953

STORY

Porsche's Paris-Dakar programme was born when Peugeot importer and rally organiser interest, together with Jacky Ickx's urging, drew the factory to the world's toughest rally raid as a proving ground for four-wheel drive. In 1984 the works fielded the 953, a purpose-built all-wheel-drive 911 Carrera 3.2 that took overall victory on its debut with René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne, the first sports car to win the event. For 1985 Porsche brought three cars based on the still-secret 959 supercar, but all three retired. Redemption came in 1986, when the 959 Paris-Dakar scored a crushing result: Metge won outright, Ickx finished second and a third car came sixth, after some 14,000 km across the Sahara. The programme validated the sequential twin-turbo flat-six and PSK electronically controlled all-wheel-drive system that defined the road-going 959, making the desert racers among the most significant development cars in Porsche history.