The most dangerous trip of my life: 5000 miles across Siberia in a Porsche

Like them or loathe them, our collective infatuation with cars such as the 911 Dakar and Huracán Sterrato is taking us on a somewhat unsettling yet unexpectedly refreshing tangent in the otherwise predictable upward trajectory of the contemporary high-performance car.

Champions of the genre – especially those in the UK – rightly point to their greater suitability for our increasingly dilapidated roads. I can’t help feeling that the rise of these novelty models is motivated chiefly by the manufacturers’ desire to find fresh ways of liberating large sums of money from high net-worth customers. Still, if there’s one thing these rough-and-tumble playthings do expose, it’s that to some extent we’re all suckers for cars that promise adventures well beyond the prescribed path from turn-in through apex to exit.

Professionally and philosophically, I feel more aligned with the purpose and purity of a GT3 RS than the playfully puerile appeal of a Dakar. That said, if you tossed me the keys to the latter I’d be grinning like the Cheshire Cat. But then I do have form when it comes to off-road Porsches, having driven a specially prepared Cayenne across the world’s largest single landmass.

An endurance event like no other, the TransSyberia Rally was a 5000-mile, 14-day competitive trek from Moscow to Ulaanbaatar. As we brace for Cold War 2, it seems crazy to me that I drove a Cayenne (sporting large Union Jacks for added jingoism) through Red Square, up and over the ceremonial start ramp, before turning left at the river Moskva and heading east until arriving in the Mongolian capital two weeks later.

I’m not sure anyone had heard of the TransSyberia Rally before Porsche effectively hijacked it, after quietly scoping it out in 2006 with a pair of Cayenne Ss. With factory programme engineer Jürgen Kern amongst the crew, the near-standard Porsche SUVs scored an impressive 1-2 finish, paving the way for a high-profile assault the following year in a fleet of special Transsyberia Cayennes built by the Motorsport Department.

> Land Rover Defender D7X-R makes its Dakar Rally debut

Bought by Porsche’s international territories, who were ‘invited’ to support the effort, the enforced uptake saw the 2007 event dominated by a phalanx of Cayenne Transsyberias. Amongst them a Porsche GB car crewed by yours truly and Silverstone Porsche Experience Centre off-road specialist Neil Hopkinson.

The Cayennes were very cool pieces of kit. Mechanically close to standard, the main changes were a locking centre diff and lowered final drive for punchier acceleration. Sporting a hugely robust roll-cage, partially stripped interior, hefty underbody skid plates, intake snorkel, jerry cans, spare wheels, navigation equipment and a GPS tracking system with emergency medivac locator, the SUVs also carried our provisions, clothes and tents.

To say I was outside my comfort zone is a huge understatement, but the driving was epic. Special stages of more than 300 miles were commonplace. Siberia has some of the most amazing driving roads you’ll ever see, and Mongolia is like being transported to another planet. Even the transit days presented their own challenges. One day, shortly after leaving Moscow, we drove for 700 miles with nothing but birch trees to look at.

Perhaps inevitably the event was plagued with problems. Out in the wilds we would regularly get stopped by Russian officials who would fleece us for cash. Special stages were cancelled and the road books were sketchy. Rumour has it a large Mil helicopter that had been chartered to provide immediate medivac support crashed the week before the rally. In hindsight it was the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done (search ‘Porsche Cayenne Transsyberia crash 2007’ on YouTube to see how gnarly it could be), but at times it was also the most exhilarating.

The GB effort ended prematurely when a large hidden rock near the finish of a particularly tough Mongolian special stage breached the sump guard and split the oil pan. Indeed, so many Cayennes impaled themselves on the same crag that the Porsche service crew (who drove an amazing eight-wheel-drive MAN support truck) ran out of new sumps. It was the best part of 24 hours before PCGB’s Cayenne was fitted with a MacGyvered sump, by which time we were effectively out.

Purists will hate me for saying this, but survivors from that original batch of 26 Motorsport Department-built Transsyberia Cayennes are now among the rarest of all factory-built competition Porsches. Which may partly explain why ever since those long days on the Russian steppe I’ve harboured dark fantasies about what would now be termed a restomodded Transsyberia-style Cayenne. Weird? Probably. But with half-decent early Ss in the classifieds for less than £5k, the notion of building a Dakar-beater for Dacia Duster money is oddly appealing. Crowdfunder project, anyone?

This story was first featured in evo issue 319.