00:00The year is 2024, and like a twisting knife into the side of the slow march towards the sterilisation of cars,
00:08Porsche and Lamborghini have given us these.
00:19The Porsche 911 Dakar and the Lamborghini Huracan Storato.
00:23Two off-road-ready super sports cars just begging you to do the unimaginable,
00:29see a dirt road and think, yeah, I can drive up there.
00:33This isn't a comparison, more a contrasting celebration.
00:38So let's dig into it, beginning with the Lamborghini.
00:45A V10-powered off-road vehicle, when was the last time you heard of one of those?
00:49Yes, Lamborghini have taken a what-do-we-need-to-do-to-get-the-Huracan-off-road approach to the Storato,
00:55and thankfully that didn't include losing the V10.
00:58On the road, the Storato is pleasant, passive, serene and sedate,
01:03until you click it down a gear or two, at which time, even at modest speeds,
01:08the acid-barbed burble of that gorgeous engine snaps you out of your rest
01:12and, like a devil on your shoulder, tells you to floor it.
01:17The resulting speed is incredible.
01:20The Storato is still, first and foremost, a Huracan,
01:23and roaring through the canyons is a job it still does admirably.
01:28It's the same story on the racetrack, where the Storato can really stretch its legs.
01:34We noted that the off-road tyres went off the boil after a certain amount of hot laps,
01:38but that's to be expected.
01:40The Storato is every bit the kerb-climbing, apex-attacking monster we've come to expect
01:46from the wrecking crew at Sant'Agata.
01:49But of course, this vehicle's raison d'etre is to get stuck in on the track.
01:55The Storato is a bit of a beast,
01:58but of course, this vehicle's raison d'etre is to get stuck in on the dirt.
02:04You get the impression that the Storato is best suited to dirt and gravel roads,
02:09where the lack of large rocks, tree stumps and such will encourage you to plant your foot and push on.
02:16Getting it sideways isn't hard with 602hp,
02:18and the vehicle's dynamic tuning has been set up to anticipate a whole lot of sideswiping fun.
02:24The Storato is bonkers, and we absolutely love it.
02:30Next up, the Porsche 911 Dakar.
02:34Unlike Lamborghini, Porsche has some history at taking their sports cars off-road.
02:39911s have made excellent rally cars going back to the earliest generations,
02:43and not least in the late 60s and 70s,
02:46when a Porsche 911 took the win at the famed Monte Carlo Rally four times in 11 years,
02:52and even won the European Rally Championship outright in 1970.
02:57The Dakar, of course, takes its name from the storied cross-continent Paris-Dakar Rally,
03:02which Porsche won for the first time with the 911 in 1984.
03:07So we've established that a rear-engine rally car from Germany is a good idea, right?
03:12But this Dakar hasn't been built to compete in rally racing,
03:15this is a production customer car.
03:18So how does it drive?
03:23In a word, spectacularly.
03:26On the road, the Dakar is basically the perfect go-anywhere sports car.
03:31The extra ride height soaks up all the speed bumps and dips,
03:34but crucially, it still feels like a 911.
03:38A point that remained consistent even when we took the Dakar on the track.
03:42In spite of those big, blocky all-terrain tyres,
03:45the Dakar attacks the circuit with the same poison precision we've all come to expect.
03:50A fact which surprised when really, it shouldn't have.
03:53This is a Porsche, after all, and Porsche don't leave anything to chance.
03:58Speaking of which, when it came to engineering the car for going off-road,
04:02it feels like Porsche over-engineered the car,
04:05pushing themselves to develop a vehicle that could exceed expectations.
04:09And boy, does it.
04:11The Dakar loves being sideways.
04:14We have never seen a car like this before.
04:17It loves being sideways.
04:19We have never driven a 911 so happy to be facing the wrong way at speed.
04:24The work done by the engineers to dial in the controls and driver modes
04:28is nothing short of exemplary.
04:30The Dakar is everything you want it to be, and so much more beyond.
04:35Is this the most fun you can have in a 911?
04:38We think our editor Christian said it best.
04:41It drives like an old 911 with skinny tyres and tons of power.
04:46But one which you can also rip off into the desert.
04:50It's incredible.
04:56Both of these vehicles are fantastically well-engineered,
04:59and we should feel genuinely lucky to have them in the world.
05:16Subs by www.zeoranger.co.uk
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