If you’ve ever watched archive footage of rally legend Walter Röhrl demolishing a WRC stage or pounding around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in seven minutes, you’ll know the guy has trouser globes the size of beach balls. But there’s one thing he claims no amount of money could convince him to do: enter the original Paris-Dakar Rally.
Having already revealed the 911 Dakar before Christmas, and let journalists drive it earlier this year, Porsche wheeled Walter out for an extra hit of publicity, dropping a short video of him behind the wheel on a frozen lake, along with shots of him sliding a production version of the car he first tried in prototype form when he sampled the 2012 911 Vision Safari concept eight years ago.
But while Röhrl extols the benefits of the Dakar’s rear-drive-biased Rallye mode, he claims he was never tempted to compete in the Paris-Dakar race that inspired the 2023 high-riding 911.
“When [the Dakar drivers] reach the top of the dune, they don’t know if it drops 30 centimeters or eight meters on the other side. I’ve never done anything like that in my life,” said Röhrl. “In the 1990s, I was offered as much money as I’d get for an entire world championship season to participate in the Paris–Dakar Rally. I told them they could offer me ten times as much and I’d still say no.”
Related: Iconic Porsche Rothmans 959 Paris-Dakar Rally Car Gets Breathtaking Restoration
And if they couldn’t convince him when he was in his 30s, Röhrl isn’t about to have a change of heart as he approaches 80. He might have more hair and more driving talent than most men in their 40s, but the rally legend and Porsche ambassador is firmly into what would normally be classed as retirement age.
So it’s no surprise that he’s a fan of the new 911 Dakar. The Safari-style sports car’s extra ground clearance doesn’t just make it easier to go hooning through the desert without putting a rock through the crankcase – it makes it easier to just actually get in and out of the thing.
“My wife said to me right from the start: get a car like that, they’re much easier to get in and out of,” explained the former WRC winner. “My wife is 73 and I’m turning 76, so the height certainly is an important factor. But if it’s up to me, I’ll still be hauling myself out of a Porsche when I’m 80. The main thing is I can drive it.”
Of course if you just wanted a Porsche with a high driving position, you’d be better off with a Macan or Cayenne, but good as they are, neither is going to feel anything like the rear-engined Dakar. Röhrl didn’t mention anything about seat choice, though. We imagine his wife would prefer to order their Dakar with the optional 18-way sports seats rather the carbon buckets that are fitted as standard.
One other interesting nugget of geeky Porsche info that Röhrl let slip is that the 1995 993 Turbo, which was the first 911 Turbo to get all-wheel drive, was originally meant to be rear-wheel drive like the 964 Turbo it replaced.
“I said, ‘You people are mad. The car needs to have all-wheel drive,’” Röhrl remembers. “When you design a car for normal people, it needs to be done in good faith. And with all the power of a Porsche Turbo, all-wheel drive must be simple.”
