How cool is this?!? http://www.porsche.com/all/Transsyberia2007/international.aspx I love it! This is what Porsche should have been doing all along. The Cayenne has been crying out for rallye duty to earn its place in the Porsche lineup. From what I can tell...two private owners raced last year, and came in first and second in their class. Porsche heard of it, and now has a special Cayenne model (?) just for this.
Didn't the 959 compete in the Paris-Dakar? Can't remember how well it did. IMHO the Cayenne ought to have been entered in endurance rally events before it went into production - a win or 2 would have been great PR for a new model
Ahem. The Cayenne S came in first and second in its class in last year's race, before Porsche even became involved. Do you have NO recollection of Porsche's winning rally history? Have you even read about how amazingly compentent the Cayenne is for off-roading (although no one ever takes one there)? Everyone laughs out there nose at the Cayenne without any real knowledge of just how amazing it is for an SUV. Porsche didn't just throw together an SUV to make $$$. They made a real life SUV monster. I am really hoping this leads to Paris-to-Dakar... Personally, I love the GT3RS color scheme. Awesome. We now return you to your previously scheduled disdain-for-Porsches-without-any-real-reason programming. PS Yes, Porsche did campaign a rally version of the 959 in the Paris-to-Dakar in 1986 and finished first and second. PPS Stripped out? What did you see that should be stripped out? Floodlights? Extra wheels? Looked pretty purposeful to me.
Not sure if William H was referring to Paris Dakar C1 class consisting of tube framed shilouette racers such as the Race Toureg or the Pajeros as "stripped out" But a Cayenne prepared like that would be pretty cool. Didn't Porsche campaign 911s with an earlier vesion of the 959's 4wd system at Dakar in 85? Didn't they win it that year also? Those Rothman liveried Pcars looked amazing.
I agree 100%, and was very disappointed when Porsche did not do this. You would think that if they KNEW their customers, they would realize that the Porsche faithful would be MUCH more likely to embrace an SUV if it came with rally-winning trophies to recommend it is a real competitior. Instead they did nothing of the sort and just relied on badge snobbery to sell SUVs. Bleh. I guess it worked, but I can't help thinking how much better it might have worked the other way; and how Cayennes might be more fully accepted by Porsche sports car owners if it had competitive rally wins to give it some credability. That actually disappointed me much more than the actual creation of the Cayenne.
