When the carbon fiber RUF CTR was revealed in Geneva earlier this year, we posed the question: “RUF or Singer?” and judging your responses it seems that performance trumped presentation on many of your score sheets. You might want to reconsider your choice though, as Singer Vehicle Design is teaming up with Williams Advanced Engineering to make something pretty special, and it’s still air-cooled.
The result of this partnership is a 4.0L naturally-aspirated flat-six that should be good for 500hp before hitting its 9,000rpm limiter, but that isn’t even the most exciting bit: Hans Mezger had a hand in this. After all, it is based on the 3.6 he designed for the 1990 911. While partnering up with a company that’s garnered deserved fame from its Formula 1 pursuits is all well and amazing, the fact that Mezger was involved elevates this project even further.
For anyone reading an article about a flat-six who doesn’t know of this engineering legend, Mezger is synonymous with some of strongest and most capable motors to be found in Porsche road and race cars, having worked on the units in the 917, the 935, and of course, multiple 911s. Though known primarily for his work with water-cooleds, the fact that Mezger was a consultant for this Singer-Williams collaboration speaks volumes about its quality, of which there was little doubt to begin with. Singer has always sat at the big kids’ table when it comes to the Porsche world, and now maybe they’ll move to the head of it.
The renderings of the new motor also reveal a bunch of trick carbon fiber intakes and manifolds—including those gorgeous window-ducts—a python’s twist of Inconel-titanium exhaust piping, and what I think is possibly even more interesting than the new motor: flares.
Given that the “full culmination of this exciting work with Williams and other technical partners will be revealed shortly,” I’ll venture a guess and say that we might see some 934 inspiration in the future of Singer. The past few years have seen a surge of over-fenders and fiberglass flare kits being pop-riveted to just about anything that a Dremel can be taken to (which is just about anything, incidentally), but the resulting fit and finish is typically disappointing. Singer on the other hand, they know how to make things proper, and are perhaps the best in the world at nailing the kinds details that would make their potential wide body cars vastly better than what we’re accustomed to.
The thought of an RSR- or 934-style Singer sucking air through its quarter windows into a half-thousand-horsepower screamer as it sweeps toward 9,000? Wild. The knowledge that Williams and Mezger have their fingerprints all over that experience? This is a tipsy 2AM chat about fantasy cars come true, and we can’t wait to learn more.
