There have only been a handful of times that Porsche offered a car that was specifically for the American market; 912E, 964 RS America, America Roadster to name a few. The newest America-only car from the brand is the new ‘911 GT3 RS Tribute to Carrera RS Package’. Yes, that’s the car’s full name. It’s a long and weird way to say that this car pays homage to the original 911 RS way back in 1973, the iconic beducktailed 911 Carrera 2.7 RS. I would have liked to have seen the 2.7 RS honored with a manual transmission version of the GT3 RS, but to no avail.
‟This package pays tribute to the 911 Carrera RS 2.7, an absolute driver’s car and an icon,” said Kjell Gruner, President and CEO of Porsche Cars North America. ‟Today, nothing epitomizes the idea of a driver’s car more than the new 911 GT3 RS. Like the original, it uses cutting edge aerodynamics to achieve incredible performance, making this a perfect homage to the legend from 1973.”
Visually, the car evokes the original RS by coloring specific components in a contrasting Python Green paint or decal over the stark white base color; the magnesium wheels, the door mirrors, the side graphics, the key fob, interior stitching, etc. The wing endplates feature a special RS logo with an American flag.
All 911 GT3 RS Tribute to Carrera RS Package cars are based on the Weissach pack 911 GT3 RS, which is the lightest way you can order a GT3 RS. The exterior is littered with exposed carbon fiber, and there are a number of chassis components in carbon as well. It’s a really striking car that visually stimulates images of the green-accented white 73 RS. I don’t know if the car carries the throughline emotionally or in any physical driving dynamic way, however. The 73 was also a stripped back light-weight race car for the street, but its popularity grew because of how fun and exciting it was to drive at the limit on public streets. If you drive a modern GT3 RS at half the limit these days, you’re going to jail or dying. There was a driver connectedness—a driver involvement—that the 73 RS evokes, which hasn’t been present in a modern Porsche RS product for at least a decade. No matter, nobody who buys this Tribute to Carrera RS Package car will actually drive it anyway. These will all sit under their custom car covers in a climate controlled warehouse for decades.
The 1973 Carrera RS Lightweight weighs 1985 pounds and produced 210 horsepower at 6300 RPM. The new Tribute to Carrera RS weighs a whopping 3268 pounds, nearly 165% of the weight of the car it pays tribute to. Yeah, it makes up for the heft with way over double the horsepower at 518 ponies, but the Carrera RS wasn’t about big horsepower, it was about punching above its weight. The 2023 911 GT3 RS equipped with the unique Tribute to Carrera RS Package will carry a total MSRP of $312,550, not including a $1,450 delivery, processing and handling fee. At least that’s a number less than the 2.7 RS, because a 1973 model will set you back around three quarters of a million dollars these days for a nice Touring or a ratty Lightweight.