Porsche 911 Carrera Club Sport: Top Club - Sports Cars
WE CALLED IT THE CRAZY MILES. The spindle-shaped two-way carriageway that ran from Cheam to the Sutton, Surrey roundabout is exactly a mile long and is easily accessible from the editorial office of the magazine I was working for at the time. Driving at full throttle when the Cheam light turned green and braking at the last possible moment before entering the roundabout at the end of the mile and a half in a straight line was fun (and it was pretty crazy too).
I haven't driven this road in years, but I guess it's no longer possible to use it for drag racing: as long and straight as it is, it will be full of speed cameras and instructors. If I could run the F12 or the latest GT3 on this road today with the recklessness I drove with thirty years ago, who knows what numbers they would have made.
But in the eighties, high-performance cars were very different from today's ones, they had characteristics similar to those of modern sports cars, we were young and risked our hair turning gray with fear just thinking about it. ... However, even at the time, if anyone had a good reason to go the insane mile on a sunny day in 1987 after winning the keys to 911 Carrera 3.2 Club Sport, it was me. I knew I was easy prey for this seductive and muscular 911 evolution. Perhaps also because I had my first experience testing 911s.
Four years ago, the 911 Carrera 3.2 - the car that powers the lightweight Club Sport - turned a boring evening of writing in the office into such a mystical experience that I drove the car for 80 miles on my way home. Porsche convinced that he is invisible. The journey began in a rather traditional way: I drove at 135 per hour, locking myself into the fast lane of the highway. At that speed, the Carrera was fantastic. Glorious apartment six air cooled it raged violently and it steering vividly, slightly pulls even the slightest unevenness of the asphalt.
When the traffic dropped a little, I tried to pick up the pace, 190 km / h or so, and when the lane finally cleared quickly, I started to accelerate more and more, to 240 km / h, and stay there. I enjoyed every moment of this crazy trip. It may seem strange to you, but I was seriously convinced not to go fast, but only to “go fast” behind the wheel of a capable and charismatic car. All this, as my lawyer tried to point out in court a few weeks later, was "completely safe." I’m explaining to you.
Carrera and I drove only 11 km and were traveling at 200 an hour when we passed a police car, a white Ford Granada 2.8. It was already getting dark, and I really did not see her in the slowest alley, although there was a light on her roof. But she saw me and tried to follow me. Obviously she couldn't keep up with me and was getting smaller and smaller in the mirrors. If I took a closer look in the rearview mirror, I would notice blue lights flashing almost a kilometer away, and maybe I would slow down, but I just wanted to go home to relax and have a beer. In the 34km chase, police said, the agents had plenty of time to talk to the central station on the radio and set up a roadblock at a traffic light intersection near Pemberi. Okay, maybe the talk about the checkpoint is exaggerated: they limited themselves to turning on the red light and tucked the policeman into a reflective vest in the middle of the road to swing a shovel to stop me. And I stopped, wondering if the man in front of me was drunk or just ran away from the orphanage. After thirty seconds Granada finally caught up with me, and I realized what was happening. This was followed by a desperate attempt to justify itself, which apparently worked, as I only got away with a two month license suspension.
Four years later, I was back the crazy mile. But this time with Sports Club... Let me present this to you properly. Despite the lasting memory of how much I was pulled out of Porsche, slammed the door and began to search, like in an American crime movie, I was still madly in love 911 and I thought about writing a book about it. The 911 Carrera 3.2 Club Sport – in many ways the spiritual ancestor of the current GT3 – was the pinnacle of 911 road history and therefore had to drive in the craziest way possible. His name, written above the window sill in red or blue on the Grand Prix's white background, required it.
Of course, they didn't need to convince me of this. I was not about to drive alone Career lighter, more extreme and more racing track. To decrease the weight the technicians had to remove many non-essential components. Some were obvious like me electric windowsthen rear seats и Radio... Others are less important: to stay true to the racing philosophy that every gram counts, the tail lamp opening mechanism, the inner door pockets, parasol passenger compartment, engine compartment and trunk, Some Panels Soundproofing and hooks for hanging the jacket at the back were sacrificed. And the emergency diet did not end there. The efficient heating system of the standard Carrera has been replaced by the manual heating of the previous 911; then one was installed starter lighter, simplified electrical wiring and spare wheel alloy. IN floor mats instead they were spared. Some even had leather seats. With these drastic measures, 40 kg were saved: the CS was lightweight at just 1.160 kg, just 85 kg more than the legendary 2.7 RS from 1973.
Mechanically it matched a standard 3.164cc flat six. See, albeit with some modifications including hollow intake valves placed on more rigid supports. Changing the control system enginethe maximum speed increased from 6.520 to 6.840 rpm, although Porsche has not announced any improvements to the standard 231bhp engine. at 5.900 rpm: there were almost certainly some improvements, but not to the point where the large rear wheels wrapped in 7x15 215/60 VR tires were stranded. With the same declared power, 0-100 km / h acceleration fell from 6,1 to 5,1 seconds, while speed remained fixed at 245 km / h. The five-speed G50 Club Sport had the shortest gear ratios and the longest fourth and fifth, as well as limited slip differential it was standard. IN suspensions has been improved since Shock absorbers Bilstein gas front and rear.
Before realizing that he can build another car light and spartan and make him pay more, Porsche followed the logic: that's why Sports Club it cost less than Career base, and even less than the front-engined 944 Turbo. Club Sport was built from just 340 units and I was again entitled to drive one of 53 vehicles that landed in the UK.
We meet with Steve, friend and reader EVO as well as the owner of the original and very well maintained Club Sport you see in the photos at a gas station near the junction between the A303 and A345 and we have a disgusting breakfast together. Confessing to him in his youthful adventure with 911 I ask him if he would prefer if he tried to exceed 240 points in Club Sport before or after taking him home. As I expected, he chooses the second hypothesis.
It's an opportunity for me to find a car so exciting and fun that I'm willing to take the risk of starting a new chase with the accompanying license revocation at the Crazy Mile just to try that monstrous acceleration again. However, for Steve, it's love. Besides Sports Club He has twenty other cars, but this is his favorite since he bought it eight years ago after only 48.000 km. Club Sport deserves a special place in Steve's heart, along with the Carrera GT and 997 GT3 4.0, which are also much faster and more fun. But when he talks about her, I feel like she really won him over: “Among those three, I have no doubt I definitely put Club Sport on the top step of the podium,” he tells me. “I have been a 911 fan since I first drove it at the age of 25. I thought that this is really the best car for everyone who loves to drive. Club Sport strikes the right balance between modernity and the traditional character of the 911. It's very demanding, but it's fast and powerful enough for you to have some real fun."
Steve is next to me at Club Sport, so I decide not to overdo it. Contrary to what I thought, I am not overwhelmed by the memories of my crazy tirade with her many years ago. Not at the beginning, not after. Too many miles and too many HP since then. When I let him stretch his legs in second and third place, Club Sport was fast, but not fast by modern standards. I don't know what I expected. Maybe a little from the madness of that time. But everything changed, and with them my perception of speed.
Steve has a stratospheric fleet at his disposal, and yet of all his supercars, he drives most of the time. Sports Club... And when I bring Porsche On a tricky road that I know well (I also used it to test the 991 Carrera 2 newbie), I'm starting to see why. IN the weight and the sensitivity of each team (all unaided) adapt perfectly to each other, conveying the feeling of a single organism, rather than separate elements well combined with each other. Honestly, I forgot that it was once a defining trait 911... I estimate the Club Sport is doing the same stretch I ran the 991 on a long time ago, at a speed 30 percent slower than the new Carrera. But if the speed decreases, the driving pleasure is increased (and by at least 50 percent), even if with Club Sport you need a lot of concentration as well as a certain amount of strength. Or maybe for this very reason.
Il Speed it is sweeter than honey and what else engine lack of acceleration is compensated by supernatural reactionaccelerator and a real soundtrack boxer, without any filter or synthesis. A car that once looked sensational is now a box of long-forgotten memories and sensations that makes you wonder if cars that go faster than a rocket are ultimately a good idea.
In 1987, on a crazy mile, I certainly did not manage to break the sound barrier with Sports Club yet the police chased me for many miles, and in the end they had to set up a roadblock to catch me.
