A modified Porsche 911 now holds the altitude record for a climb achieved by a wheeled vehicle, after reaching the peak of the west ridge of Chile's Ojos del Salado, the world's tallest volcano with a summit at 22,615 feet.
With racing driver Romain Dumas behind the wheel, the 911, which featured a raised chassis and ran on carbon-neutral e-fuel, on Dec. 2 reached a height of 22,093 feet. That beats the previous record of 21,961.94 feet, set in 2020 by a pair of Mercedes-Benz Unimog U 5023 off-road trucks on the same volcano.
Near the summit, Dumas faced extreme conditions, including air roughly half as dense as at sea level, and temperatures as low as 12 degrees F.
“I’ll never forget this experience,” Dumas said in a statement. “It was an extraordinary feeling to drive where no car has gone before.”
Modified Porsche 911 reaches 22,093 feet on Chile's Ojos del Salado - Dec. 2023
Dumas previously tackled the volcano in 2022 in a practice run. The peak of the west ridge is the only path accessible by a vehicle, and the point where he stopped on the record run was the absolute peak of the ridge, meaning the record will be tough to surpass. Dumas, with a support team and a second car on hand, set off at 3:30 am and finished at 3:58 p.m.
The e-fuel used for the run was a batch from the Porsche-backed pilot plant located in Chile. The synthetic fuel is produced in a process that uses electrical energy generated by a wind turbine to form hydrogen via electrolysis of water, essentially the reverse of what happens in a hydrogen fuel cell. The hydrogen is then combined with CO2 captured from the air, in a synthesis process that creates gasoline and liquefied gas.
The modified 911 is based on the 911 Carrera 4S. The car's twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter flat-6 was completely stock but paired with a 7-speed manual transmission with lower gear ratios than stock to enable precise, gentle throttle inputs at low speed.
Modified Porsche 911 reaches 22,093 feet on Chile's Ojos del Salado - Dec. 2023
The key modification required for traversing the rough terrain were portal axles, which together with chunky off-road tires increased ground clearance to almost 14 inches and required widened wheel arches to be fitted.
Porsche also installed a device called a Warp-Connecter. Adapted from motorsports, the device allows constant wheel loads even when the chassis experiences extreme movements, and as a result, it improves traction. Differential locks and a steer-by-wire system were also added.
While Porsche doesn't plan to put a 911 this rugged into production, the automaker last year launched the limited-edition 911 Dakar offering a lot more off-road capability than a stock 911.
