The iconic Porsche 911 Carrera RS recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. The model variant of the standard 911 became a new base vehicle, housing many of its own technical innovations.
Intended for track racing it became a road-approved vehicle, with track capabilities. Growing more successful than Porsche anticipated they had to up production from just 500 to 1,580 vehicles.
Customisable to request, the car was light weight, which was enabled and the removal of standard features, such as rear seats. The body played into this as well, with thin metals and windows and the removal of insulation. This, combined with the 2.7-litre flat-six fuel-injected engine became the first production car to beat the six-second mark, managing 0-100km/h in 5.8 seconds.
The innovation did not stop there, as the Carrera was the first series production model to have both front and rear spoilers. Through wind tunnel and track tests, the engineers were able to elevate the duck tail to the correct height so no extra drag was created but the top speed increased by 4.5km/h.
Further weight reduction was achieved by the development engineers responsible for tyres. It was the first time Porsche featured different sized front and rear tyres on a series production car. The Carrera body had to be widened by 42mm at the rear to accommodate this change.
This was a sports car developed for both the racetrack and the open road, and an icon of the automotive industry.
