PORSCHE 911 CARRERA CS – THE CLUBSPORT DIET

Less is more – especially when you want to race quickly. After all, every gram too much prevents you from making fast progress, which is not the case with the Porsche 911 Carrera CS. At Porsche, the letters CS for Clubsport stand for precisely this slimming diet.

Roughly speaking, there are two ways to achieve more sportiness: Either you pump up the power or you save weight, which is not only conducive for high speeds, but also improves cornering speed, handling, and even braking.

The former may increase the chances of winning in the car quartet, but performance enhancement through reduction is often the better option in practical terms. Porsche has always proven itself to be the “expert at omission”-and charging a certain premium along the way.

FROM THE PORSCHE 911 SC/RS TO THE PORSCHE CARRERA 911 CS

The nucleus for the even somewhat sportier Club Sport models, which were still named with the separate spelling at the time, was of course the 911. In the 1980s, Porsche had both, sports cars for the road and race cars for the track. What was really missing was a middle ground. In 1984, the Porsche 911 SC/RS hit the market. Only 20 examples of this 184 kW/250 hp producing, 1.057 kilogram road/racing car were built. It was not only the very high price of about three times that of a “normal” Carrera 3.0 SC,which made the SC/RS a rarity. As Jürgen Lewandowski also wrote in the Süddeutsche Zeitung in 1984: “The Porsche 911 SC/RS can only be of interest to professionals who not only have 188,000 DM at their disposal, but also have to be able to drive excellently – for the average consumer, however, the car is already virtually undriveable.”

Driveability, availability and price were thus three components that made the SC/RS unsuitable for the average driver. However, there was enough interest from Porsche drivers with a passion for motor sports who wanted to not only cruise in their 911s, but also try it out on the race track.

It was precisely for this clientele that Porsche launched the Club Sport and later Club Sport variants – precisely these desired cars with the mainstream sport suitability, starting in 1987 with the Porsche 911 Carrera CS.

THIS PORSCHE 911 CARRERA CS IS CURRENTLY FOR SALE

One of the few Carrera CSs is now for sale. What makes this example so special? At first glance, the differences to a “conventional” Carrera don’t even seem that big. But it’s exactly the many little things that make the big difference.

Let’s start with the heart of the car, the six-cylinder boxer engine at the rear. On paper, the data for the CS sports package and the standard version read the same: 3.164ccm displacement, 170kW/231hp. The output is just as high in the model without catalytic converter. But in the CS, the first few important grams are saved by using hollow intake valves. For this purpose, a different control unit was installed, which allows speeds of up to 6.840rpm.

The manual five-speed transmission is almost the same as the Carrera’s, so there wasn’t too much to improve. But even there, the differences in detail are the key points. The gearshifts in the Carrera CS are shorter and allow crisper, sportier upshifts and downshifts. The CS also featured a differential lock, which was not found in the standard Carrera.

Particularly in the interior Porsche’s engineers put everything to the test. For every detail, no matter how small, they weighed up whether it was really necessary to keep it on board or whether the sporty, ambitious driver could do without it. The rear seat bench was dropped, as were all kinds of insulating and damping materials, the passenger sun visor and air conditioning can be dispensed with in favor of greater agility, and the windows can be rolled down manually if desired. A total of 24 equipment details are omitted compared to the base version. Some of them are not visible, such as the lightweight fuel tank or the lightweight carpets in the footwell. Others are only visible at second glance, such as the lack of headlight washers or the sports seats with light fabric upholstery.

It may only have been a few grams at a time, but in total the Porsche lost a little more than 100 kilograms. Decisive kilos, mind you, which is not necessarily felt in the top speed, but rather in the agility and responsiveness in the natural habitat of the Porsche 911 Carrera CS, the winding country road.

Certainly, Porsche had other sporty models before and since that deviated somewhat from the series. But still, the 1987 Porsche Carrera CS stands out from its siblings. Not only was it the first Club Sport of its kind, but the sheer numbers prove its exclusivity. Porsche opened a new VIN number range especially for the Carrera CS, and it is said that only about 340 vehicles in total were included in the exclusive 5.000-vehicle range. Of these, only just under 200 examples were made for the export market. The offered example counts with the first delivery to Sweden to these “ROW (Rest of World) cars”.

How rare the first Porsche 911 Carrera CS is, however, can be seen above all when one compares this G-model with comparable predecessors and successors. Both the previously built Carrera RS 2.7 and the 911 Carrera RS of the 964 series produced more than 1.500 units each. If you consider that even this number is not that much, the few hundred G-models with these specifications take on a completely different value. At the next Porsche meeting, you won’t see many other Carrera CSs from this model year.

So if the opportunity presents itself and circumstances permit, it’s best to experience for yourself how the interlude of a high-revving engine, crisp shifting, and a focus on the essentials further enhances the driving pleasure – which isn’t all that low in a Porsche anyway – in the Clubsport model.

More information on the 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera CS for sale can be found here.

Text Paolo Ollig Photos supplier, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG

Author: Paolo Ollig

As editor-in-chief Paolo regularly writes about all the big and small stories related to classic cars and motorbikes. Classic dreams: Lamborghini Countach and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. View all posts by Paolo Ollig →