Archived Comparison
From the September 1988 Issue of Car and Driver
TESTED
The newest version of the Porsche 911 spells out its mission in crisp letters along the inboard side of its left front fender. From the driver's seat you can take in the large, stylized "CS" logo and the words "Club Sport" at a glance, a message that's all the more seductive because it's hidden from other drivers by the soft curve of the 911's headlight sheetmetal.
Club Sport. It's a name that conjures up images of club racing, motorsport in general, the rigors of competition—and the glory of victory. Porsche has covered itself in racing glory, but it is not known for festooning front fenders with hype.
So what is this new fender inscription all about? "Porsche clubs all over the world hold competitive driving events at their meets," explains Jim Ryan, executive V.P. of sales and marketing for Porsche Cars North America. "The Club Sport evolved from that, because it's where a lightened version would be more competitive."
The Club Sport, then, is a stripped-down, toned-up version of the aged but ageless 911, squeezed for yet another increment of speed and handling. Porsche expects it to be taken to the track and has revised it in several ways to improve its performance there. Still, says Ryan, the Club Sport package stops far short of the Porsche 934 IMSA racer of the mid-seventies. "Oh, it's not like that at all. The Club Sport had to retain full streetability."
More on that later. What's most important right now is that the Zuffenhausen works has mailed a leaned-on 911 to this country, wearing a fender decal that boasts, "I'm a bad-ass, come and get me."
Sounds to us like a high-noon challenge to the home-town gunslinger. The one wearing the famous bow tie.
So say hello again to the club-sport version of the Chevrolet Corvette, better known as the Z51. This car also has a reputation to uphold. During the three seasons it competed in the SCCA's Showroom Stock endurance series, it never lost a race—and in the process it gunned down the quickest 944 Turbos that the Porsche factory could muster.
"The Z51 is as close to a competition setup for the Corvette as we can go, while still having the car be livable on the street," says John Heinricy, the product-engineering manager for the Corvette and the Camaro. Heinricy, a winning Showroom Stock Corvette racer himself, tuned the Z51's suspension on the racetrack. "The Z51 is the ultimate in performance," he says. "It is not something we want for our high-volume model."
It's apparent that both the Z51 and the Club Sport come to this showdown with something to prove. Both are legendary grand-touring automobiles pushed as far in the race-car direction as their makers dared to push them. They are, in short, two tough hombres. And no matter which quick-draw artist owns your loyalties, you know that when these two meet, you're going to see one hell of a shoot-'em-up.
Which brings us to the question of the hour: Who sells the hottest club-sport machine you can buy? Which company builds the Ace of Clubs?
To determine the answer, we challenged one 911 Club Sport and one Vette Z51 to face each other in four duels: our standard battery of performance tests, an autocross course, a lapping session on a road-racing circuit, and a two-day flog over some of Southern California's most spectacular drivers' roads.
