PH Heroes: Porsche 968 Club Sport
With the 968 CS Porsche discovered that every cloud has a silver lining, writes Ollie Stallwood
CEO of Porsche Cars North America Fred Schwab put it perfectly when describing the imminent disaster facing the company: ‘I remember the movie Wall Street, where the arrogant young executive gets accused of insider trading,’ he said. ‘An older gentleman comes up to him and says, “Man looks into the abyss and nothing stares back. It is at that moment, man gets character.” That was when we at Porsche were able to start getting our character.’
The firm tried to rescue the situation by appealing to the Porsche enthusiast, someone who arguably it had neglected somewhat over the past few years, as well as attempting to bring to the market something more affordable. In December 1992 the 1335kg 968 ‘Club Sport’ was wheeled out – five grand cheaper and because most of the luxuries had been binned, 50kg lighter. In fact because of the standard ‘lux’ pack on UK cars it actually ended up shedding between 100 and 110kgs.
There was the same 240bhp three-litre twin-cam four-cylinder – the most powerful naturally-aspirated four-pot in a production car at that time – and there was a 10mm drop in the suspension. Zero to 60mph took 6.1 seconds, a slight improvement over the standard car, and top speed was 158mph. Thanks to a lack of safety equipment (the airbag had been ditched for starters) the car didn’t go on sale in America, instead staying in Europe and Australia.
It may not have been a huge sales success but it began the rebuild of Porsche’s reputation as a builder of serious drivers’ cars. Autocar named it best handling car of 1993 and although only 1,923 found an owner everyone seemed to be talking about them at the time.
Climbing inside you notice that space is at a premium for a tall driver like me and this isn’t helped by the fixed-back Recaros that keep you very upright. But pulling out into the traffic I’m surprised at how easy the 968 CS is to potter around in as I hunt out some proper roads.
Its reputation suggests this is a hardcore road/track car, but it doesn’t feel like that to me. The ride is firm but soaks up the bumps admirably and the CS is incredibly tractable around town. As I pull onto a quieter piece of road that curves off through a tunnel of trees I’m wondering whether this car may not be as focused as I had hoped. But I'm wrong.
The moment you nail the throttle something strange happens. The world around you disappears and you see nothing but the road ahead. The seating position is just right, the Recaro fixing you straight ahead. The small steering wheel is perfectly placed. The throttle response is instant. The power delivery is linear and strong.
This is a car that you control and everything is set up to make sure you do your job as best you can. The car stays virtually flat through bends, and even around roundabouts, thanks to a lack of weight, but it is controllable and doesn’t feel like it will snap away.
The lack of sound deadening makes the four-pot sound good too - throaty and old school - but never overpowering. Bizarrely there is a smidge of the GT40 a drove a few weeks ago about this car. It feels honest and mechanical – it feels like a real sports car from the days when men smoked cigarettes during pit stops.
The speed that can be consistently carried in a CS belies its modest performance stats. This car is about driving pleasure anyway, not bags of grip that will only let you find the limits at crazy speeds. The chassis is perfectly balanced too with a delicacy that makes it accessible to virtually anyone. It feels special, exotic even, and for less than £30,000 new (and £12,000 now) it seems like a bargain.
Bad Porsche! They lost their cool after the end of the 993 model range.
Porsche are dead to me...
well.. sort of
(Ultimately, given away to one lucky reader in an end-of-project competition).It's little more than a marketing gimmick and too soft / roly poly to be any real use on a track
Its constantly voted one of the best and most entertaining road/track car by most magazines and raved about by anyone who has ever driven one.
The only problem with them now is trying to find a tidy one that hasnt been spanked harder than a ginger step kid.
I went for a racing puma at the time as it was cheaper to run. that was fun little car to in its own right, still no 968 though.
It's little more than a marketing gimmick and too soft / roly poly to be any real use on a track
The 968 M030 was/is very good BUT was not fitted to the CS as standard
The other thing to bear in mind is that the CS is roundy poundy as well - it's still a heavy car
Why did Porsche fit seats that were over 20 kg each ?
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