Auto

Special Porsche 911 begins its journey of exploration

For approaching 60 years, the Porsche 911 has been pushed to extremes on both the track and on the open road. Now, a fresh chapter is being written; a unique pair of experimental 911 sports cars are being tested where there are no roads, where the air is thin, where the temperature is far below freezing and even plant life can’t survive.A team, led by endurance racer and adventurer Romain Dumas, has set out to explore the limits of the 911 and have opted for one of the toughest places on earth in which to begin the adventure – on the sheer slopes of Ojos del Salado, Chile, the highest volcano in the world. The first test of the team and the cars has taken place. And, as a consequence, a Porsche 911 became one of very few vehicles of any kind to have ever reached such an extreme altitude.Exploring up to 6,007 meters (19,708 feet), the 911, with Romain Dumas at the wheel, took on bolder strewn gradients as well as ice fields that tested the abilities of both the car and the team in temperatures hovering 30 degrees Celsius below freezing and with half the available oxygen in the air compared to at sea level. Impassable walls of seasonal snow and ice high up near the summit provided the upper limits of the test, which provided a tantalizing glimpse of what the cars are capable of in the right conditions. For now though, the test is complete – and the team elated by the experience.