Norbert Singer on the 935/78 Moby Dick

[This is the original unedited interview and is being run here exclusively for the Fans of Norbert Singer. "ec" refers to European Car magazine]

Of all the variants of the competition 911 ever built, there is no question that Moby Dick holds the distinction of being the most famous. Constructed in Weissach over 20 years ago, 935/78 chassis 006 had an incredible impact on the design of future sports racing cars. The chief architect of Moby Dick, Norbert Singer, took some time out during the last round of the 1998 FIA GT Championship at Laguna Seca to talk about Moby Dick. A car, that in the opinion of many, was the inspiration for Singer's Le Mans winning GT-1.
 

ec: It is well known that Moby Dick was the result of the manufacturers meeting with the FIA in 1977. Was this something that you had in mind already after having built the (935/2-77) "Baby" ?

Singer: You mean before the meeting ?

ec: Right. Was it purely the fact that the FIA had given you this loophole that caused you to build the car or had you been looking at doing this all along?

Singer: No, I think that it was born in the FIA meeting when they allowed the BMW to cut the side panels to get the exhaust through it. So the role of the car was changed. The problem that the car could not be any lower is limited by the exhaust pipe on the side. If we want to have the same possibility as Porsche with the rear engine car, we can lower the car as far as the body can do it, the steel body. So the FIA allowed it to be cut and it was in the letter of the regulations. It was allowed to cut the side panel. So this was the case and the idea for cutting the complete side panel and to lower the car by 8 or 10 centimeters.

ec: Would this have been possible to do with the car from the season before, the 935/77 ?

Singer: It was not allowed at that stage. I remember a few complaints about the bodywork for the 935/77 but again, it was legal by the wording of the regulations.

ec: No, but I mean Moby Dick itself is such a radical departure from just it's body work alone from both the previous werks 935's. Could you have taken a regular 935/77 model and just cut away the floor for the 1978 season instead of building Moby Dick ?

Singer: No, this was the also the new engine and not just the floor. This makes the car lower than all the other 911s. And because of the lower car, it looks wider than the other ones. So, actually, I don't know how much wider the car is; but I think it was close to the 2 meter line. And the height was very different. Every thing was to be changed. You could not do this with a 935/77.

ec: How much of the "Baby" was an influence for building Moby Dick?

Singer: Well, the Baby was giving us the idea of cutting a lot of steel out of it and to replace it with the aluminum frame so the Baby had to be very light - 750 kilos I think. And to get that weight, you had to give up a lot of steel, especially the rear part where it's heavy. And that shows us that we can replace a lot of steel panels by aluminum frame. What we learned there, we did it on the Moby Dick as well.

ec: From the time you left the FIA meeting in Paris to getting back to your office, how long did it take to formulate and come up with the entire project for the 935/78?

Singer: I actually don't remember, but the idea to cut the hold in the side panel and lower the car by raising the floor was right in the meeting as they tried to figure out what they were going to do.

ec: So you knew what you were already going to do as you sat in that meeting ?

Singer: Right. Even Jurgen Barth was sitting beside me and I told him, now we cut the complete side panel and the floor. He was laughing. He didn't understand it the first moment, but it was quite clear coming out of the meeting that what we can do and now it was the job, how much can we do it and how far can we do it. What does it mean in reinforcements and so on?

ec: What was the reaction of Professor Fuhrmann and Helmut Bott about this ? Did you draw this up? Did you put your ideas down? Did it have to have an approval? Was this something Prof. Fuhrmann got involved?

Singer: No, no, no, no. We had quite a big space to play. And then we got the decision. We had to make a new car for next year. So it was clear to me it had to be like this.

ec: But who did you have to submit the plans for the to build it. Are you saying you already had the go ahead to build a new car for Le Mans before you went to me meeting in Paris ?

Singer: No, no. The meeting was, I don't know, it was late autumn or something like this. At that time, a decision hat not been made. But right after the meeting in Paris we got the decision to go ahead, it was clear how to do it.

ec: Was the decision to build a new 935 for Le Mans based only on that meeting and that you knew that you could build a prototype such as Moby Dick ?

Singer: No, no.

ec: So you were going to build a new car regardless?

Singer: Right, we would like to make a new car and it was clear that we want to have it for Le Mans. That's why it is a long tail car. Then we put all the other things in what we knew and had learned from the previous seasons

ec: When did you start work on Moby Dick? When it got down to the actual construction.

Singer: Actually, I started somewhere in November, I think. Something like that.

ec: The same thing Weissach protocal, built in relative secrecy.

Singer: Yes, (laughs) right. We had to finish the race season first. It is always the same in racing.

ec: What about the decision for the engine ? How did the 3.2 four valve six cylinder come to be ?