
or modified in the pursuit of creating what Maz calls the ‘ultimate ana-logue driving experience’. Just 75 cars will be restored at Williams’ Grove
facility in Oxfordshire, in a space once earmarked for the stillborn Jaguar
C-X75 hypercar.
But before the first commission is delivered this autumn there’s a whole
raft of tests and further development work to be carried out. Which is why
we’ve come to the mountains above Barcelona to join Singer and Williams
as they work through the set-up.
‘We drove this a few months back and were in love with it,’ says Maz over
a deafening cacophony of transmission chatter and induction roar as we
climb through a series of curves en route to meet the test team. The car
feels tight and incredibly light on its feet. When Maz leans into the throttle
the car leaps forward with the kind of response that’d make a Tesla look
sleepy. But Maz isn’t happy.
‘Now it feels like we’ve lost a little something because we made some
changes, so now we’re dialling it back up.’
Those noises from the bespoke Hewland gearbox and a trick intake
system that draws air in from each rear side window will be calmed a little.
But today Maz is more focused on getting the ride and handling sorted.
Joining him from the Singer side are three test-drive consultants: racer
Marino Franchitti, journalist and presenter Chris Harris, and Harris’s
long-time friend Richard Tuthill of Tuthill Porsche. In terms of design, the
DLS-honed cars are very much the creation of Singer’s founder, Dickinson,
but these are the guys who will shape how it feels.
There’s a huge mutual respect among Singer staff and their consultants;
Maz recalls driving with Tuthill on some Rally of Great Britain stages in
an old air-cooled 911: ‘It was wet, freezing and frightening but the single
greatest driving experience ever. I could not believe the abuse they take.
And it’s the first time I’ve properly jumped a car. Top of fourth gear...’
Listening to their feedback and making changes to the car are the half
dozen bodies from Williams, plus representatives from other suppliers, the
list of which reads like a who’s-who of top-drawer component brands.
‘Honestly, we couldn’t have afforded to pay the bills for those guys,’ says
quietly spoken Maz, now 44, who forged his career creating software that ⊲THE MAN, THE CAR, THE COFFEE
I
The DLS commissions will
cost $1.8m. That’s six times as
expensive as the priciest 911
you can buy from Porsche
Maz Fawaz (left) is a driven man: ‘I know where I want to end up’▲ ▲ ▲
Maz Fawaz
A Porsche obsessive
and successful
businessman, Fawaz
works with musician,
fellow Porsche nut and
company founder Rob
Dickinson at Singer
Vehicle Design.Singer DLS
The classic air-cooled
Porsche 911 dragged
into 2019 with F1 tech.
The result of Singer’s
Dynamic Lightweight
Study, these are
development cars
being tested – hard.Double espresso
A machine double
espresso given zero
thought: during a
hectic development
schedule, Fawaz is all
about the car, not the
crema.Coffee with CAR