Usually, when you think of Singer, you think of beautifully-finished, artfully-tweaked restorations of air-cooled Porsche 911s that bear plenty of retro touches. But the Californian outfit will do pretty much anything you want (if you have the money, of course), and one long-term customer took that notion to the absolute extreme by commissioning the insane machine you see here.
The Porsche 911 Reimagined by Singer – All-terrain Competition Study (ACS), to give the car its full name, is a 964 that has been completely redeveloped for off-road racing. It draws plenty of inspiration from the World Rally Championship and cars like the 911 SC/RS and the Dakar-winning 959, mixed into a surprisingly modern sci-fi-esque design that’s like nothing else the company has ever made.
Singer isn’t known for rally cars, so it has teamed up with a company that is – Tuthill Porsche, an Oxfordshire-based firm that restores and prepares classic Porsches for rallying and road racing. It has a steep history, having partnered with Prodrive to prep the bodyshells of the aforementioned 911 SC/RS. Its cars have also won numerous rallies, the most recent being the 5,000 km 2019 East African Safari Classic.
Now, to the ACS itself – a 1990 model that’s been chopped up and fitted with huge angular carbon fibre body panels. The styling is dominated by the large squared-off fender flares that house 16-inch forged aluminium wheels wrapped in massive BFGoodrich all-terrain tyres.
You’ll also find slimline milled aluminium bumpers, protruding front mudflaps, a sizeable ducktail spoiler, twin centre-exit exhaust pipes and headlights that appear to have been lifted off Porsche’s latest 911 RSR racer. A key Singer styling cue that remains is the bonnet-mounted fuel filler cap in the centre.
But it’s when you open up the front and rear clamshells that the real magic of the ACS lies. Affixed to the strengthened monocoque is the specialised long-travel suspension with twin five-way adjustable dampers at each corner, making it eight dampers (!) in total. The wheels hide slotted steel brake discs clamped by four-piston monobloc callipers.
The engine is also pretty special – a 3.6 litre “Metzger” flat-six that’s been fettled with twin symmetrical turbochargers and fly-by-wire individual throttle bodies, plus water-to-air intercoolers integrated with the intake plenum. The specific tuning of the mill will depend on the event (it’s designed for the Baja 1000 and Dakar Rally, just so you know), but in base configuration, it makes 450 hp and 569 Nm of torque.
For maximum traction, the ACS comes will permanent all-wheel drive with mechanical limited-slip differentials at the front, centre and rear. A five-speed sequential dog-box allows the driver to flat-shift without the need to take the foot off the accelerator, with the shifts themselves conducted using either the gearlever or the steering wheel paddle shifters.
Inside, the ACS features a full FIA-spec roll cage (the weight of which has been offset by those carbon body panels), FIA-certified competition seats, a GPS navigation system and a rehydration system (i.e. a drinks bottle) for both driver and passenger.
Singer’s famed attention to detail is in full view here. Visible details include the skeletal three-spoke steering wheel with red-painted spokes, the hollowed-out knurled gearlever, aircraft-style air vents and paint-splattered seats. As usual, the digital instrument display features a rev counter that goes up to 11, a nod to This is Spinal Tap. The carbon fibre hydraulic handbrake allows the driver to pull the necessary skids.
And amazingly, that’s not all. In addition to the Parallax White car you see here, the client has also commissioned a Corsica Red unit for “high-speed, high-grip tarmac events.” This unquestionably wealthy guy has also allowed other customers to build their own version of the ACS, though of course, if you have to ask the price, you probably can’t afford it. Future examples will be modified exclusively at Tuthill Porsche.
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Such extreme mods is an insult to the car itself as barely any of the original will remain. Might as well make a new car in the shape of a 911.