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The RS America is not a "real" RS. It is just a Carrera 2 USA version with a few relatively minor option changes - and I mean minor. Most RS Americas were optioned with A/C and sunroof making them just about as heavy as a Carrera 2 anyway. If you encounter a very fast RS America on a racetrack it is because it has been further modified and lightened by the owner, not because it came this way stock. As far as the engine on the RS America, it is not the same as the "real" 911 RS. The real 911 RS is a blueprinted version of the Carrera 2 engine and it uses a different DME to give about 20-30 more horsepower. The RS America engine is the same as a regular Carrera 2 USA engine.
That said, the RS America is still a special model. It's nice that Porsche tried to do something like this, but in reality it was a marketing failure in 1992-3. Nobody wanted these cars. They sold for $10,000 less than a regular Carrera 2 on the lot but they sat there. Once they finally sold them all Porsche was gun shy about doing something like this again, hence we never saw a version of the 993 RS on these shores. Fast forward to 2003, Porsche is trying again. They will be selling the GT3 in the USA. This time it promised to be alot more like the European version of the GT3 which should be very exciting for enthusiasts. We'll see.
With regard to the '73 RS setting the bar, it is no doubt an important model in the history of the 911 - arguably the most important. However later 911 RS models, based on the type 964 and type 993 surpassed it in rawness, performance and power to weight ratio. Emotions aside, these cars raised the bar set by the venerable '73 RS. Most USA enthusiasts don't know much about these cars, or tout misinformation, leading to the belief that Porsche stopped producing fast, fun and exciting sports purpose 911's in the 1970's. The new USA version of the GT3, if it's all that it promises to be, will finally give USA buyers a taste of a real sports purpose normally aspirated 911 again.
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