Porsche has a long history of building rally cars. The German firm may be known for its tarmac-shredding sportscars but they seem to be equally adept at racing off the beaten path. To prove the ruggedness of the brand the company has built some capable off-roaders, recent SUVs aside. However, off-road 911s are usually made by Porsche’s motorsport division purely for racing. That is why one gentleman decided to build the Porsche 911 Syberia RS.

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Built to order

The Porsche 911 Syberia RS was commissioned by Kai Burkhard. The German businessman reportedly wanted to buy the all-terrain military Humvee. Burkhard was put off by the vehicle’s top speed, which is just 80 km/h. Instead, he imported a 1986 911 from Japan with the plan to turn it into an off-roader. Burkhard partnered with the Tailor Made division of German suspension specialists H&R.

Check out this 911-esque off-roader from Ruf.

Porsche 911 Syberia RS

H&R applied a slew of modifications to the 911. Naturally, they fitted a custom H&R suspension with longer travel. The new suspension acts on chunky Hankook mud terrain tyres that are fitted to Fuchs wheels. The new rim/tyre combo necessitated deep-cut wheel arches to accommodate the larger diameter. To finish off the appearance a pair of rally lights were bolted to bonnet on the hood. More robust bumpers were fitted with a winch on the front. The engine cover has a 2,7 RS-style ducktail spoiler and there is a new silencer with a central-exit exhaust. There is no word on the powertrain, but we can guess that the transmission is a sequential item, judging by the shifter.

Rally Porsches

Burkhard’s Porsche 911 Syberia RS isn’t unique. Over the years rally Porsche models have competed at the Monte Carlo rally, the gruelling East Africa Safari and the Paris-Dakar… yes, the most famous cross country race of them all. A specially built model, called the 953 was built to win the 1984 Paris-Dakar, which it did. The feature car here was built to closely resemble the 953, which you can see in this post, along with other famous rally Porsches.