RS, RSR, and RSA, what's the difference?

[mnewport]

I have an interest in learning, but I can't seem to find any definitive sources of information that will tell me the difference between them. Anyone care to clarify?

[Danny_Ocean]

911 Carrera RS (1973 and 1974)

Porsche 911 Carrera RS, 1973 - These models, valued by collectors, are considered by many to be the greatest classic 911s of all-time. RS stands for Rennsport in German, meaning race sport in English. The Carrera name was reintroduced from the 356 Carrera which had itself been named after Porsche's class victories in the Carrera Panamericana races in Mexico in the 1950s.

The RS was built so that Porsche could enter racing formulae that demanded that a certain minimum number of production cars were made. Compared with a standard 911S, the Carrera 2.7 RS had a larger engine (2687 cc) developing 210 PS (150 kW; 210 hp) with MFI, revised and stiffened suspension, a "ducktail" rear spoiler, larger brakes, wider rear wheels and rear fenders. In RS Touring form it weighed 1075 kg (2370 lb), in Sport Lightweight form it was about 100 kg (220 lb) lighter, the saving coming from the thin-gauge steel used for parts of the bodyshell and also the use of thinner glass. In total, 1580 were made, comfortably exceeding the 500 that had to be made to qualify for the vital FIA Group 4 class. 49 Carrera RS cars were built with 2808 cc engines producing 300 PS (221 kW).

In 1974, Porsche created the Carrera RS 3.0 with K-Jetronic Bosch fuel injection producing 230 PS (169 kW). It was almost twice as expensive as the 2.7 RS but offered a fair amount of racing capability for that price.

The chassis was largely similar to that of the 1973 Carrera RSR and the brake system was from the Porsche 917. The use of thin metal plate panels and a spartan interior enabled the shipping weight to be reduced to around 900 kg (1984 lb).

1976 Porsche 911 2.7 - The Carrera RSR 3.0 was sold to racing teams, and scored outright wins in several major sports car races of the mid 1970s. Also, a prototype Carrera RSR Turbo (with 2.1 L engine due to a 1.4x equivalency formula) came second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1975 and won several major races, a significant event in that its engine would form the basis of many future Porsche attempts in sportscar racing. Save for the earlier Porsche 917, it can be regarded as Porsche's start of its commitment to turbocharging also in road cars.

[mrk_d]

RS = Carrera RS

RSR = Carrera RSR

RSA = RS America, a 964 variant

Porsche 911 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Porsche 964 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[mnewport]

Jeez I can't believe I didn't think of Wikipedia...

Thanks for the info.

[boba]

The '73 RS and RSR were both built from the same homoligation run of chassis. The RS came in 2 versions both with 2.7 MFI, lightweight and touring. The RSR had wider bodywork, additional reinforcement, 917 calipers, short trailing arms, and 2.8 MFI high butterfly motor among other race mods.

In '74 there was the Carrera and Carrera RS. The Carrera came in 2 versions the 2.7 CIS USA version and the Euro 2.7 MFI version which is the same as the touring '73 with G model body. The Carrera RS was a 109 homoligation run of which about half went to race teams and the other half to street. This car had a 3.0 MFI single plug and normal throttle bodies and all the bodywork and reinforcement of the '73 RSR.

The '74 RSR had wider bodywork, as allowed by FIA, a 3.0 twin plug, slide valve motor and was all race car.

The Carrera continued on in both USA and Europe with CIS with Europe getting a later update to the Carrera 3.0.

The RS and RSR designations have continued on to today for sport oriented builds. The Club Sport was added to the mix as another sport oriented version along the way as was "Cup".

[Bill Verburg]

There have been many different versions of each, depending on the year.
first RSR was in '72 and used 911/72 a 2.8 MFI engine 308hp@8000rpm. The chassis was identifiable by the 9 & 11" flares. For '73 the RSR got 911/74 3liter, 315hp@8000. For '74 the chassis was updated to the crash bumper design and wider 11 & 133" flares were used
'72/73 RSR


'74/'75 RSR


'74 RSR w/ 2.1L turbo,911/76 480hp@8000



First RS was in '73 and continued till '76
RS used a 2.7 MFI engine 911/83 210hp@6300, chassis was indentifiable by the 9"rear flares and ducktail, for '74-'76 the bumpers were the later US DoT design and a whale tail was used

'73 RS


'74-76 RS


'74RS 3.0 used 911/77 230hp@6200


'84SC/RS used 930/18 255hp@7000

[Bill Verburg]

'90 964RS used M96/03 3.6liter 260hp@6100


'93 964 RS 3.8 used M64/04 3746cc 300hp@6500


'93 RSR 3.8 used M64/04 3746cc 325hp@6900


'95 993RS used 3746cc M64/20 300hp@6500



'95 RS/CS same as RS but w/ stripped interior, better aero package, better trans


'97 993 RSR used M64/75 3756cc 325hp@6900


'01 996 GT3 RS used M96/77 360hp@7200


'01 996 GT3RS street


'02 996 GT3 RS used M96/77 435hp@8250 it gets harder to distinguish the features of the GT3 RS from here

'04 GT3RSR used M96/77 435hp@8250


2007 997 GT3RSR used M9780 465hp@8000

[boba]

Bill, I respect your knowledge and do not wish to disagree in total with your chronology but for the sake of history I would point out a few details.

The '72 RSRs were all prototypes and ran in various configurations, there is a detailed thread on Early S that tracks these early cars. The first offical race for the RSR was the Tour de Corse, November 3, 1972. One of the cars entered was actually a reconfigured 2.5 coupe.

The '73 RSR had the 2.8 twin plug high butterfly throttles.

The 3.0 slidevalve was introduced in '74, many of the '73 cars were updated to be competitive under the new rules.

The '73 RS was a one year only homoligation build of 1590 chassis's.

The '74 was a Carrera with no RS suffix and did continue until '76, CIS for the US and MFI for Europe until CIS was installed in the European cars.

The '74 Carrera RS was a limited homoligation run, as noted above.

There is much great information on the Early S thread and in Konradsheim's book "Carrera RS".

The real 73 RSR TF Winner - Porsche Factory Scam??

You can also find much more on these cars on the Early S board.

[mnewport]

THIS is getting awesome. Exactly what I was looking for--details and subtleties about these cars.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by boba

......
The '74 was a Carrera with no RS suffix and did continue until '76, CIS for the US and MFI for Europe until CIS was installed in the European cars.

The '74 Carrera RS was a limited homoligation run, as noted above.

....

I had forgotten that, The RoW had the RS 911/83 MFI RS engine available, US cars aren't worth mentioning as they were all cosmetics

There were also 2 '72 RS 2.8 which used the 9111/72 engine aka 'Corsica'
and 3 '73 RS 2.7 "Safari" cars built

57 '73 2.8 RSRs buit

In '74 there were 3 more 2.7RS 'Safari' cars built, 56 230hp RS 3.0, 42 315/330 hp RSRs and 15 RSR 'Penske'

in '75 12 more 330hp RSRs were built.

and last of the true 911 based cars was the '84 SC/RS of which 21 were built

[giovanni86]

Bill, I respect your knowledge and do not wish to disagree in total with your chronology but for the sake of history

.... the wheels of the rs 3.8 in the photo are not correct

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by giovanni86

.... the wheels of the rs 3.8 in the photo are not correct

quite a few of the details above are idiosyncratic to the owners/venue

I posted representative examples that aren't necessarily correct in every detail as to how they cam off the assembly line

deal with it

[giovanni86]

I posted representative examples that aren't necessarily correct in every detail

I was sure about this


nice pictures to be just "representative examples"

thanks

[Capote59]

I just got John Starkey's new book titled "From R to GT2" - The Racing Porsches 911 and 930

Wonderful book on first glance - first 400 or so pages cover up to the RSR.

I recommend a purchase and he is limiting the total number of books as per his prior book.

Chris Johnson