1995 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Club Sport

As had been a long-standing tradition for Porsche, engineers developed a highly capable, performance iteration of the 911 Carrera which had the ability to be competitive on the track, while also being able to be driven on regular roads in reasonable comfort. The Carrera RS 3.8 Club Sport was largely based on the Carrera Cup car and was specifically developed as a homologation special for the BPR GT3 and GT4 categories, and 100 built to satisfy FIA GT2 homologation requirements for the track-only Carrera Cup RSR. 

When developing the Carrera RS, Porsche began with the widened body shell of the 993 Carrera 2 coupe and as was done with RS models of the past, went to fanatical lengths to strip away excess weight, even in “Touring” trim. Porsche deleted the rear seat, central locking, radio speakers, power-adjustable seats, electric windows, power-adjustable mirrors, sound insulation, the rear defroster, the headliner, and even airbags. From there, Porsche incorporated thinner window glass, lightweight aluminum front hood and doors, fixed Recaro seats and minimalist door panels with traditional fabric pulls. 

The Club Sport took the lightning process a step further and make the Carrera RS a decidedly more hardcore track day machine at the cost of limited road use. The leather-trimmed Recaro seats were replaced with cloth versions with five-point harnesses, the cabin ventilation is nothing more than corrugated tubing to channel fresh air from outside, and the carpeting was omitted entirely. A fire suppression switch and battery isolator switch were installed for safety. The body shell was fully seam-welded, a full welded-in Matter roll cage and front strut brace increased the body’s stiffness considerably- approximately 40% over the standard Carrera. Even with the addition of the welded-in roll cage, the Club Sport models come in at 2,770 pounds- 110 pounds lighter than the standard Carrera RS.

The suspension featured ball-joint front damper mounts, adjustable 23mm front and 19mm rear anti-roll bars, and stiffened track rod ends. Additionally, every element of the suspension is adjustable to be tailored for the driver’s individual track setup. The Club Sport’s suspension set up further lowered the ride height by 30mm at the front and 40mm at the rear. The Carrera RS models received 18 inch Speedline three-piece wheels with “Speedline For Porsche” text etched into the outer wheel lips. Behind the wheels, the 993 Turbo derived 322mm cross-drilled and ventilated rotors with four-piston aluminum brake calipers handle slowing the car to a halt. 

The Club Sport also received an even more aggressive aerodynamic package to increase downforce and stability at speed. The front splitter was deeper and ran the entire width of the front of the car to balance the downforce generated by the bi-plane rear wing. The rear wing features integrated intake ducts into the upright struts, and the top element is adjustable between 0-12 degrees. 

At the heart of it all, the Carrera RS also received its own iteration of the M64/20 engine with a bore increase of 100mm to 102 without changing the stroke, effectively increasing total displacement to 3746cc. Additionally, a new intake system called VarioRam incorporated varying length induction tubes which were vacuum-operated sliders to change the effective length of the runners to increase low-end torque and top-end horsepower. Total output was rated at 300 horsepower at 6,000 RPMs. The engine was mated to a G50/32 six-speed gearbox with different ratios between the standard and Club Sport versions- shorter for the Club Sport for greater acceleration. A Sachs limited-slip differential with 40% locking on acceleration and 65% on deceleration further improves traction and grip, while a single-mass flywheel allows the already free-revving engine’s RPMs to rise and fall even faster. 

In total, between 1995 and 1996, 1,014 Carrera RS coupes were produced with a total of 227 of those being Club Sport models. 

This example was purchased new and registered to its first owner in Germany on March 23, 1995 through Porsche Center Rhein-Oberberg. For the first few years, it spent much of its time in storage and was sparsely used. It went on to change hands to owners in Germany and Norway before being sold by a dealership in Austria, once again returning to Germany, then most recently to the United States. Throughout its ownership, its maintenance has been documented in the warranty booklet which accompanies the car- with the most recent entry being logged in April of 2019.