C o m p l e t e 9 6 4
The Owner:
Jim Newman has recently purchased one of the 1992 964 Cup Cars with 14,000 original miles on the clock.
The car was in pristine condition, with perfect paint and the anti-tamper engine seal still in place.
Prior to the purchase of the Cup Car, Jim had campaigned a factory 993 GT2, and prior to this piloted various other cars including a 934.
Jim's comparison of the 993 GT2 and the Cup Car were still preliminary given that the car has yet to see some serious track action, but the initial impressions were clear-
"This car was quick through the gears and had an amazing amount of torque at low end for a normally aspirated car. You could tell from the beginning that this car was a momentum car. With street tires and small wheels, 8s vs. 14s for the GT2, the Cup Car wanted to over steer a little more than I was used to... it seemed to over steer mostly in fast corners... (but) you had warning that the rear was stepping out".
We will be asking Jim to provide a more in depth analysis and review of the car once he has had time to adapt to it and modify it to his liking. Indeed- we would love to see how this car develops over time!
The Car:
The concept was simple- to produce a run of 45 European spec Carrera RS's that were adapted to conform to US importation regulations at the time. These cars were to be specifically produced for a series of anticipated American Carrera Cup races. When the race series was aborted for various reasons (including a general lack of public support), the cars were left somewhat homeless.
The story of the actual cars is somewhat interesting- a story of what wasn't, then was, then wasn't again.
From the outset, the cars were designed to be thoroughbred racing machines. Ex Stuttgart, these cars were built with a large number of special features as follows-
- aluminium hood
- deletion of body cavity wax and sound deadening material
- sport flywheel
- steel syncro rings
- revised springs and struts
- re-rated brakes
- deletion of power steering
- master electrical kill switch within front trunk
- deletion of rear seats
- no power mirrors
- no sun roof
- no air con
- racing electrical charge system
- 36 amp battery (no short trips thanks very much)
- racing type engine mounts
- fully adjustable sway bars
- fully seam welded chassis
- 256hp engine
- air bags
- side door impact beams
- Bosch DME and catalyst
- full safety glass
- standard impact bumpers
- central locking
- alarm system
- ABS brakes
One of twenty five- the Cup Car
Above is Jim's car back in street form
The cars were then shipped to Andial's facilities in Santa Ana, California, where they spent a further 110 hours receiving the following modifications-
- Full suspension upgrade to Carrera Cup specifications (struts and springs)
- Original electrical seats removed and replaced by a single Recaro racing seat with six point safety harness
- All interior trim was removed, with a full roll cage being fitted offsite
- Front strut brace
- ABS on/off switch
- Removal of rear brake pressure regulator valve
- Heater blower motor/mechanism removed
- Safety electrical kill switch moved to front cowl (just in front of the windshield on the left hand side)
- Engine further modified to 271hp then sealed together with to stop tampering
- Racing clutch disc installed
- Removal of front oil cooler fan
- Front deck drilled with hood retaining pins
- Removal of driving lights
- Carrera Cup rims installed (8 x 17 front, 9.5 x 17 rear) with longer studs and spacers
By the time 25 of these monsters had been completed, it had become clear that the race series was not going to happen (the announcement that the race series would be aborted occurred some time in May 1992). This left Porsche North America with a problem- there were 25 Carrera's which pretty much had no purpose in life. By this time, it was clear that the decision to import fully street legal Carrera's was a blessing of sorts- at least the cars could be converted back to the state that they had first arrived in the US, and ultimately sold as fully legal street cars.
The work to re-configure the cars back to their original state was handled in Porsche's own facilities in Charleston. This essentially brought the car back to the exact state that it had entered the US.
By the time the car was reconverted, what essentially remained was a decidedly energetic (back to 256hp vs. 260hp for the Euro spec RS and 250hp for the standard C2) 2,891 pound car (vs. a standard C2 of 3,031 pounds, 2,866 pounds for the European RS Touring model and an RS America of 2,954 pounds).
Perhaps the only remaining part of the Andial conversion left on the Cup Car by the time the full U turn was made was the racing clutch disc.
Post Mortem:
For a US resident, this was probably the closest that one could ever get to owning a European spec 964 RS.
Add to that the cars most fascinating history (or lack of it, as the case may be), and the rarity of these cars (truly a rarer breed than the European RS cars) and it is no wonder that Jim is one of the happiest 964 owners around!
Note the solid engine mounts
Uprated vented brakes