A brief history on Porsche and the Dakar Rally:
In January 1965, four months after it went on sale, Porsche entered the 911 into the Rally Monto Carlo and took fifth place. Three short years later Vic Elford recorded the first 911 win in Monaco with another Rally 911 taking second place. The World Rally Championship was originally held in 1973. While participating sparingly, Porsche was getting its strength together for a whole new concept to the term "Rally Racing". In 1982 the FIA introduced Group B for powerful GT cars that could be used in the WRC. Shortly after it's announcement Porsche unveiled the the 911 Turbo 3.3 4x4 Cabriolet. When Jacky Ickx saw the prototype being driven in Weissach he decided to enter it in the Paris-Dakar rally.
Three Porsche Carrera 3.2 cars with AWD and many rally adaptations were entered into the Dakar rally. These three cars were internally known as the 953. Rally driver Ickx was able to go from 139th place to take sixth in the race whilst another one of the Porsche drivers finished in 26th place securing Porsche first place in the team classification.
OUR VERSION OF THE NEW ELECTRIC TAYCAN CROSS TURISMO HOMMAGE TO THE ORGINAL DAKAR 911
After it's successes Porsche entered the Paris-Dakar rally again the following year, this time with the first 959. Group B rules state that at least 200 series-production cars must be sold for homologation. The engines they would ultimately use for the Rally were not ready for production at the time so they instead released the 959 with 911 engines and none of the cars competing were able to make it to the finish line. The following year however the same team consisting of Ickx, Metge, and Kussmaul to took first, second and sixth place succesfully taking a decisive victory over the competition.
After this massive success, Porsche entered the Paris-Dakar Rally again the following year, this time with the first 959. According to the Group B rules, at least 200 series-production cars had to be sold for homologation – a condition Porsche had fulfilled with confirmed orders shortly after the IAA in 1983. Porsche therefore entered a rally with the precursor of a Group B car for the first time. Alas, the 400 PS biturbo engines were not finished in time. So, in 1985, it was not three 911s with 959 components at the start as in the year before, but three 959 cars with 911 engines. Due to the vagaries of the Paris-Dakar, none managed to make it to the finish line, so they tried again the next year – and won. Again it was René Metge/Dominique Lemoyne who secured the victory for Porsche. Ickx/Brasseur took second on this occasion, while Kussmaul and his co-driver took sixth.
After this triumph, Porsche ended its run at the Paris-Dakar. The 959 would ultimately not appear in the World Rally Championship either, as the FIA banned the use of Group B cars in the competition at the end of 1986. The highly refined cars had proved too dangerous and were only allowed to drive in the European Rallycross Championship. Porsche was not interested.
From this great story comes the Dakar Rallye Design in a combo shade of Gentian Blue and White. The package offered for the 992 Dakar is a complicated process that starts with a single layer of Gentian Blue Metallic hand painted followed by layers of clear coat - a 7.5 hour process. Once everything is dry the Dakar body is sent to production line for assembly which is subsequently sent to Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur for a partial disassembly that takes 8.5 hours to complete. Once disassembled it will receive the red and gold stripes to complete the Rothman's livery and then the car is reassembled, inspected and shipped to a dealership. All said and done the package adds an additional $28,470.
The First Class Autosports team underwent the process of designing a Vinyl Wrap to imitate the Porsche Dakar Livery but with Vinyl Wrap. We were able to find a blue that was just right and a gold for the stripe that matched perfect. We got to work creating an undoubtedly unique Porsche Taycan Cross Turismo. The result is a blend of the future and the past with the Dakar livery on Porsche's first electric vehicle.
