If a Porsche 911 is familiar, the Dakar is a contradiction. It is undoubtedly a 911. Almost every single touch point, sound and sensation is the same, from seating position to the noise from the six-cylinder. But not all: a 911 moving around on the chunky tyre tread is very much a new feeling.
Not for someone like Jacky Ickx, mind. His exploits in a 3.2 in the 1980s led to this very edition of 911 and it is remarkable that it took Porsche this long to celebrate those adventures.
The new model was announced at the LA Auto Show in late 2022, 38 years (closer to 39 years, really) after René Metge’s victory on the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally – star name Ickx came a fiery sixth.
It is not an exaggeration to say that without Ickx this, and that original Dakar assault, wouldn’t have happened. He’d asked Porsche to finish the four-wheel-drive 911 he’d seen Walter Röhrl testing so he could do the Paris-Dakar, and he brought the sponsor: Rothmans. An electrical fire put paid to his victory hopes but the sister car had no such problem.
The subsequent 959 was the natural successor to that 953 and Porsche’s second victory on the Dakar, and Metge’s third, in 1986 proved Porsche to be a player in the all-wheel-drive world.
The similarities between the modern and the original are many. Both feature a rollcage (at least with the Dakar’s Rallye pack) and reinforced, raised suspension, plus a lightweight bonnet. Wheel travel was 170mm for Ickx and Metge; today’s collectors enjoy 161mm – twice that of the usual 911 – and 50mm taller suspension. Polycarbonate plastic replaced the 3.2’s steel bonnet, with carbon-fibre reinforced plastic covering the twin-turbo 3-litre Dakar’s stow space.
Before the Dakar was revealed in 2022, the uber-versatile Romain Dumas was part of a team that took a lifted 911 6000m upwards to the peak of the world’s biggest volcano, Ojos del Salado in Chile. It showed the limitless capabilities of the 911, but that still didn't really give away the secretive Dakar production car. Though there were rumours, it was hard to believe Porsche would be allowed to make such a car, especially in such numbers: 2500.
A year or so on since it was released in 2023, still no 911 starts a conversation like a Dakar. It is as close to marmite as a 911 could get but beneath all the questions is genuine intrigue. Is it any good? Is it fast? The answer to both questions is yes. Most Dakars must have been specced with the Rallye Sport Package because, well, you simply would. Go all in, make the most of the madness.
But most Dakars will probably see nothing rougher than Tarmac and still the Dakar will impress. No 911 rides badly but with sidewalls and lengthy suspension the Dakar smothers the inconsistencies of our roads like no other. And with that comes an even deeper confidence in the car.
To all intents and purposes the Dakar is a Carrera 4 GTS, with the ever-spectacular PDK gearbox and the sweet straight-six. Top speed is limited by the tyres, but still near as dammit 150mph. Inside it's more GT3, with Porsche's super-soft Race-Tex wrapping the wheel and most surfaces and those sublime bucket seats (again with the Rallye pack).
When asked what the ultimate every-journey car is, the Porsche 911 was the runaway winner. The Dakar is the ultimate of that proposition. Delivery mileage examples of the sold-out model are not uncommon, and it's hard to see that as anything other than missing the point.
