Porsche has scaled the world’s highest volcano with a heavily modified 911.
Chile’s Ojos del Salado is 6,893m high and the Porsche ascended to 6,007 metres — to the point where walls of ice prevented it going further.
At the wheel was endurance racer and adventurer Romain Dumas, and the car he drove is one of two experimental 911s being tested where there are no roads, the air is thin, the temperature is far below freezing and even plants can’t survive.
The car became one of very few vehicles of any kind to have reached such an extreme altitude. Dumas took on boulder-strewn gradients as well as ice fields that tested the abilities of the car and the team in temperatures of about -30ºC and half the oxygen levels compared to sea level.
“This was a truly memorable and special moment in a place that’s both beautiful and brutal at the same time — I guess the only machines anywhere in the world higher than us today were aircraft. For the team and the car it was about learning — and right out of the box the car was tough and nimble. We were hard on ourselves and really put it in the deep end for its first test, yet it felt at home,” said Dumas.
The two standard 911s were transformed into volcano-scaling off-roaders by engineers at Porsche’s research & development base in Weissach, near Stuttgart, working closely with Romain Dumas Motorsport.
Portal axles were added to increase ground clearance to a towering 350mm, off-road tyres were fitted and the cars were equipped with lightweight but extremely tough Aramid fibre underbody protection to allow sliding over rocks.
The cars were given lower gear ratios to allow precise, gentle throttle inputs at low speed. Roll cages were added along with carbon fibre seats and harnesses to meet safety requirements.
A device called the Porsche Warp-Connecter was added. Originally designed for motorsport applications, it forms a mechanical link between all four wheels to allow constant wheel load even when the chassis is enduring extreme articulation — allowing for maximum traction. Manual, switchable differential locks were used as well as an advanced steer-by-wire system. A winch was added at the front of the car along with revised bodywork to allow clearance for the 310mm wide off-road wheels and tyres.
The cooling system also needed to move upwards to allow the car to tackle more extreme off-road sections without fear of damage. As a finishing touch, the bodywork was finished in two distinctive liveries — one featuring the same Porsche Motorsport colour scheme adorning the 963 LMDh Le Mans racing car and a second 911-themed livery designed by the styling team in Weissach.
The car's engine, a twin-turbo 3.0l flat-six producing 330kW of power, coped well in the thin air and didn’t need to be modified.
Porsche doesn’t necessarily plan to put such a rugged 911 into production and says it’s part of the company’s drive to explore limits and test new ideas.