HOW MUCH OF A PURIST do you have to be to be accepted into The Club? And does it even matter if you don’t adhere to a set of rules that were most likely defined by a collection of opinionated individuals who you’ve probably never met, and whose opinion might not matter a whole lot anyway?
Thing is, most self-anointed purists will tell you that rules exist merely to be broken, and if that’s true then the Dakar – heretic as it will no doubt be regarded by some – is surely one of the most intriguing new 911s of the last 30 years.
Think about it. Ever since Dr Ulrich Bez reinvented the 964 and turned it into the 993 almost one third of a century ago, Porsche has crafted the 911 into a sports car with an extraordinary breadth of ability while maintaining its credibility, despite there being a version to suit seemingly anyone with an interest in fast cars. You want a track-focused monster? Buy a GT3. You want a track-focused monster with the aero of a single-seater racing car? Buy a GT3 RS. You want transcontinental cruising civility
