Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.0

When sports car fans are asked about legendary models from the Porsche brand, many answers come. From the early 356 to the 550 Spyder to the 911 Carrera RS, there are many famous vehicles. But 911 Carrera RS is meant? Usually probably the most famous and oldest model of the family, which is actually called 911 Carrera RS 2.7 and thus draws attention to its displacement. While much later offshoots such as the 911 (964) Carrera RS or the 911 (993) RS, which already renounced the epithet Carrera, are also well known, there was an intermediate link that is obviously not known to many car fans. Porsche was and is known for constant development of their racing cars. Accordingly, the homologation vehicle 911 Carrera RS 2.7 of 1972 was transformed into the racing car 911 Carrera RSR 2.8, which would hardly have been competitive for 1974 due to further developments by other manufacturers. So the 911 Carrera RS 3.0 was developed as the basis for a corresponding RSR variant.

Compared to the more well-known RS, the cubic capacity of the six-cylinder boxer engine increased from 2.7 to an even three liters. In addition, the compression ratio was increased from 8.5:1 to 9.8:1, which meant that the performance of the road-legal car increased from 154 kW/210 hp to 169 kW/230 hp and from 255 to 274 newtonmeters of torque. At the same time, the engineers managed to save further weight and reduce the kerb weight to 900 (Sport) or 1,060 kilograms (Touring). In conjunction with the manual five-speed transmission, the car accelerates to 100 kph (60 mph) in 5.2 seconds and then up to a topspeed of 240 kph (149 mph). This is slightly lower compared to the Carrera RS 2.7, as the 3.0 was fitted with a 12.3 centimeters wider bodywork to accomodate 9-inch wide wheels at the front and 11-inch wide wheels at the rear, and above all also got a newly designed rear wing. Instead of the cute ducktail there was now a fixed wing, which quickly got the nickname ‘whale tail’ and which already reminds a little of the wing on the 911 Turbo which debuted shortly afterwards. Around a solid core made of fibreglass-reinforced plastic, in which the large ventilation opening and a small ventilation slot just before the tear-off edge were integrated, there is a black surrounding made of hard rubber. The Carrera RS 3.0 received a thinner roof skin, thinner outer skins of the doors and thinner metal for the seat recesses and behind the dashboard compared to normal 911s of the time. Side and rear windows are made of thin glass. In addition, Porsche manufactured the front bumper with integrated opening for the additional oil cooler, the rear bumper, the boot lid and the before mentioned rear lid from GRP.

In contrast to the Carrera RS 2.7, which finally came off the production line in 1,580 units and could be ordered in almost all colors, Porsche provided only one color combination for the road version of the successor Carrera RS 3.0: White with golden stripes. As ever so often with their models, some selected customers had the option of specifying special wishes on their order. Thus the vehicle with chassis number 609109 was demonstrably produced with red stripes and red painted inner rims on the one hand and on the other hand also got the rollcage inside, which should actually only be found in the racing versions. In 1974 the base price was 64,980 DM, whereby an extra charge of at least 30,000 DM (depending on the planned racing class) was added for the offshoots equipped for racing or rally events. However, in addition to the sports suspension already used in the road car, a high-quality motorsports brake system from the Porsche 917 was also used. In contrast to the RS, the RSR had central locking wheels with magnesium rims.

Porsche produced a total of 109 copies of this sports model, of which 55 were on the Carrera RS 3.0 and 54 on the sports versions including the wider RSR. The final road vehicle, chassis number 609109, is currently for sale in Great Britain at Tom Hartley jnr. This 911 was first delivered in May 1974, and was then kept in a number of major Porsche collections before recently undergoing extensive restoration work back to its original condition. Now the specialist for classic cars and sports cars is looking for a new owner for this special Carrera RS.

Images: Tom Hartley jnr