With Significant input from Mehraj Masood One thing guaranteed with a Porsche 911 is that there will always be a version built to suit a certain need. To cruise down Miami, you’d buy a Targa. For blasting round, the Nürburgring, the GT3 RS has always been the go-to, and for racing from Stuttgart to Monaco in supreme comfort and at mind-boggling speeds, no car is quite as complete as the Turbo S. And then there’s the Dakar. Introduced in 2022, this car was designed to pay tribute to the iconic Paris-Dakar Rally of 1984. In this gruelling race, a modified all-wheel drive 911, called the 953 drove 11,000km across Sand Dunes and Desserts with René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne and ended up winning. It proved Porsche were as much masters off-road as they were on it. Under the skin, the new Dakar borrows a lot from the Carrera GTS. The same 8-speed PDK gearbox and the same 3.0l twin-turbo flat-six engine. It therefore produces a similar 473 horsepower, 420 lb-ft of torque and 0-62mph in a similar 3.4 seconds. However from there on the Dakar differs greatly from any 911 ever made. It sits 50 millimetres above a normal 911 thanks to specially designed Pirelli All-Terrain Scorpion Tyres, stainless steel protection underneath the car, a roof guard and even brand-new rally and off-road settings. The suspension, seats, roll cage and even bumpers are all borrowed from the GT3. What results is a 911 like no other, one that was designed to blast across deserts, snow and even mud tracks at 149mph? Possibly the most unique 911 ever built, and well worth $220,000. Sadly after just 2500 cars, production of the Dakar has stopped. This is a genuine tribute to one of the maddest moments in motorsport history. You see, back in 1984, someone at Porsche had what must have seemed like an absolutely bonkers idea: "Let's take our rear-engined sports car and enter it in the world's most brutal rally." It was the kind of decision that probably involved several steins of German beer, but somehow, it worked. Not only did the 911 finish the Paris-Dakar Rally, it actually won the bloody thing. This final 911 Dakar, number 2,500 of 2,500, pays homage to that moment of inspired lunacy. The unnamed Italian collector who commissioned it (probably someone who has more Porsches than I have socks) asked for it to be finished in the same tricolor scheme as the 1984 winner. And when I say "finished," I mean every single bit of it was painted by hand, which is a bit like asking Michelangelo to paint your garden shed. The color combination - Gentianbluemetallic, Signal yellow, and Lampedusablue - sounds like something from a Farrow & Ball paint chart, but the result is absolutely stunning. They've even carried this theme into the cabin, where there's enough Signal yellow stitching to make a bumblebee jealous. Under the skin, it's still the same wonderfully ridiculous machine as the other 2,499 examples. The twin-turbo flat-six produces 473 horsepower, which might not sound like much in a world of 1,000-horsepower electric hypercar, but it's plenty when you're bouncing across terrain that would trouble a mountain goat. Speaking of which, this 911 can lift itself up by 3.2 inches compared to a standard model. That's like a runner suddenly deciding to do tippy-toes in the middle of a marathon. It'll still hit 62 mph in 3.4 seconds and top out at 170 mph, which is rather impressive for something that can theoretically drive over a small boulder. Before heading to its lucky owner, this final example will spend some time in Porsche's Stuttgart museum, probably making all the other 911s feel a bit inadequate. As for whether we'll see another 911 Dakar, well, given how quickly these 2,500 units sold, I'd say there's more chance of me becoming the next Pope than Porsche not doing this again. After all, who doesn't want a sports car that can outrun supercars on the road and then chase Land Rovers up a mountain?
