PORSCHE'S ICONIC 911 CARRERA RS 2.7 REACHES 50-YEAR MILESTONE
A good 50 years ago, In 1972, Porsche launched a trend for rear spoilers on series production cars when development of the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was started. “The 911 Carrera RS 2.7 was intended as a homologation special. It was to be a very light, fast sports car,” recalls Peter Falk, Head of Testing for series production cars at Porsche. The most powerful model of the first generation of the 911 was also the first 911 to be named as the Carrera to be the halo model of the Porsche range. To make this new series production run a special one, attention was paid to the weight, the aero, the chassis and of course, the engine. A total of 500 models were initially planned for homologation purposes to compete in Group 4 Special GT cars and so the car was road-approved for customers who wanted to participate in racing events. 1,580 units were built, which homologated the car for Group 3 and Group 4 too. An optional M471 equipment package led to Porsche building 200 lightweight ‘Sport’ models, and 55 examples of the racing version, 17 base vehicles, and 1,308 touring versions were also built.
The aerodynamics were to minimise lift at high speeds, engineers Hermann Burst, Tilman Brodbeck and stylist Rolf Wiener developed a rear spoiler to retain the closed body style of the 911 and to compensate for the drawbacks of the sloping rear. The new duck tail spoiler afforded the car more downforce as well as additional cooling over the engine, it also allowed for 4.5 km/h extra on top speed. “During tests, we found that with a taller spoiler we could increase the top speed due to the decrease in drag. So we kept raising the rear spoiler upward by millimetres with sheet metal at the tear-off edge until we found the reversal point at which the drag increased again,” explains Falk.
Carrera lettering was added to the car, a Spanish word for race, and RS, for ‘Rennsport’. “We wanted to assign the already famous name ‘Carrera’ to a production model and thought about how we could best represent that,” recalls Harm Lagaaij, a Porsche designer at the time. There were also a total of 29 paint tones available allowing for individuality, and the rims matched either the body colour or the Carrera lettering on the sides.
From 20 September 2022, the Porsche Museum is putting on a special exhibition dedicated to 50 years of the 911 Carrera RS 2.7.
Take a look at the YouTube video, that's actually pretty damn cool, over at the channel owned by the creators of this iconic Porsche RS: 50 years of Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 | Porsche
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