Porsche 911 RS 3.8 Clubsport Is One of the Finest Road Cars Ever Conceived
Road legal cars don’t get more special than the amazing 1995-1996 Porsche 911 RS 3.8 Clubsport.
There have been many amazing driver cars built over the years, many of which have come from Porsche. From there, we can’t even narrow it down to specific models, as the German automaker has built so many great ones. Just take the 911 for example – there are so many amazing variants that exist within that family, it’s hard to pick a favorite. But the 1996 Porsche 911 RS 3.8 Clubsport certainly belongs up there at the top of the list, if not at the very top.
The RS moniker itself is a legendary one in the realm of the 911 and made a triumphant comeback for the 964-generation. At that time, Porsche created a small handful of 3.8-liter powered models in Europe for homologation purposes, and the mighty RS returned in 1995, just in time for the beloved 993-gen 911. Porsche followed up the 964 911 RS by once again stuffing its glorious 3.8-liter flat-six into the newer machine to satisfy homologation requirements.
The 1996 Porsche 911 RS 3.8 Clubsport wasn’t just a regular 911 with more power and less weight, however – it was far more special than that. For starters, the automaker went to the trouble of giving it a seam-welded body that made the chassis 40 percent stiffer than the regular, road-going rear-engine sports car. Porsche then shed more weight by giving it a bevy of aluminum parts including the chin spoiler, hood, rear wing, and three-piece wheels.
The cabin is quite spartan as well, with a rear seat delete, pull cords in place of door handles, crank windows, and no rear window heating system, either. The Porsche team blessed the suspension with Bilstein shocks and adjustable anti-roll bars, as well as four-piston calipers and cross-drilled rotors borrowed from the 911 Turbo. As for the glorious M64/20 3.8-liter flat-six, it received a total makeover including forged pistons, larger intake valves, lighter rocker arms, and a pair of oil coolers.
Output came in at 300 horsepower, with a redline of 7,000 rpm. That power flows to the wheels via a five-speed manual that has also been fortified with different gearing and shorter throws, as well as a vented clutch chamber. From there, Porsche gave its Clubsport models a single-mass flywheel, bigger chin spoiler, a larger adjustable rear wing, thinner bucket seats, a full roll cage, a steering wheel with no airbag, and got rid of everything you don’t need to go fast, including the sound insulation, stereo system, and carpet.
The Clubsport was a full 110 pounds lighter than the regular RS as a result, which made it even more fun to drive, even though performance figures are the same. And that’s precisely why the 1996 RS 3.8 Clubsport is so coveted today – it’s truly a race car for the street, a spartan, bare-bones machine that’s sensational to drive on any surface. However, just 227 were produced in total for the 1995 and 1996 model years, making it an incredibly rare find as well.
Photos: Efferspot
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