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Here's What Happens When High-End Designers & Engineers Optimize a 27-Year-Old Porsche
Singer Vehicle Design's "Dynamics and Lightweighting Study" gets a little help from Daniel Simon
By Rain Noe - Nov 17, 2017
It must be awesome to be wealthy.
So a Porsche enthusiast named Scott Blattner owns a Porsche 964. (That's what Porsche called the 911 Carreras made from 1989 to 1994, which had styling revisions.) Blattner's model was made in 1990, and he approached Singer Vehicle Design, an aftermarket company that restores and modifies Porsches, to see if they could lightweight and advance the performance of his ride.
Singer teamed up with Williams Advanced Engineering--that's a Formula One company, for chrissakes--to undertake a "Dynamics and Lightweighting Study," going over every inch of the car to see what could be upgraded. Here's how Blattner's car looks now:
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Enter a caption (optional)Through intense study and component development for the 964 platform, advances in the following areas have been commissioned by Singer's clients and achieved in collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering:
- A Porsche four-valve, four-camshaft, naturally aspirated, 500HP air-cooled flat-six engine developed by Williams Advanced Engineering with consultation by Hans Mezger.
- Underbody and surface aero performance optimized through CFD analysis, by Williams Advanced Engineering, with consultation by Norbert Singer.
- Improved suspension philosophy including light-weighting, enhanced geometry and improved adjustability
- Further weight reduction methods and use of magnesium, titanium, carbon fibre and other advanced materials contributing to a minimum vehicle weight of 990kg / 2180Ib.
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Enter a caption (optional)Says Rob Dickinson, the founder and Creative Director of Singer Vehicle Design:
"On a technical level, the study has been fascinating and has resulted in an incredible restoration with the benefit of top drawer resources and modern science. Artistically it has been a second chance to connect with the machine on a new level.
"Aesthetically, I've been working closely with friend and creative sparring partner Daniel Simon and a great team here in California to present ideas that work functionally as well as emotionally for our clients."
Also, does Daniel Simon have the best design job in the world, or what?!? To refresh your memory, he's an ex-Bugatti vehicle and concept designer who we were lucky enough to interview here.
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
6 Comments
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If I'm not mistaken, these are well done renderings and deaigns by Daniel Simon. I'm not certain the car has actually been built yet.
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Nice renderings.
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These are renderings?!? Well, WOW and DISAPPOINTED.
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This reminds me of the "Inferno Camaro". Which, in my humble opinion is the embodiment of the design opportunity to re-release the Camaro, that GM missed out on. In my mind, the 6th generation fell flat on design.
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"Also, does Daniel Simon have the best design job in the world, or what?!?"
Yes. Plus apparently the skills and work ethic to match.!Report as spam -
OK. This is extreme and intense, and the attention to every square inch of the car is incredible, from the head rests to the seats to the shifter. I wonder why they didn't find some machined aluminum seat belt parts, like the part that clicks, instead of stock black plastic. That's my tiny tiny critique. I even like the ugly green color, it works well.
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Continued Reading
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