Singer turns to Red Bull to fix the Porsche 911
The restomod masters Singer are calling on Red Bull Advanced Technologies to help stiffen its upcoming open-top 911 restorations
Porsche's 911 is heralded as a dynamic masterpiece today but that hasn't always been the case. Certainly not back when Porsche was reskining the 911 G Series to create the 964. It was a car based on a chassis that struggled with the 330bhp of the 964 Turbo, certainly not designed to take the 500bhp that today’s Singer Classic Turboc models enjoy, especially in Cabriolet and Targa forms
Unfortunately, now Cabriolet and Targa variants are being bought up to meet demand, that means starting with a car that even when new had only a passing interest in structural rigidity. Which is why Singer has turned to Red Bull Technologies to help fix the flexible issue.
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RBAT’s role has been to analyse the existing structures of the two 911 variants and identify areas that require improvement and then develop the hardware required to provide the solution. This is achieved by scanning and manually measuring a 964’s structure, with the figures then fed into RBAT’s Finite Element Analysis software, for analysis and calculation before the solution is found. Suffice to say it’s far more sophisticated than Porsche’s solution of the day to fit some steel bars to try and hold the body together.
Once the digital model was complete, RBAT was then able to identify the exact areas that require attention and the best form of reinforcing required to reduce or eliminate the possibility of twisting under load. This therefore improves how the finished product drives given the power it features.
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The result of Red Bull’s work is 13 individual carbonfibre pieces that are bonded to the 964 chassis before handed back to Singer, resulting in a 175 per cent increase in chassis rigidity. Singer and Red Bull claim the driving experience of Cabriolet and Targa models will match that of the coupes – punchy, given the only modern convertibles that manage hard-top parity in terms of rigidity are those with carbonfibre monocoques, most famously from the likes of McLaren.
It’s not the first time Singer has teamed up with RBAT, with the pair partnering on strengthening the 964 structures that underpin its new Carrera Coupe models.
