Porsche 959 Dakar Restored with Minimal Effort
The beginning line-up of the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1986 was dominated by vans and all-terrain automobiles together with three Porsche 959 vehicles from Zuffenhausen. The third 959 car was a service automobile that took sixth place. The Porsche Museum has preserved the whole trio as a part of its assortment to at the present time.
The engineering group spent two years remodeling the 959 right into a rally automobile within the 1980’s. The group bolstered the suspension with double shock absorbers on the entrance axle and fitted the mannequin with a set of all-terrain tyres. The electro-hydraulically managed centre differential transferred the ability effectively between the entrance and rear axles if the floor didn’t require all-wheel drive . Because of this, the Porsche is able to reaching speeds of as much as 210 km/h.
As a result of the second-placed automobile from 1986 was nonetheless in excellent form, the group managed to exchange as little as doable whereas conserving the utmost variety of unique components. The 959 Paris-Dakar had round 18000 kilometres on the clock, the rally automobile was powered by an air-/water-cooled flat-six engine with compound turbocharging and the output of the six-cylinder engine was decreased to 400 PS as a result of low-quality gas.
For this long-distance rally, the sports activities automobile producer optimised many options to enhance its general efficiency, this contains the set up of the engine management items (ECUs) which had been positioned excessive up within the automobile to allow the motive force to go throughout rivers with out damaging the ECU. Porsche additionally ready the oil cooler and oil strains beneath the rear wings and to cut back the burden additional, the producer added holes into the brake discs and selected a physique, doorways and bonnets product of Kevlar. The dry weight for the automobile is 1,260 kilograms.
From twenty third to twenty sixth February, guests can see the automobile on the Retro Classics occasion in Stuttgart, as a part of the ‘75 Years of Porsche Sports activities Vehicles’ particular exhibition within the atrium east entrance to the exhibition centre. The primary a part of the ‘959 Paris-Dakar’ documentary might be accessible in full from 1 February 2023 on the Porsche YouTube channel. 5 extra movies will comply with on 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 February.
