Porsche examined its Safari 911 prototypes by driving up a volcano

A safari-style Porsche 911 checks a number of the proper containers for what well-off fans are in search of lately: A supercar with blistering performance that may go off-roading to pattern the overlanding life-style. The aftermarket neighborhood has taken to creating lifted 911s with all-terrain tires that should mimic the 911s that ran within the Paris-Dakar race within the mid-eighties. However Porsche desires to get in on the motion by bringing its personal model of off-roading 911 to market with a brand new mannequin known as the Dakar. It’s imagined to be making its debut on the Los Angeles Auto Present. Whereas we eagerly await the upcoming 911 Dakar, Porsche shared particulars on just a few prototypes that showcase simply how succesful an off-road 911 might be.

Clearly, these aren’t the kinds of 911s that your aged neighbor that simply retired will purchase and use for his or her weekly jaunt across the neighborhood. These tall-riding, obscenely huge, and outrageous ideas are extra like one thing out of a kid’s thoughts. And to place the prototypes to the check – and present the world simply how succesful a 911 is when Porsche doesn’t have a finances – Porsche took the automobiles up the Ojo del Salado in Chile. For these not within the know, it’s the highest volcano in the world.

There’s so much to dive into right here, however the automobiles are based mostly on the Carrera 4S, which comes with a turbocharged flat-six making 443 horsepower and all-wheel drive. Whereas the automobiles are closely modified, they preserve the 911’s commonplace seven-speed handbook transmission. Past these things, the 911s get tools that makes them hardly recognizable.

Because of heavy-duty portal axles, the sports activities automobiles seem like NBA gamers in comparison with the common Carrera 4S with 13.7 inches of floor clearance. The transmission has been up to date with decrease gear ratios to have the ability to crawl over tough terrain higher and handbook locking differentials are additionally readily available for optimum traction. The designs are particular, too, as one of many prototypes wears the identical livery because the Porsche 963 LMDh race car (the one with white fenders) and the opposite has a glance that was created by Weissach designers.

The prototypes’ designs are all meant to get the 911 over terrain the place you usually wouldn’t see one of many model’s sports activities automobiles. The ginormous fender flares assist home the 12.2-inch-wide tires, a winch on the entrance bumper helps get the automobiles unstuck, hefty rooftop cargo rack, and the underbody safety that’s product of artificial fibers which might be immune to warmth all serve some type of function. The latter is a should if you happen to plan on scaling volcanos frequently, however the Ojo del Salado is reportedly dormant.

With endurance racer Romain Dumas behind the wheel, the Porsche workforce managed to get the prototypes to 19,708 ft. Temperatures at that peak obtained all the way down to roughly -22 levels Fahrenheit and each the automobile and workforce had been coping with half the air that you’d usually discover at sea stage. Alongside the way in which, the prototypes encountered ice, snow, boulders, and rocks. In different phrases, issues a daily 911 would by no means see.

Sorry to get your hopes up, however there’s no means Porsche will carry manufacturing variations of those prototypes to market. Let’s simply say that they’re a bit of too targeted for a enterprise case to be made to promote them. From what we’ve seen of Porsche’s latest 911 Dakar prototypes, they’re nowhere close to as excessive because the volcano-conquering 911s, however they need to nonetheless be loads succesful sufficient for many.

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