Why the Porsche 911 Dakar represents a new breed of supercar

One millionaire supercar buyer with more money than sense has done the unthinkable with his expensive pride and joy. And the trend could catch on.

What would you do with a limited-edition $600,000 sports car?

Some folks might keep it in a climate controlled garage, then pop out for an occasional coffee run on sunny Sundays.

The Porsche 911 Dakar is an off-road weapon.

You probably wouldn’t chuck the keys to a couple of strangers and send them into the desert. You might not ask them to jump, skid and generally abuse the car like a $500 paddock basher.

I doubt you would then apply a clear coat of sealant to preserve the mud, dust and grime coating your investment.

Based on the 911 Carrera GTS, the Dakar has much more rugged hardware.

But that’s exactly what the South Australian owner of this Porsche 911 Dakar chose to do.

Having spent about $530,000 drive-away on the rally-ready 911, the anonymous owner of this car shelled out another $100,000 for further options and accessories including a roof basket with integrated driving lights, fuel cans and Porsche-approved recovery boards made by Australia’s MaxTrax.

Then he tossed the keys to a pair of professional drivers with close ties to Porsche.

Ex-F1 racer and 2015 World Endurance Champion Mark Webber joined 1998 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Stephane Ortelli for an adventure in the desert with the Dakar.

Mark Webber and Stephane Ortelli put the Dakar through its paces.

We rode shotgun with Webber in the car for a lap of The Bend in South Australia.

Porsche sports cars are normally at home on a circuit.

But the Dakar felt like a fish out of water – at least from the passenger seat.

All-terrain Pirellis howled in protest when pointed at the first corner. Even so, Webber had the car dancing, spinning all four tyres under power as the car clawed its way across the tarmac.

The car sounds fantastic, thanks to a custom titanium exhaust that elicits more volume from the 3.0-litre, 353kW and 570Nm twin-turbo motor.

Wider bodywork, racing seats, a roll cage and lightweight carbon fibre elements help make the most of this 911’s potential.

The 911 Dakar is at home in the Australian outback.

There was a surprising degree of pitch as the Porsche dived for the apex, then rolled with lateral load as the F1 ace poured on the power.

Then again, the Dakar’s loose body language shouldn’t come as a surprise, given it rides 50mm higher than a regular 911 Carrera. Owners can raise its body another 30mm at the touch of a button for what the brand describes as “ambitious off-road adventures”.

Porsche’s 911 Dakar has sold out.

Sweeping corners and deep braking zones feel just as ambitious with an F1 ace at the wheel of a Porsche wearing the sort of tyres you might normally find on a Toyota Prado.

Scrambling out of tight bends with the traction of a puppy on polished floorboards, the Dakar elicited smiles from driver and passenger as its nose pitched up like a speedboat.

Mark Webber and David McCowen with the Porsche 911 Dakar.

As with the similarly rowdy Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato, the Dakar represents a new breed of supercar for people bored with conventional road tours or track days.

It’s a clever approach from Porsche, one that introduces a new niche for wealthy collectors who already have circuit toys and luxury machines.

The Dakar feels like an important moment for the sports car brand as high performance machines are being driven – both literally and metaphorically – away from public roads and city centres by increasingly strict emissions and speed limits.

2023 Porsche 911 Dakar

All 2500 examples of the car sold out quickly around the globe.

The couple that have appeared overseas as lightly used second-hand models wear price tags approaching $800,000, making it all the more remarkable that an Australian owner would have theirs permanently coated with mud.