Spirit of Carrera RS Exhibit Celebrates a Legend

It's a Celebration

The Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 is a true icon in the world of sports cars, and this year, it's also marking 50 years since its debut at the Paris Motor Show in 1972. That obviously calls for a bit of a celebration, and the Porsche Museum is hosting precisely that in the form of "Spirit of Carrera RS," a brand new exhibit that just opened up this month.

Photos: Porsche

Interactive Displays

The Spirit of Carrera RS exhibit features a variety of cars, as well as films, photos, racing posters, and interactive features. Visitors can even build their own custom RS by turning the model-detail and color wheel of a kaleidoscope, just like the real thing when it was sold brand new, as it was offered in a wide array of hues.

Photos: Porsche

Conceptualization to Reality

At the center of the exhibit rests a bright yellow 911 Carrera RS 2.7 in Touring spec, as well as a rare metallic green prototype. The cars, development documents, advertising brochures, price lists, the Carrera logo, and an article from the Porsche magazine Christophorus describe the path from the development vehicle to the production-ready Porsche.

Photos: Porsche

Family Lineage

Visitors can also look forward to seeing other extraordinary cars from the family lineage of the ducktail, spanning five decades of Porsche history. With the duo of the 964 and 993 generations of the 911 RS, Porsche expanded the RS family to include air-cooled sports cars. The water-cooled era is represented by the 996, 997, and 991 generations of the 911 GT3 RS and the 992-generation 911 Sport Classic models, the last of which is a collector’s edition from the Heritage Design Series from Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and features a fixed rear spoiler.

Photos: Porsche

Light and Fast

It's a fitting tribute to a legend, a model that was the first series-production car in the world with front and rear spoilers. The requirements for the 911 base vehicle for racing and rallying were clearly defined - light and fast were the watchwords. To achieve those objectives, Hans Mezger and Valentin Schäffer developed the car's 2.7-liter six-cylinder boxer engine with fuel injection from the ground up.

Photos: Porsche

Modeled Tradition

In Sport guise, the 210 horsepower, the 2,116-pound couple did 0-62 mph in 5.8 seconds and topped out at almost 152 mph. The precise aerodynamics designed back then with racing cars in mind still make the RS unique today. “It’s the most direct technology transfer from motorsport to series production that ever occurred,” said Head of GT Vehicles Andreas Preuninger. “Nothing about this has changed to this day and it is part of a modeled tradition at Porsche.”

Photos: Porsche

True Icon

For all of these reasons and more, the Carrera RS 2.7 is truly an iconic model in not only Porsche history, but also automotive history in general, and that alone makes it worthy of such an interesting, informative, and detailed exhibit.

Photos: Porsche

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