No car has ever climbed higher than this Porsche!

This author has never climbed higher than 4,095 meters on foot. The Porsche 911, on the other hand, recently managed to reach no less than 2,639 meters more on a volcano in Chile.

Gunung Kinabalu on Borneo is 4,095 meters high and demands a lot from the climber, especially in the last 1,000 meters, where the oxygen content of the air drops significantly.

Porsche 911 at altitude

The signer had relatively little difficulty with this, but still had to stop every fifteen minutes to catch his breath. Lack of oxygen makes any effort much more difficult.

Cars also have problems at this altitude, because of course a combustion engine also breathes. The lack of oxygen reduces performance. And this Porsche 911 noticed that.

Driver Romain Dumas

It was driven on December 2nd by French driver Romain Dumas, who broke the Pikes Peak record five years ago in the Volkswagen ID.R Pikes Peak.

Volcano in South America

Last week he climbed a volcano in Chile in a specially prepared Porsche 911 that ran on synthetic fuel. At an altitude of 6,734 meters, the air density is only half as high as at sea level.

Plus, it was twenty degrees below zero on the mountain. Porsche brought two special 911s with them for the occasion: Doris and the lighter Edith, both with a 450 hp six-cylinder boxer engine.

For comparison: The previous altitude record was exactly 6,694 meters since 2020. The highest mountain on the European continent is the 4805 meter high Franco-Italian Mont Blanc.

Porsche with portal axles

Of course the 911s were not standard. Both were equipped with so-called portal axles. They don’t stick in the middle of the wheels, but above them.

The military HMWVV, which was later converted into the civilian Hummer H1, also has them. They transfer the engine’s power to the wheels via a gearbox, so that the axle can be higher.