A Porsche 911 Dakar has completed a road trip from Germany to Senegal, but it's no ordinary long drive. The off-road sports coupé was put through its paces on a rally-style journey across a variety of surfaces and driving conditions.
The 911 Dakar set off from the Porsche Centre Inntal in Rosenheim, Germany, all the way to Dakar, the capital of Senegal. It followed the route of the Africa Eco Race, a 12-stage rally that linked Nador in Morocco to the Pink Lake of Dakar, crossing Mauritania and Senegal. The journey took 18 days and covered a total of 7,000 kilometres.
What's even more impressive is that the man behind the wheel, the owner of the 911 Dakar, is not a professional endurance racer. He's just a lover of the dirt-loving Porsche who took on the challenge of tackling semi-asphalted roads, dirt, sand and very rough rocky ground. The entire journey covered a wide range of terrain and climates, from Alpine winter to the ever-changing climate of the desert, with changes of up to 30 degrees Celsius in 12 hours.
As impressive as the driver were the Pirelli Scorpion All-Terrain Plus tyres fitted to the 911 Dakar from the factory, which didn't need to be replaced despite the abuse they took during the extraordinary journey.
"A unique adventure, which would have certainly been very complicated without such valid tires. They always behaved exceptionally, even in very different conditions," said Porsche Zentrum.
Pirelli has a tradition of developing tyres for Porsche in extreme conditions. At the opposite end of the spectrum to a Dakar journey, Pirelli has already fitted a Porsche 550 Spyder and a 356 Pre-A - both legendary models from Stuttgart - with studded Stella Bianca tyres for the 2024 F.A.T. Ice Race in Zell am See. These classic-looking tyres are infused with modern technology to give classic sports cars an authentic look and the ability to tackle any wet or icy conditions with confidence.
If you're impressed by the 911 Dakar, you may be disappointed that all 2,500 of the specially built 911s have already been sold out.
Source: Pirelli
