When you think of Porsche, you probably think of a sleek 911 GT3 whizzing past you on the Interstate. Or maybe a a Boxster, top down and cruising up the coast. Or perhaps your taste is more vintage, and you picture a little, air-cooled 356 piloted through a mountain pass. You could, of course, have found all of these cars at Rennsport Reunion, Porsche’s infrequent (something like every 3-5 years) motorsports gathering of everyone in the Porsche world. Lesser known, however, are the Porsches purpose-built for dominating on dirt.
Visiting Rennsport Reunion is a bit of an overland journey in itself, given that folks travel from across the country in their Porsches. I spoke to people on weeks-long road trips from as far away as the East Coast. The campsites around the track are full of campers and tents and Porsches of every vintage. The setting, at the historic Laguna Seca raceway on California’s central coast, is practically a microcosm of overlanding, and the top of Corkscrew Hill was the perfect place to check out Cayennes with rooftop tents and Porsche’s new, off-road-oriented 911, the Dakar.
The Laguna Seca Turn 6 campground gives a great view of the racetrack below.
A Porsche Cayenne “Corkscrew Shuttle” ferries spectators from the paddock all the way to the top of 300ft Corkscrew Hill. Porsche 935 race cars battle for position in turn 10.
Leh Keen’s Build 20 hides among the trees. Purpose-built for off-road, these Keen Project cars are built for serious miles off pavement.
Built to compete in the grueling Transsyberia Rally, former WRC driver Armin Schwarz piloted this Cayenne Transsyberia to a third-place finish in an all-out dash for 7000 km from Moscow to Ulaan Baatar. With 20 built to race and only 285 built overall, Rennsport Reunion 7 may have been the largest gathering of Porsche Transsyberias ever!
A SWAE-built Cayenne awaits exiting the track. A team of these recently completed the trek from Montana to Prudhoe Bay.
Paul Kramer pilots “La Tortuga,” a 350,000-mile, backdated 1986 Porsche 911. Paul has probably put over 100,000 miles traveling extensively across the country for vintage rallies and events and isn’t afraid of a little dirt (or water crossings).
Rooftop tents bring big treehouse vibes, and it was fun to watch folks explore this rig decked out for camping and bring out that wanderlust.
1 of 20 Porsche 911 SC/RS rally cars. With MFI and cylinder heads off of a 935 racecar, this street-legal, all-road race car was good enough for 0-100 km/hr in 5 seconds in 1984.
Porsche set up an off-road course to show off the capabilities of the new V8 Cayenne. While these aren’t rock crawlers, they sport impressive-looking electronics that can definitely get you to a remote campsite on rough fire roads while still offering a fun drive through the twisty pavement you take to get there. Plus, it’s just fun to watch a manufacturer known for sports cars intentionally get their cars all dirty.
Dirtmeister is a one-off 944 overland-inspired build by Porsche for Hot Wheels with custom bodywork to add a shooting brake-style rear hatch, a full cage integrated with a roof rack, and rally-heigh suspension to fit big, knobby tires.
Safari builds are all the rage in the Porsche community, and RR7 did not disappoint. Here are a couple of DIY builds on both a brown 928 and a 911 Targa.
I might be biased, but I don’t think there’s a better-looking EV than the Porsche Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo, and 750HP makes for a heck of a mountain bike shuttle.
Of course, you can’t forget Porsche’s new bananas 911 Dakar. With an additional 3+ inches of ground clearance and big dirt-oriented tires, the Dakar looks perfectly at home in the dirt at the top of Corkscrew Hill. I only wish they’d thrown an RTT on top of this one.
This isn’t a Porsche, but since Porsche doesn’t make motorcycles and this is still Expedition Portal, I thought it was worthwhile to throw in at least one photo of a BMW 1250GS. These were a surprisingly common sight in the paddock. I guess if you’re bringing a few race cars, you may as well throw a good bike in the trailer for the great roads around Laguna.
There were even Cayennes for the kiddies. Hoonigan brought out Cayenne RC cars for kids to hoon around the dirt behind their vendor booth.
Porsche’s Rennsport Reunion 7 ran from September 28 – October 1, 2023 at the WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca near Monterey, California.
Read more: Porsche 911 Dakar :: The Safari Build Goes Mainstream
Our No Compromise Clause: We do not accept advertorial content or allow advertising to influence our coverage, and our contributors are guaranteed editorial independence. Overland International may earn a small commission from affiliate links included in this article. We appreciate your support.
