Photography: Stephanie Ewen
The 1973 Carrera RS is one of Porsche’s most desirable 911s, its performance in period ensuring that iconic status was assured from day one. Highly prized today, you will need some pretty deep pockets to acquire an original, and if in the market, Caveat Emptor is our firm advice, as many were raced, crashed, or simply rusted away in period, meaning there are actually very few 100% Bonafide examples left. Add this to the sharp increase in values, and the temptation by restorers in the past to recreate cars and histories, has sometimes become too much to resist. Professional knowledge, whether yours or otherwise is needed to ensure you are indeed buying an original car.
However, for those that were never in the market for an original, or simply due to value, don’t want to use one as intended today, there is an active recreation scene which like that for originals, varies enormously. Cars can range from a backdated body conversion on a later car, through to correct replicas, based on genuine period chassis and components, which due to their accuracy, are often able to qualify for the same technical competition papers as an original.
The two cars we have here fall into the latter camp, being built from period 911s, and correct in every way. What better way to test them, than a freezing day in January…
A dull grey blanket shrouds the Essex/Suffolk border countryside. The temperature hovers at around 0 degrees Celsius. There’s dank drizzle in the air and the roads are grimy and foul, although thankfully free of the dreaded salt. Inside at PS HQ it’s cosy and warm, but the boss wants to take this pair of black RS reps out for a bit of light exercise. Seriously! Should have pulled a sickie! OK, but bagsy I’m not driving the one with Toyo R888s. Like me, they don’t work very well in the cold.
I grab the keys for the rather less raucous RS Touring dead ringer, while Paul fires up the RS lightweight rep, with a wap, wap, wap from the twin megaphone exhausts. Sleepy Little Maplestead is going to love us, on this January, Tuesday morning. The ‘back in black’ duo sit at a fast idle as respective MFI injection pumps and clockwork ignition, gradually bring the revs down, as the temps rise, with occasional and characteristic little coughs, snuffles and misfires.
There are replicas and there are replicas, and the above is a clue as to where these two sit. It doesn’t always follow, but in this case MFI injection does indeed equal pukka 2.7 Carrera RS power, which in a world of SC and Carrera 3.2 based copycats, immediately makes this near twin-set something special. And what’s more, each is based on a RHD 1973 donor: A 911 T in the case of the M471 lightweight and a 911 E in the case of the M472 Touring. Given that Porsche plucked standard bodyshells from the production line to create the RS shells originally, then clearly contemporary makes for a much more compelling evocation rather than a later car backdated.
In the case of the lightweight, it also means the opportunity to apply for Appendix K FIA race papers too, which tells you everything you need to know about the authenticity of this build… Which has just gone tearing off up the road.
Not that my own steed is anything less than the same. Perched in an original period correct Recaro, with houndstooth inserts, there’s a 180mph speedo ahead and a period flat, 917 inspired Momo Prototipo to twirl and all fixtures and fittings are correct, internally and externally. That obviously includes genuine 15 inch anodised Fuchs. The origins of the original build are lost in the mists of time, but clearly the job was done properly. The bulging history file is a who’s who of UK Porsche specialists and drivers. Autofarm and Bob Watson for spannering and Porsche racer legend, Nick Faure, a long term owner too.
More recently (2012), Nick Moss at Early 911, carried out a full resto, including correct RS wings fore and aft, plus full engine, gearbox and limited slip diff rebuild. And more recently still – as in the last year – the engine has been rebuilt again at PS with new 8R cases from Porsche, after the discovery of a crack in the original engine casing. Further work in PS care includes a rebuild of the fiendishly complicated MFI pump, new driveshafts, flywheel and clutch, rear trailing arm restoration, with new OE bearings, Classic retrofit fuse panel, new fuel lines and much more…
I don’t know how Paul is getting on ahead, largely because he’s disappeared into the distance, but personally I’m taking it easy, even so I’ve had a few, er, moments, albeit in a fun 911 sort of way. How does it drive? Well, just like the real thing, and why wouldn’t it, because in just about every respect it pretty much is the real thing.
It would be an exaggeration to say that the driving experience is entirely dominated by the famous/fabulous 210bhp, 2.7-litre, flat-six. But then again, it’s not far from the truth. The MFI unit has its own character – a combination of throttle response, noise and elastic torque, that combines with a willingness to rev to the red. It’s one of the all-time great power units.
Mix that with a well-sorted Type 915 gearbox, pert suspension, Avon shod 15 inch Fuchs and this 2.7 Carrera RS rep, simply dances down the road, barely troubling the tarmac. It’s the perfect B-road assassin and a reminder of how modern cars, Porsche or otherwise have just become too big and too fat. Snake-hipped early 911s mean that you’ve got more of the road to play with and more of it before you slide off, into a ditch, especially when its blooming freezing like today, just in case I hadn’t mentioned that.
Talking of ditches, Paul has clearly managed to keep the semi slick shod lightweight out of them because here he comes, yellow Hellas blazing, RSR megaphone’s blaring. Hooligan! Anyway, having got my eye in, so to speak, with the Touring, I’m ready for some raucous behaviour of my own, so time to swap seats.
As the FIA spec attests, this is every bit the road racer, built from a period correct 911 Coupe in the late 90s for Michael Rigg to compete in the Porsche Club Classic/Intermarque series, and then by Mark Campball, who continued to race with some success, the car prepped by Porsche specialists JAZ, who rebuilt it to full FIA Apendix K accreditation in 2007. Papers granted, it raced at the Spa 3-Hours in 2007. An engine, gearbox LSD rebuild took place in 2010, as well as some bodywork restoration by respected specialist, Sportwagen.
Acquired by PS in 2015, with the intention of preparing it for FIA class GT27, and with a newly built 2.7 RS spec engine on unnumbered 7R cases, an old client saved us the trouble by snapping it up, seduced by its road racer attitude, which he further amplified (quite literally) with RSR megaphones!
As is so often the way, it just didn’t get used quite as much as it should, and so it arrived back in 2022, through lack of use for an engine refresh to sort out a few oil leaks, plus a new clutch. The original spec M471 lightweight seats were replaced with ST spec chairs, but the originals can be refitted.
It’s no wonder Paul was grinning as he handed the keys over. If you want hardcore, this is it. Like the Touring spec rep, it’s all as it should be, right down to the glovebox cubby, minus its lid. Motorsport appendages abound – a full roll cage, fire extinguisher, the MSV noise test sticker on the window, for what must surely have been a rare ‘noisy’ day…
It sits lower, the correct 15 inch RS Fuchs on more modern rubber tucked into the arches, with visible negative camber on the front, all the better to sniff out those corner apexes.
It’s a riot to drive, albeit possibly in small doses, because it is LOUD and it is stiffer, which is as it should be compared to the Touring. I go as hard as a I dare, not trusting those Toyos, one little bit, no matter what the boss says. And besides, while it’s still a fraction of the price of the real thing, I still don’t want to make a fool of myself, so I content myself with the odd twitch here and there.
Price? Well there’s two things to consider with this duo. Obviously, they are a fraction of an original, a major attraction, given that they look and drive as well as the real thing, which is, of course, the point of the replica exercise. But the other factor is that in today’s RS replica market/climate to build this pair, based on RHD 1973 donors, with proper 2.7 Carrera MFI engines and full running gear, and authentic interiors, would be… Well it would be almost prohibitively expensive and perhaps even borderline impossible.
There is another factor too, with this pairing. Both have history and patina and were built to be used and have been driven accordingly. However, unlike a matching number original, which in the case of a RHD lightweight is approaching 7 figures, there’s no need to feel precious about either or treat them as garage queens. Which is good, because they’re both now covered in grime and mud and ready for the jet wash. It’s been fun, but now I’m going inside to warm up…
View Listings
1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS Lightweight Spec
1973 Porsche 911 2.7 RS M472 Replica
