Year: 1992

Make: Porsche

Model: 964 Carrera RS

Chassis No.: WPOZZZ96ZNS491603

Engine No.: *M6403*

Gearbox type: *G5010*

Somewhere in 1991 Porsche announced that on the bases of a 964 they would be making new real RS, almost twenty years after the iconic duck tail 2.7 RS.

Talks were about a lightened version of the 964, with a 260 bhp engine, lower suspension, and a lightweight interior with just two bucket seats.

Based on this news the actual and first owner of the car decided that this would be his first new Porsche.  He had been relentlessly searching for a good/ great 2.7 RS duct tail, that would follow some years later.

The new 964 RS was indeed a track biased car, and for some,  way,  too harsh to be driven on the road.  The car sat lower, had a stiffer suspension, magnesium wheels, a blue printed engine of which some say they had close to 300 bhp instead of the announced 260 bhp.

On September 1 st 1990 he went to the local Porsche dealership to order his RS.  His original order was for an Indish red with a black interior and with an electric operated sliding roof panel (see attached picture below). 

The RS was presented on the Second Mondiale de l’automobile in Paris in October 1990.  The owner of the car went to the Paris car show and decided then and there that he would change the color into “Stern rubin” or Ruby Stone red (paint code 82 N) as it is called.  The car sat on its roundel in the middle of the Porsche stand and looked the “works”.

On May 9 th 1992 the car was delivered to the owner at the Antwerp Porsche dealership.  This dealership was also the one where his grandfather’s Porsche’s were delivered at the time.

The owner did want to use the car as a daily driver and did so for the first year.  He never found the car to be too harsh to be driven on the road.  Apart from commuting to his office he did quite a lot of track day weekends with the car.  It was the beginning of a new era where amateur drivers could enlist in clubs that organized amateur track days.  In the beginning they were very convivial and not so much focused on racing.  This rapidly changed.  As member of the Europa Club in France he visited quite a lot of tracks in France and Germany.  Later on the Club became a circle of people who really wanted to race.  They started bringing their cars on trailers whereas before that the cars were driven to and from the track.  That was the real spirit of the amateur driver. 

One venue, he went to with the car and that is worthwhile mentioning was the training given by Michel Maisonneuve on one year old Cup cars.  This track training was done at the little track of Dreux (east of Paris), and on the Lurcy Levis track (in the neighborhood of Magny Cours).  The picture below was taken at the first day of the training in Dreux.

Apart from regular outings on track weekends the RS was mainly used as a leisure car to go out and have some driving fun in all parts of Europe.

The car is kept strictly original, apart from the multi colored steering wheel.  On the Sternfahrt in Stuttgart back in 1993 the owner saw the steering wheel in one of the prototype Leichtbau Turbo S’s.  These steering wheels were multi colored to match the color stripes in the bucket seats.  The owner wanted one of those steering wheels color matched to his seats.  The original RS steering wheel is, of course, kept and stocked away.

Back in 2013 a comparative test was done between this 964 RS and his 964 3.8 RS as well as the 3.8 RSR. 

Previous to that it was also compared to the 964 Carrera 4 Leichtbau of which Porsche only build 22 examples. 

On both test world famous and “driver of the century” in Holland Gijs van Lennep was at hand. 
Gijs being a good friend of the owner drove all the cars on the track in Abbeville. 

He and the owner did a debriefing afterwards, and came both to the same conclusions.

The C4 leichtbau was the worst car, as it was obvious to them that the car had not been developed as it should have been.  It was possible to make it into a very competitive and pleasant track and Rally car as long as you spend time setting up the chassis.

The best car on the track was obviously the 3.8 RSR, as indeed this is a true track car.

Then the 3.8 and 3.6 RS were left to be compared.  And it was found that the 3.6 RS although a wonderful and magnificent machine had to recognize its master in the 3.8 RS.

In the meantime this 3.6 RS has not yet done 45 K km, and is still completely stock and original paint.  Except for the front hood that has been repainted once. 

And the 1992 RS, still in the hands of its first owner, goes like a rocket and is still as enjoyable to drive as it ever was.