{"id":46141,"date":"2026-10-19T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T21:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/?p=46141"},"modified":"2026-10-19T02:57:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T17:57:36","slug":"73carrera_202610","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/en\/entry\/73carrera_202610\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7: A Rare Porsche Owner Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, I headed to the Royu Driveway and had the chance to drive a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7. Here are my impressions.<\/p>\n

(I also got to drive a 992.1 Turbo S, so I\u2019ll write about that another time.)<\/p>\n

A Morning on the Royu Driveway<\/h3>\n

When I reached the observation deck at around 7:40 a.m., it was already packed, and there wasn\u2019t a single space available. So I drove a little farther along the Royu Driveway, then came back and tried parking at the observation deck again. It was great to see so many familiar faces\u2014some who had been there the previous week, and others I hadn\u2019t seen in ages.<\/p>\n

Even so, the Royu Driveway is still incredibly hot at this time of year. The direct sun is intense\u2014it feels like the height of summer, and you\u2019ll get quite a sunburn if you don\u2019t protect yourself. It\u2019ll be more pleasant once the weather cools down, but will that just bring even more people out?<\/p>\n

\"1973<\/p>\n

What Is the 1973 Porsche Carrera RS?<\/h3>\n

\"1973<\/p>\n

The 1973 Carrera is the 911 Carrera RS 2.7, launched in 1973. It\u2019s also the car my husband reviewed after driving it<\/a> for the blog. Developed to secure homologation for the World Championship (Group 4), it was based on the 911 S, with weight-saving measures and an engine tuned to 2.7 liters. It was the first 911 to bear the Carrera name, and the ancestor of today\u2019s GT3.<\/p>\n

Just 13 were officially imported into Japan.<\/strong> I had the chance to drive one of them.<\/p>\n

Driving the 1973 Carrera RS<\/h3>\n

\"Driving<\/p>\n

I never imagined I\u2019d get to drive such a rare car!<\/p>\n

\"Interior<\/p>\n

There was a roll cage inside, and the seat belts\u2014which I forgot to photograph\u2014were unlike any I\u2019d seen before. The car had a five-speed manual transmission.<\/p>\n

\"Driving<\/p>\n

The first thing that surprised me was just how heavy the clutch was<\/strong>. It might be the heaviest clutch in any Porsche I\u2019ve driven. I always thought the clutch in our 981 Boxster GTS was pretty heavy, but this one was heavier still.<\/p>\n

\"Driving<\/p>\n

But ease off the brake, and the car rolls forward smoothly. The clutch didn\u2019t feel difficult to engage, either. I wasn\u2019t fighting the car\u2014in fact, I was surprised by how much easier it was to drive than I expected<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

That may be partly because, luckily, I\u2019ve had the chance to drive quite a few manual Porsches. My former 992.1 Carrera T had such an easy-to-use manual gearbox (and such a light clutch) that it almost felt like an automatic. If that had been my only experience with a manual, I might have found this one much harder to drive.<\/p>\n

The suspension was firm, but not unpleasantly so\u2014it didn\u2019t feel harsh or jittery<\/strong>. I\u2019m sure its excellent maintenance played a part, but I was still surprised by how approachable a car from this era could be behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

The steering and cornering felt fantastic. The bucket seat held me securely in place, which also made the car easy to drive.<\/p>\n

\"Driving<\/p>\n

With the windows down, I could hear the air-cooled engine and all those wonderfully mechanical rattles and clicks. Modern cars with seemingly limitless power are impressive, too, but this car offers something different: a natural, effortless way of gathering speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I understand why some people keep going back to Porsche\u2019s roots,\u201d I thought. It was an incredibly satisfying car to drive.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Porsche for the True Enthusiast<\/h3>\n

If you love driving, I think you\u2019d absolutely love this car. I\u2019m sure plenty of people would love to own one, too\u2014but just look at the prices these days! Buying one is completely out of reach for me. And once you factor in maintenance and running costs, the numbers get even more daunting.<\/p>\n

Still, I\u2019m truly grateful to have driven one of the 13 cars officially imported into Japan back in the day. Thank you so much!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also write about my drive in the 992.1 Turbo S soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the weekend, I headed to the Royu Driveway and had the chance to drive a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7. Here are my impressions. (I also got to drive a 992.1 Turbo S, so I\u2019ll write about that another time.) A Morning on the Royu Driveway When I reached the observation deck at around 7:40 a.m., it was already packed, and there wasn\u2019t a single space available. So I drove a little farther...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":46130,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/?p=46137","footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[183,188,195,209,278],"class_list":["post-46141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-testdrive","tag-porsche-911","tag-air-cooled","tag-porsche-report","tag-royu","tag-mt","en-US"],"yoast_head":"Driving a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7: A Rare Porsche Owner Experience - Porsche Owner's Blog from Japan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Drive impressions of the rare 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7: discover its heavy clutch, surprising ease of driving, and air-cooled character on the Royu Driveway.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.panamera-life.com\/en\/entry\/73carrera_202610\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Driving a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7: A Rare Porsche Owner Experience - 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