Rennsport 911 Carrera RSR Touring – Filming with Carfection

Back in December, we paid a visit to Rennsport 911 in the Cotswolds to drive their factory demonstrator and fulfil a boyhood dream.

Although the Porsche 911 was introduced in 1963, and went on to win the Monte Carlo Rally three times, it wasn’t until the 1970s that Porsche turned its attentions to production-car racing. It started with a handful of works-built 911ST racers, sold exclusively to race teams for blue-chip race events such as the Targa Florio and the 24-hours of Le Mans. But when the FIA tweaked the rules in 1973, the chaps in Stuttgart found themselves in need of a few hundred street-legal 911 racecars that would allow Porsche to meet the homologation rules for the Group 4 Special GT series. What resulted was the 1973 2.7 Carrera RS, which in turn lead to the ultimate air-cooled 911 race car of all time: the legendary Carrera RSR

This was the first time the Carrera name tag had been used on a 911, resurrected from the Porsche 356s that had competed in the Mexican Carrera Panamericana races of the 1950s. Carrera actually meant sprint or race in Spanish; RS stood for Rennsport, or Race Sport in German, with the extra ‘R’ in RSR standing for Rennwagen meaning race car. So technically the feature car that appears in the Carfection video below translates as ‘racing, racing, racing’, so you won’t be surprised to discover that this thing was bloody awesome. Enjoy the film.