The 911 Carrera 3.2 Clubsport? A Carrera 3.2 with some bits taken off? No, it’s rather more than that, as we discover…
Clubsport – it’s a name that has been used sparingly by Porsche over the years, and unless we’re wrong, has only been applied to three distinct models: The Carrera 3.2 CS, 968 CS and perhaps bizarrely, the 928 CS before appearing as a lightweight designation on various GT 911s from 964 RS to 992 GT3, and currently 718 GT4 in race trim.
Of the above three, it’s perhaps the 968 CS that is best known, achieving a sort of cult handling status, earning it the infamous Autocar award in 1994 and ensuring its popularity as a stalwart of the track day crew, particularly in the UK. The 928 is clearly something of a curio, while the Carrera 3.2 CS is the original. But is it the best?
Good question, and you could accuse Porsche of not being entirely confident about the concept of the car at the time, as it was less expensive than the standard Carrera at launch. And the truth is, we could even be guilty of being a little bit ‘meh’ about the 3.2 CS in a `it’s just a Carrera 3.2, with some bits taken off,’ sort of way.
Having said that, the Clubsport `less is more` ethos is something we wholeheartedly buy into at PS, and call us cheeky if you like, but a term we have also applied to our own lightweight PS builds for over 20 years. And that ethos for us, if we had to distil it further? Bespoke, lightweight and -driver focused, air-cooled 911s that perform far better than their sum of parts. With the benefit of today’s technology and materials, our current models can tip the scales at under a tonne, with up to 400 BHP to propel that along in the rear.
Of course, you know which way this is heading, but we should qualify lightweight further, because, on the face of it, that is exactly what the Carrera 3.2 CS is! And while shedding weight does generally have a positive – less is more – outcome, we perhaps weren’t quite expecting the soon to arrive epiphany, delivered by this exceptional example.
A surprise? Maybe not, yes it was created nearly 40 years ago, but it was built by Porsche! And while it was never claimed that the Clubsport was a successor to the legend of the 2.7 RS, it makes said icon look positively prolific. With just 340 examples produced and only 53 in RHD, it’s certainly a rare 911. And seeing as there’s one here at PS HQ, it would be remiss for us not to revisit. Every day is a school day and all that, and as we shall see, the 3.2 Carrera CS is more intriguing than the sum of its parts (or lack of them).
Built at the very tail end of the 911 G-Series generation, between 1987 and 1989, the Carrera 3.2 CS was – according to Porsche – aimed very much at the club motorsport competitor, in an era when folk did actually road-legally drive to the track, race and then drive home again. Remember, this is before track days were a thing, save for the odd club organised event.
In truth, they probably didn’t have to build the CS, and in some respects, given the low numbers actually sold, you have to wonder why they bothered in pretty much the last 18-months of Carrera 3.2 production, particularly with the 964 just around the corner. Perhaps it was a recognition that they had rather ignored the enthusiast market and that the 911 had lost a bit of its edge and put on a bit of weight? Certainly, drive a late Carrera 3.2, and it can feel that way.
But we digress, as similarly to the previous RS and SC RS homologation specials, in time-honoured fashion, Porsche created its first Clubsport specification model by taking bits off and slightly tweaking the standard Carrera 3.2.
The sum total of the CS’s weight loss in dry weight terms, was – according to Porsche at the time – 117kg. So compared to a standard 911 Carrera 3.2 not dramatic as such, but certainly useful. Significantly for front and rear weight, the hydraulic impact bumper rams were binned and headlamp washers deleted, while the spare space saver wheel became alloy. Back to the rear and a lighter exhaust back box was fitted.
Sound deadening was removed, carpets were thinner, heater controls became cable operated, the Sports seats lost their electric adjustment (that’s four servo motors and their attendant wiring dispatched with), the rear seats chucked altogether along with the electric windows, most of the speakers, rear wiper, door-pocket lids, engine and boot lighting, oh and they reinstated the flimsy plastic bonnet pull of earlier models and only fitted one sunvisor! Other dietary items were a simpler wiring harness, thinner starter motor cable, and even the locking wheel nuts were shown the door. So, Porsche probably went as far as it could without resorting to lightweight panels thinner glass etc and anything else that may have given them a homologation headache.
Perhaps more interesting and significant in driving terms, was what Porsche did to the engine, which in simple power terms was, er nothing! Well you could be excused for thinking that, because Porsche quoted exactly the same 231bhp for the CS as it did for the Carrera 3.2. If that’s the case, then why did Porsche go to the bother of ‘blueprinting’ the engine, fitting lightweight, sodium filled (for heat dissipation) valves and raising the ECU controlled rev limit from 6250rpm to 6840rpm?
Blue what? The art of building up an engine with balanced components. That is to say a perfectly balanced crank, con rods and pistons that are equally balanced (as in each rod and piston weighs the same). Such tolerances and component weight means the bottom end will spin with less inertia, helped by the lighter valve gear, which in turn allows the engine to safely rev higher, hence that increased rev limit. And incidentally, the cylinder barrels and heads of these blue-printed Clubsport powerplants were all stamped ‘SP’ for identification.
Less inertia, less weight equals more power, and there is plenty of CS owner evidence to suggest that 240+bhp is much more like it, even if Porsche will neither confirm nor deny.
Equally interestingly Porsche saw fit to install a limited slip differential as standard and raise the gearing for fourth and fifth (0.965:1 and 0.763:1, respectively), presumably to take advantage of the CS’s higher rev limit, but with no significant claims of improved performance for acceleration or top speed on paper. Of course, being a later Carrera 3.2, the CS is fitted with the G50 gearbox, too. We don’t have the room here, but for a deep dive into Carrera 3.2 915 gearbox v G50 gearbox and the issue of gear ratios between the two, then we would urge you to click here.
Chassis wise the CS received uprated Bilstein dampers and a ride height that would suggest, perhaps, a minor tweak to the torsion bars, as evidenced by the tucked in stance of the 16in Fuchs, wrapped in 205/225 tyres, front and 225/50 rear. Dunlop D40s back in the day and Pirellis today.
So, there you have it. The less is more Carrera 3.2 Clubsport. And in terms of price, less really was less too, the CS costing £35,000 to the Carrera 3.2s £37,000…
Time to find out then. And yes, pitching the Carrera 3.2 Clubsport against a standard Carrera 3.2 is the obvious thing to do, as to be a no-brainer, particularly since we have an equally prime example sitting in the showroom, which like the CS is the last of the G-Series line and so benefitting of the full development curve. It’s got a rebuilt engine and gearbox too, plus fresh dampers and brakes and of course it’s got all the stuff on it that the CS hasn’t.
The Clubsport is equally prime, with history befitting of its status. Truly immaculate, but with regular use over it life, it is widely known as being a good ‘un.
It’s tempting to skip the Carrera 3.2, but that would be to give the game away. In isolation, the driving experience is full on air-cooled 911 albeit ever so slightly dialled down and refined compared to, say, a 911 SC, or even an earlier 915 equipped 3.2. The Carrera doesn’t have quite the raw edge, you can feel the weight, especially at the rear, from the heavier G50 gearbox. The engine doesn’t have the same sort of zing, blunted, also by a heavier flywheel. We’re talking tiny percentages here, but its character is lost along the way. To wind back even further in the G-Series timeline, if the Carrera 2.7 MFI is the full 100%, then a late Carrera 3.2 is a credible, but sanitised 90%.
And the CS? Well, those that know, have clearly been keeping it to themselves. It’s not often that I simply don’t want to stop driving and it’s not often that a 911 ‘fits’ quite as well as this.
Sometimes the sum of the parts, or lack of in the case of the CS, just comes together. But rather like a 2.7 Carrera RS, there is an alchemy at work here. The interaction between driver, controls, engine and chassis is hardwired. The Sports grip, the factory short shift G50 slices precisely through the ratios and the engine responds with a lovely lightweight yowl. It’s not quite the sawtooth 2.7 MFI experience, but its surely the second-best engine ever to be fitted in a G-Series 911. Blueprinted, lightened and balanced? It certainly feels like it.
And the chassis, ooh, it’s just sublime, it really is. The best cars/chassis are those that you can just relax in to and interact with. Again, think Carrera RS and in modern parlance – for me at least – the same applies to the 997.1 GT3 RS gen 1 and 997 Sport Classic. All are works of chassis genius. And the Carrera CS is right up there, perfectly suited to the challenging test routes around PS HQ, working with the road, not against it, soaking up the cambers, the undulations, the ragged edges, with a rare poise. Maybe it’s the subtle weight loss, particularly from the front and the rear. Certainly, some of the standard Carrera 3.2s pendulum effect has disappeared. There is a balance front-to-rear that I haven’t encountered in many unmodified air-cooled 911 before, perhaps a result of not carrying the weight of the bumper rams?
Oh, and an anecdotal word about the steering, which of course has that lovely 911 thing going on, reading the road and translating it through the wheel. A chance encounter recently by me, with someone very high-up at McLaren, revealed that the Carrera Clubsport was one of the benchmark cars for steering ‘feel’ when developing the McLaren 12C. And he would know, because the CS was his…
The best G-Series 911? Recently at PS we assisted Octane magazine with a group test celebrating 50-years of the G-Series cars. No surprises, the line-up went Carrera 2.7 MFI, Carrera 3.0, 911 SC and Carrera 3.2. As above, the 2.7 was declared the 100% reference point and deservedly so, but if a 3.2 CS had been included, it would have been in hot contention for top honours.
End of? Not quite. Of course, rarity equals value and as such – according to the Hagerty price guide, a Carrera 3.2 CS is valued at £128,000, against £54,900 for a Carrera 3.2. Oh, and just to throw it in there, a Carrera 2.7 is valued at £170,000. We would actually go one stage further and say that from recent market experience, the best of breed RHD examples of all three cars, will command significantly more today, but the ratio would be similar.
So, there you go. The last of the lightweight G-Series 911s. A Carrera 3.2 with some bits taken off? Yes, but then again, no.
