It is a project that few were aware of. porsche and its engineers took up the Safari concept for the “nineteen” and have done so twice.
The firm has created two new 911 Safari based on the current generation, the 992. The goal is to climb the highest volcano in the world, the Ojos del Salado, in Chile, where there are no roads only hard roads.
Frank-Steffen Walliser, vice president of vehicle architecture at Porsche AG left the project in the hands of the engineer Michael Roslerresponsible for the Porsche 911.
“It has been great to create a 911 like never before, a car made possible by a small team of engineering enthusiasts. The 911 has already been thoroughly tested on the track and, of course, on the road, but with this project we are shifting the focus to uncharted terrain,” he explains. Rösler, Director of the 911 Range.
“Testing our theories means finding the harshest environments possible to see if they work. And in the highest volcano in the world we have achieved it”, he added.
Now expectations are set for the firm to do similar shenanigans in other parts of the world. At the head of the project, Roman Dumasofficial Porsche driver and winner, among other titles, of three crowns in the 24 hours of Le Mans and four in the Nurburgring 24 hours.
A preparation for the extreme TT
For the elaboration of these two beasts of the TT, the base of the 911 992 was taken in its configuration 4S racewith a six-cylinder boxer engine, 450 hp, all-wheel drive and seven-speed manual transmission.
Engineers from the research and development center of Weissach-Porsche together with those of Romain Dumas Motorsport. Some of the modifications are the anti-roll bars, the seats with carbon fiber structure and their corresponding harnesses, the ground clearance was also increased to 350 millimeters.
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The vehicle rides on off-road specific tires and they completely changed the floor of the cars to reinforce them with aramid fiber, which is light and resistant.
In addition to this, we must add a specific Porsche Warp-Connecter traction control program,
The beginning of something else
“It has been a memorable and special adventure, in a place as beautiful as it is brutal. I guess today the only machines in the whole world higher than ours were airplanes! For the team it was all about learning and from the get-go the car was seen to be tough and agile. We were very demanding and we squeezed it to the maximum from the beginning, but it behaved as if it were at home”, says Romain Dumas, pilot of the 911.
“Despite the large amount of ice and snow at the top of the volcano, we climbed to more than 6,000 meters, to the point where the icy walls prevented us from going any further. We are very proud of what the 911 has been able to achieve for the first time; hopefully we will have the opportunity to face many more adventures in the future”, finished.
Editorial New Electric Autos Source: CarAndDriver
