This bespoke Porsche 911 CSR breathes new life into the 997 generation

From outlaws to hot rods to reimagining to rally cars to roof to bespoke bills, it seems like everyone has their own thoughts about what their ideal incarnation of a 911 should look and drive like and independent Porsche specialist RPM technique. Is no exception. It CSR program began not with old air called 911 but with nine nine sixes before moving on to nine, nine sevens, this one [MUSIC] [MUSIC] This is Chassis number 28 known as Snake Bite. Based on the Gen 1997, it represents RPMs CSR thinking. And apparently, its creation can be into a three strands. They've got great conditioning analog I misspoke so reconditioning this went all the way back to bare metal, and they refreshed various parts on the car, and then repainted it in the customer's choice of Brewster green, which I think you'll agree looks rather wonderful. It's a really dark, what. Fashion to color green a bit like the British racing Green Seed on Jaguars of the 50s and 60s, then there's analog so they've tried to enhance all the lovely interactive bits of this car to make it More driver focused. That means marvelous things such as a mechanical limited slip, diff, and lightweight clutch and flywheel into stage one power upgrade to the engine that includes factory x 51 improvements to the top end. In the arches you'll find appealing additions like kW suspension, upgraded and adjustable anti roll bars, poly bushing and adjustable a battler arms Meanwhile, the tactility of the interior is increased by bucket seats and Luno wheel and a Short Shifter. Then there's the bespoke element. So the customer can really choose exactly how obviously I want the car to look inside and out but also how they want the car to feel They wanted more road orientation, they want more track orientations. And that's where RPM gets Tim Harvey involved to help set the car. And just to make every CSR standards, they will get a ducktail a carbon fiber one no less. Taking six kilos off the rear end. You'll also notice that this car has an arrow kit from bumper and a G.T. three rear bumper with a center exit exhaust.>>Before we talk about this specific car over to right 9 7, general, because I find it fascinating how different generations of 911 for other cars and fact go in and out of fashion. And popularity, the 997 is no longer the old 911 because now the 992 has come out. The 991 is now the old 911. And the 997 is a modern classic, I think. Now I've got a bit of a soft spot for nine, nine, sevens. They were the current 911 when I started out as a motoring journalist, and I just love the way they look and drive. I think the size of the 997 is just so right we've got this wonderful six speed manual gearbox And of course, hydraulically assisted power steering. Is good as electric systems are now, there is no doubt that the best hydraulic systems just keep up a more constant conversation. This really does feel like an analog 911 the fact that they can just feel the pressure at the front, the rear as well. For the quarter, and it's not a big speed, it just feels so, so interactive all the time. [SOUND] Before you go rushing through the classifieds, it would be remiss of me not to mention the problems that some Gen197s are afflicted by Namely both scoring and failure of the intermediate shaft or IMS bearing. This is not the time to go into details, and it doesn't have to be a deal breaker, but it's worth flagging up. All I'd say is just do your homework before you buy one. But enough of nine, nine sevens in general, what is this CSR snake bite in particular, with all its modifications, See, the end result is a car that I think is hugely appealing. The look of it is nicely understated. The paint is wonderful the wheels these HR II wheels which come from America have forged wheels and they're not cheap. But in vice gold, they set the car off perfectly perhaps perhaps a little bit too turbo for my liking or not I'm not quite sure but of course, because you could choose a more standard option if you'd like the feel of the car to drive overall Well, they wanted something that was a bit more a bit more gt than a GT car, I suppose. Because you might think this is sort of a poor man's touring, but it's We have to keep track of this because it's pizza and we can bring it back tax free so it's not so fast. You have to keep it by its category. By the way also by its category passive, passive subpart F guilty which is not passive, you generally That's compared to a 409 brake horsepower for the 3.6. And a similar era gt three response isn't quite as precise and sharp as Metzger either. In terms of torque or doggedly feels you better strong and there's still a very appealing characters of this career as engine. That hasn't quite gotten the clarity in the way reds alter the sound of it is just a little bit softer. Perhaps but is nonetheless a wonderful thing to use. Sounds really good. Actually in the mid range don't have to rub it out to get Get the best sound out event. The handling is definitely much sharper than a standard 997 but it's just got a lovely amount of grip enough but certainly not too much. Much. The damping is excellent for those KW dampers. Again, rounding off the bumps but leaving you very much in contact with the road. I drove down to these roads today for three hours on the motorway, and it was absolutely fine. I will happily drive back again this evening. I want to just slow down for a moment and talk about the interior of the This car [UNKNOWN] I find it really interesting what they've done here. Obviously we have the Recaro seats and it's all been beautifully trimmed. You can still see sort of the marks of the fact that this is underneath a car that's done 120,000 miles. But they've made a great job of actually making this feel extremely modern. And I think it's just the the little things. So the gear knob, the fact they've taken out the Sat Nav and radio from here so suddenly it looks like a A 991 Turin with the PCM delete and the steering wheel. You take those things out and suddenly it feels like a very very modern car. Except with a beautiful ray of five completely analog dials. Incidentally, the reason this car It's called snake bite is because originally it was going to be green outside and then trim to purple on the inside. For somebody who decided that was perhaps not a brilliant idea. For those unfamiliar with the name, I should mention at this point that a snake bite is a type of drink. It is composed of half lager and half cider and generally results in a sense of deep regret. Technically get the purple color in the drink you need to add a dash with black current to make it a snake bite in black, which is also known as a diesel. I don't think CSR diesel would have sent out the right messages though. Given all the work that has gone into this car it's not surprising that It isn't cheap. Obviously, it depends what you have done, but a CSI like this research your arc anywhere between 60 and 80 thousand pounds. The elephant in the room I suppose is the fact that the gt three have a similar error. cutting costs a bit less than that. However, the people that are buying these, they will most certainly already got a GG three, they want something different. Perhaps they want to That GT car feel with some rear seats. Because although the seats have been deleted from this one, you could of course, keep them back there. And where as you might feel guilty about putting too many miles on a GT3 or tampering with its originality, there is no such risk of remorse with one of these. Over all, as with so many of these So bespoke builds, I suppose. I love the fact that they make you think, what would I do?. Perhaps I'd get the pressure seats instead of the Peter tartan. Perhaps I would go a bit more track focus. Perhaps I'd have it In mint green instead of breeze degree, above all, it's mainly What's a 997 again? Absolutely the modifications.