Commission This!
How Adam Kern and G Design Racing pioneered the Do-Anything 996
This January, the Porsche world has been in a twist about the Singer Vehicle Design ACS. The All Terrain Commission Study, developed in conjunction with the legendary Porsche Safari builder and team manager, Richard Tuthill, is actually a pair of Safari 911 Porsches.
Built off of the 964 chassis like all of Singer’s reimagined ultra high-end Porsches, one of the ACS cars is designed to be a no holds barred “desert rallying” weapon while the other is designed for "high-speed, high-grip tarmac events."
These cars are of course technical and design marvels and will push other innovations that will make it to mere mortal DIY builds - one day. These cars are the pinnacle of Porsche “unobtainium” and the fact that you need TWO of them to get proper use out of the platform just chafes that much more.
Here at Roads United, we are inspired by the transformation of more common-place sportscars into purpose built tools that unlock completely new driving experiences. When we see cars that are designed to be reconfigured on the fly for all sort of hooning adventure, we get especially revved up.
One car that really does it for us is the Porsche 996 Rally Car developed by Adam Kern and Joey Buonsante of G Design Racing in Addison, IL. Unlike the 964 based Singer ACS, Adam’s 996 is designed to be a continually adjustable platform for a variety of applications and to evolve to meet what ever task he can throw at it.
It’s also designed to do this on a budget.
We also love cars that become platforms. Sure there are iconic cars that everyone loves but there are only a handful that have spawned cottage industries of fabricators, outfitters, and adventurers. We are all in on Land Cruisers and VW Westys. However when it comes to driving satisfaction in a platform car, nothing beats an old Porsche. There really is no substitute.
Adam’s 996 is this and more. The base car was a Ocean Blue on Savannah Beige Porsche 996 sourced by Adam on Rennlist.com. While the base 996 remains one of the lesser loved more affordable Porsches out there, it is really the last truly analog Porsche.
Multiple cars for multiple uses? Not with this setup. This is a go anywhere, do anything car.
In building the Do-Anything 996, the first order of business was to upgrade the suspension to an adjustable system to allow for top performance in a variety of circumstances.
Based on a 2-way adjustible JRZ shock kit with remote canisters mounted on an GMG internal roll bar and Eibach springs, the suspension set-up in this car can corner hard in auto cross, rise up and devour the whoops on a safari track and smooth everything out on the highway burn back home. All this at 5% of the cost of 1 of the Singer ACS pair.
Making sure that the famous feel and control of the 996 was not compromised by this setup, Adam and Joey also installed new front and rear forks, Tarrett drop links and sway bars and an ERP bump steer kit. All this feel was translated through a slick OMP ‘Rally’ steering wheel, stops on the steering rack, a CAE shifter and cable setup, and a proper set of race pedals.
With proper spacing and updates to the brake calipers and rotors the 996 was also able to swap the original staggered wheel setup for two rotatable sets of 15” Fullrace T Braid wheels - white with Indysport SG Rallycross and gold with General Altimax Arctic 12 winter rubber. For more standard tarmac "applications", powdered gold Porsche BBS Lightweights and Yokohama a052's will deliver the prefect grip and look great doing it. Do-Anything, indeed!
The suspension set-up in this car can corner hard in auto cross, rise up and devour the whoops on a safari track and smooth everything out on the highway burn back home.
All this at 5% of the cost of 1 of the Singer ACS pair.
Multiple cars for multiple uses? Not with this setup. This is a go-anywhere, do-anything car.
Getting the right power to the car’s new stance(s), Adam and Joey added an updated flywheel for better throttle response, an OS Giken LSD and bearings as well as a Porsche Stability Management (PSM) kill switch for a full analog driving experience.
Making sure this experience remained as reliable as possible, Adam addressed the Intermediate Shaft Bearing (IMS) boogeyman of the Porsche 996 with a LN Engineering Retrofit kit and updated the clutch, seals, and more.
Finishing out the cross purpose built interior Adam added a 996 GT3 ‘Elephant Ear’ seats matching the Savannah Beige interior and added a GT3 console delete to add leg room for racing.
Bottom line - we are incredibly inspired by this build. What Adam has achieved with the support of G Design Racing is one of the most flexible sportscars that we have seen. As we move into a future where transportation becomes more generic and car culture is driven by high-priced, limited utility 'Halo' builds, we are very grateful for examples like this where new life and a breadth of experiences can be wrought from a simple commonplace 20 year old platform car.
About Lowend Garage Chicago
Lowend Garage is the brainchild of Adam Kern supporting his racing and vehicle design efforts as well as charity events and a very eclectic LP record store.
Find out about all of Lowend Garage's efforts at lowendgaragechicago.com/ or follow them on Instagram at @lowendgaragechicago
About G Design Racing
G DESIGN RACING is a full service racing shop located in Addison, IL that can service and enhance the performance of your race car as well as service street cars. They create a schedule of track events and offer transport and support at these events. They also offer fully insured VIP pick up/ delivery service in an enclosed trailer, for your convenience.
For more information contact them at 630-750-4152 or visit their shop at:
70 W Fay Ave Addison, Illinois 60101