While we’re confident other car marques attract as many purists and straight-up engineering fans as Porsche, at Design 911 we don’t think anything has the tractor-beam pull of the classic 911. Fellow Porsche devotee Colin agrees. So, we went for a chat.

The first thing Colin says, which in his words is “a bit shocking”, is that “I’m not a Porsche technician” and “I’ve never worked in another Porsche garage”. Not the ideal way to kick off an interview about the beauty of Porsche engineering, or the normal I’ve-been-a-Porsche-fan-man-and-boy, but on we go. 

However, he’s quick to clarify that remark. As a design engineer, he’s always been “obsessed with learning about mechanisms – taking things apart and putting them back together”. Colin’s uniquely qualified to give a new perspective on the 911: not as a fanboy, or mechanic, but as a designer.

‘Dagenham Dave.’

So, if you’re not a dyed-in-the-wool devotee, from where did the passion for Porsche arrive, Colin? As is the case with most men who love fast cards, it’s a mate called Dave.

“He sold his RS200 and bought a Porsche Turbo. We thought he was insane”. However, madness is often contagious, and Colin spent the money he made selling his house back in 88/89 on a Porsche 911 SC. “I look at what’s possible – always investigating, looking for better design and better process.

“The 911 was always the definitive fast car – irresistible from an ownership and from an engineering perspective.” From there, things are a little more conventional (for Porsche owners, anyway) as they took their cars on track days.

What Colin did next…

The natural progression was to create a racecar, and that needs a workshop. So, having rented a unit, the logic goes, you may as well open the doors and that’s how, Colin finishes reasonably, a racing-tuned Porsche 911 Turdo helped launch his business career.

Colin’s first commercial outing was as 930 Sports Porsche. Sounds like a solid, thought-through business proposition. And it was, right? ‘Complete naivety. Launched in the middle of winter. All we had was a cantilever tool box, a trolley jack, four axle stands and a socket set.” From a less than auspicious start, things soon revved up, though.

“An opportunity came up for me to split the business away from my partners. I called my new venture 930 Motorsport and that’s where the ‘9M’ came from”. A few years – and many more tools – and we arrive at the latest incarnation: Ninemeister. Twenty-five years on and it’s a thriving business employing around 20 people.

Because every Porshe that is delivered under the Ninemeister flag carries his name, Colin has always been uneasy about outsourcing to third parties. “I struggled watching a car drive out the door – every single one I was nervous about. I kept thinking ‘is it as perfect as it can be?’ and ‘will it come back to us?’

In-Haus engineering.

The obvious solution was to do everything in-house, so that’s what they did, and do. Bodywork repairs, vehicle restoration and engine rebuilds for every Porsche, both classics and contemporary, naturally aspirated and water-cooled. Colin’s USP is that his engineering skills help get the maximum from every car that passes through his company. More than that, they now build their own cars. From scratch.

Colin’s company offers a range of cars, called 9Ms. All are built to the customers’ own specs, and the result is a triumph of Colin’s reimagining so much as the technical rebuilding.

Example?

The 9M65 GT2 Colin describes is their interpretation of the 965 Turbo – “the car Porsche would have built if they hadn’t brought out the 993 GT2”. The philosophy is – and has always been – to use only the best components in their pursuit of Porsche perfection. On a practical level, he describes this as “raiding the Porsche parts bin” before considering an alternative. Evey build, he explains, “needs a lot of parts.”

With any Porsche, thanks to the network of supply and demand in original and OEM components, there are many opportunities to upgrade components from core 911 to the next evolution are many, and Colin takes all of them. Cars are built in his mind before anything else happens. It’s a unique process.

“We use the best components that are possibly available for the cars”, one example being where the guys opted for this slip differential by Wavetrac (which we do stock of course).

Mind map over matter.

Colin and Ninemeister spend hours talking to each prospective customer about what he or she want to achieve in terms of performance and spec. Colin’s engineering background enables him to create a 3D ‘mind map’ which is then translated into a list of 500 plus parts. As he says, “my first tool is a spreadsheet”.

“It’s important to us that our supplier can receive that list, understand it, and return it to us with a competitive quote. Having a good supplier like Design 911 is key for us. They understand what we’ll accept and what we won’t. I’m a man who can visualise all the parts in an air-cooled 911 engine, so working with Design 911 is perfect for our business.” And of course, the reverse is also true.

So, class, what have we learned?

Firstly, that you don’t have to be a fanboy to be captivated by the Porsche 911. Secondly, that these cars are not only gorgeous to look at, and shift a bit, but they’re also amazing feats of engineering. The third point is that Ninemeister take recreating the Porsche to a new level. You can watch Colins full interview on Ninemeister below –

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