Porsche 964 Carrera RS 3.6

After 20 years missing, the Carrera RS model is back in Porsche 911 serie. Based on the type 964 look and the M64 engine, the 1992 Carrera RS made entire part of the 911 diabolic evolutions.

History
Remenber 1970... Porsche upgraded the flat6 capacity from 2.4 liters to 2.7 in competition view. As a result, a legendary 911 appeared and even today, a bit of irreducible only swear on it. The duck tail, the painted Fuchs rims and the big markings on both sides achieved to make of the car a true myth. The car took advantage of her light weight to blow the few rivals she has got. With 210hp, the car wasn't extra powerful but her efficacity on road or on a cicuit was far from being ridiculous.

It was a specialist's weapon ; only a little band of pilots could get the best of the car. For the others, it was an assured head to queue ! With 1,590 models built, she is also very rare and courted. Our 964 Carrera RS is also rare : only a little more than 2,500 exemplars were built ( 65 for Belgium and 100 for France, no other numbers available ). While the Carrera RS 2.7 was a base for sport evolutions ( RSR, you know ? ), the Carrera RS 3.6 is directly stemed from competition car : the 911 Cup.This car was used in the Porsche championship : the Porsche Cup. The cars were the same for more entertainment. Lightened, reinforced and more powerful, those cars are very performant on circuit... So, we have said that the Carrera RS is a derivate from the 964 Cup.
That's the most important thing to know.

Technical Evolutions
The basis design is the 964 one, as on the 911 Cup with the narrow body. The external appearance hasn't change. The line of the 964 is untouched. The little retractable aileron is always here. The chassis, lowered from 40 mm and the new rims ( the same used in the Cup and on the turbocharged model ) are the only elements of recognition. As her ancestor, the secret of the RS resides in the light weight. It is obtained by the removal of all that hadn't any place on a cicuit : electric systems to lift the windows and to adjuste seats and external mirrors ( the same used on the 965 and on all the Carrera since 1992 ), air conditioning, hi-fi installation, sunshine roof, centralized doors locking, alarm, rear seats, soundproofing materials, carpets and interior decoration. Other elements to win weight were utilized, very characteristic for racing : lightened front bagages cover, lightened doors featuring no tidy and a string to open the door from the cockipt, dissapearing of the assisted guidance and of course, the presence of the indispensable bucket seat, in leather of course, like the handwheel and the gear stick. As a result, 10% of the total weight were saved for a total of 1,230 kg that gives avery good weight/power ratio : 4.7kg/hp ! But of course, the preparation for racing isn't finished. The suspensions ( springs, shock absorbers, anti roll-bars ) have been adapted for circuit use. The engineers concentrated on the M64 and optimized the ignition and injection cartography. If they won 10hp, the torque increment is more significant : it has raised from 295 Nm to 325 Nm at the same engine speed. The brakes are extra powerful, like always on a Porsche, more than the capacity of the car in fact. The discs are from the Turbo S with 322 mm and on the rear, they came from the Carrera Cup - that's also those of the Turbo 3.3 & Turbo 3.6- with 299 mm. Of course, they are griped with 4-pistons clips. The ABS is here and achieve a great work. It is very useful with rough pilots and on wet revetment.

The Roadtest
The atmosphere of the Carrera RS 3.6 is fantastic ! The bucket seats are very efficients in all the cases and remove from them is a feat of skill. On your back, the Flat 6 makes you deaf with his metallic growling that fill the cockpit. The direction is very direct and it seems that it fights against you; in fact, it is satisfied to retransmit all the informations from the road and the front axle. The brake pedal is the most inflexible you've ever touched and you suddenly realize while when you stop driving on circuit, smoke used to get out from the rims !

As said before, the Carrera RS 3.6 is a specialist's weapon. The tendance to understeer is quite evident with a more charged rear axle. The front tyres are also a bit straight for the 911's behaviour. A man could be reticent to drive the car on a circuit : it is essential to predict the moment where the front will unsling (which happens so quickly). Something miss the Carrera RS : racing tyres. Indeed, the Michelin MXX3 are very good tyres for road but on a cicuit, it allows the pilot to have, in a way of course, low drifts. The racing tyres would give a more aggressive car but maybe too much for common people...