Meeting the icons
Classic Porsches, modern Porsches, motorsport legends — all packed in to one evening on the sidelines of the regional launch of the 911 Dakar
I’D HEARD FLAT-SIXES BEFORE BUT NEVER A MOTORSPORT ONE
IT WAS ABSOLUTELY SURREAL. I was sitting in the backseat of my cab, driving into the Icons of Porsche event in Dubai. We'd just passed a sea of 911s in what seemed like a makeshift parking lot, and I was already drooling a little ― it doesn't take much when it comes to Porsches, to be honest. A flash of blue caught my eye ― low slung, wide, with those unmistakable top pipes ― that was a friggin' 918 Spyder casually gliding along beside us. Jaw. Hit. Floor. Icons of Porsche, they call it? Couldn't have picked a more appropriate name.
What was Icons of Porsche, anyway? It was a celebration of all things Porsche! The cars, the people, the community. It was a heady mix of owners coming together with enthusiasts, iconic cars from the museum, and even its brand ambassadors in the mix. Walk into the event and the first thing you see is a 924 GTS Rallye that was piloted by none other than Walter Rohrl. This wasn't the first time I was coming up close to this car ― I had once seen it at a special Walter Rohrl exhibition at the Autostadt in Wolfsburg a couple of years ago. What I hadn't seen before were the other classics on display from Porsche's own museum in Stuttgart ― there was the 911 SC San Remo, a Safarispec 911 and a 356 that participated in the Peking-Paris rally. Talk about right place, right time ― we were standing right behind the Safari when the dudes from the museum who maintain the car popped the ducktail spoiler, sprayed starting fluid straight into the throttle bodies and fired it up. Raw, guttural, unhinged ― I'd heard flat-sixes before but never a motorsport one. I might have had a semi.
The star of the show, without a doubt, had to be the 959 Dakar. This car won the Dakar in 1986 ― the very car in front of me ― and it had been preserved in the same way that it finished the race. The patina, the scuffed bumpers, they all told a story. At the time, the 959 was the most technologically advanced car with a super-complicated four-wheel-drive system. And for a sportscar-based rally car to win the Dakar? It is a feat that hasn't been replicated since.
The car on display was driven by Rene Metge and co-driver Dominique Lemoyne, and a sister car driven by Jacky Ickx and Claude Brassuer came second. Incidentally, Jacky Ickx was at the event too ― the weekend would also host the regional unveiling of the new 911 Dakar (you can read all about it on page 8), with Jacky sharing some of his stories of driving the 959 at the Dakar!
“You have to imagine ― in the desert and the mountains in Algeria, or in Niger or wherever, there are no traffic lights, signs, whatever. The stage can be 800km. It is flatout. You have a road book, you follow the road book. Those 800km, you sometimes do in 10 hours. You have no time to rest. No time to refuel. No time to refill the water. It's just a non-stop fight for three weeks,” he said, while addressing the huge crowd that had amassed around the stage to listen to him. The guy is 77 years old, but he was strutting around the place, checking out the cars on display, greeting the endless fans with the energy of someone half his age. Legend. Absolute legend. Mark Webber, former F1 racer and Le Mans winner, was around along with Timo Bernhard, the madman who set the all-time record around the Nurburgring in the 919 Evo.
One section that was so deeply impressive were the ‘Icons of the Region', and it gives you a massive insight into the sort of collectors that the Middle East has. There were a couple of 918 Spyders, a Carrera GT, epic cars such as the 911 GT2, possibly every iteration of the GT3 and GT3 RS ― the works. It wasn't just new metal, I lost count of the number of 930 Turbos, there was a gorgeous 356 Zagato in addition to a number of other 356s, and there was even a Porsche diesel tractor. These people have proper taste, here.
A lot of bucket list stuff was ticked off for me. I heard someone blip the Carrera GT's V10 engine, possibly the sweetest engine note I've ever heard. I came face to face with the 997 GT3 RS ― a car that I had a poster of as a child, and one that started this love affair of mine with Porsches. I got a picture with Jacky himself. And I got to see the 911 Dakar in the flesh ― jacked up, adorned in both Martini and Rothmans colours ― it looks absolutely gorgeous. That iconic shape, reinforced to take on the dunes makes me weak in the knees. Such an absolute pity that they are not coming to India.
The guys over at Porsche tell me that this year's event was exponentially bigger than last year's. They even had to shut registrations because they were going over capacity. There's a very high chance that next year's, if it happens, will be even bigger. Frank advice from one car enthusiast to another? Go attend. Flights to Dubai aren't all that expensive. ⌧