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Porsche 964 Turbo: The Last Samurai

By 1974 the 911 had already established itself on the international scene as a benchmark sports car, with high performance, great reliability and truly unique driving sensations.

Porsche placed the turbo at the top of the range, creating at the same time the world myth of 911 Turbo, which has remained present in all the 911 series to the present.

This first 3.0 hp 260 in a typical “all back” configuration catapulted the performance of Stuttgart sports cars to rub shoulders with the best supercars of the time. He set the 0-100 in a spectacular, even today, 6,1 seconds, and the top speed at 246 km / h. However, the set was not fully finished due to clearly insufficient brakes as well as a 4-speed gearbox that would weigh it down until the late eighties.

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The Turbo put the performance of the 911 on a par with those of the best supercars of the time

Aesthetically, it marked some hallmarks that, in essence and to this day, are still fully valid: The huge fixed spoiler, inherited from the Carrera 3.0 RS and the whale tail type -exclusively in this first version- and, of course, the greater width track, which helps improve grip and traction under certain conditions.

Since its launch, everyone who gets into a 911 Turbo Aircooled he never forgets it. The fundamental cause lies, in these first series, in the incredible lag or "lag" of the turbo, something that can be seen in its power curve. And it is that up to 3.200 rpm, there is not too much chicha, but from there the devil wakes up and the power delivery is absolutely brutal, continuing continuously until beyond 6.000 laps.

For 1977 the 930, the internal name of the 911 turbo, received a large number of modifications in order to improve its weaknesses and strengthen its strengths. In "theory" the behavior of the turbo is softened by redesigning it, a larger intercooler, a larger displacement of 3.300 cc, a much more efficient spoiler in terms of cooling tasks, 16 "Fuchs wheels and, above all, some amazing drilled brakes from the Le Mans 917.

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The rear wing, hallmark of the Turbo, serves among other things to shelter the intercooler

Now yes, Porsche will have the definitive weapon in terms of performance, although it will continue to cause certain problems until the end of the eighties, mainly motivated by the poor staging of the 4-speed gearbox. Finally, the problem would be solved by mounting a 5-speed that the next generation inherited.

In terms of pure figures, the powers of this series are from 300 to 330 HP, 5,4 seconds to reach 100 and more than 250 km / h of top speed. The turbos always had a reputation for difficult and uncontrollable, a point that was aggravated by the peculiar distribution of weights.

It is the most manufactured series of the air-cooled 911 turbo and today it is not difficult to find units with more than 250.000 km in use and operation. Its engine is terribly reliable and has a unique and unmistakable sound.

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The 911 protagonist of this test is a 964 Turbo, 965 for friends

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Porsche 964 Turbo (1990-1993)

Swan Song of Engine 3.3 Turbo It will arrive with the 964 model, for me the best and most excessive of the aircooled all back with the permission of its exclusive brothers from the S series and 3.6 Turbo that for that same reason I will take out of the equation.

However, when the new generation of 911 - the 964 saga - was born, critics did not think the same and saw it as too "old". Although in reality it was a practically new car, the truth is that it looked like a makeover of the previous generation.

But under that certainly similar skin was a new frame capable of digesting powers close to 500 hp without many complications. ABS, Airbag, new -assisted- steering schemes, damping, exhausts, spectacular brakes and tires and, of course, a much better mass distribution finished fine-tuning the machine.

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At first glance it looked like a restyling, but it hid much more

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In the specific case of 964 Turbo -965 For friends-, we will say that all this was combined with the old 930 engine, conveniently updated in terms of distribution tensioners, electronic management, intercooler, wastegaste, etc., but "capped" in a certain way due to the restrictive anti-pollution regulations that we were beginning to assimilate.

Of this model, there were basically three versions: The 3.3hp 320 was built first, the series to which the tested unit belongs. Some 4.000 units were produced, to which we must add, secondly, the exclusive S variant with less than 100 copies manufactured and whose power rose to 380 hp. Finally, and already with the new 3600cc engine, almost 1.500 units of the 3.6 ​​hp 360 variant were lit.

As for benefits, they are yesterday, today and always of authentic vertigo, believe me. Only the 3.3 "normalito" allows a 0-100 in 5,3 seconds and 270 km / h of top speed.

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The 3.3 engine was brought up to date and caked? as a consequence of anti-pollution regulations

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The first two 3.3 and “S” essentially followed the brutal behavior scheme of the previous versions, while the exquisite 3,6 took a giant step forward in terms of refinement and power delivery. But that friends it's another story ...

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Written by Antonio Silva

My name is Antonio Silva, I was born in Madrid in 1973. Thanks to my company I have been able to know first-hand all the national vehicle factories and a few of the European ones, as well as many of the component factories, this being nothing but an incentive more for my hobby ... Read more

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