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The off-road rally history of the Porsche 911 begins even before the first victory in the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1984. Unforgotten are the efforts in the East African Safari Rally in the 70s. While the Rallye Design Package, which is available as an option for the 911 Dakar, closely resembles the winning vehicle from 1984, Porsche offers three other exclusive foils for the 911 Dakar, which are reminiscent of the African rallies of 1971, 1974 and 1978 .
Rally 1971: fifth place for the Polish XNUMX team
The 5.000 km long East African Safari Rally led its participants through savannas, semi-deserts and the highlands of Kenya and was considered one of the toughest rallies ever. In 1971, Porsche faced this challenge for the first time with an official factory team. The modified 911 S were externally recognizable by the plain black foiling on the front hood, the front fenders and the doors.
The “1971 Rally” decorative sticker set for the 911 Dakar takes up this design and features the starting number 19, which belongs to the most successful 1971 in this rally: in 4.165, the Polish drivers Sobieslaw Zasada and Marian Bien achieved fifth place. The decorative adhesive set is available at a price of XNUMX euros.
Rally 1974: Björn Waldegaard appears
The East African Safari Rally had incredibly long stages - in 1974 the race was divided into three stages of between 1.450 and 2.019 kilometers in length, which the teams had to complete in just five days. Of the 99 cars entered, only 16 crossed the finish line. The Swedish rally champion Björn Waldegaard, twice victorious in a Porsche at the Monte Carlo Rally, was in the lead for a long time with co-driver Hans Thorszelius in the 911 Carrera 2.7 RS and started the third section with a lead of 36 minutes. Damage to the wishbone cost him 72 minutes, and Waldegaard ended up second.
The blue decorative stripes, which ran along the shoulder lines of the white-painted car, were characteristic of the foiling of the main sponsor. The current decorative foil also takes up this theme, albeit with narrower decorative stripes and supplemented by the Porsche logo on the bottom edges of the doors. The "Rallye 1974" wrapping is available at a price of 4.165 euros.
Rally 1978: The legendary racing design
Björn Waldegaard wants to know again. The Swede competes in Kenya with one of two specially built 911 SC Group 4 and soon shows the competition who is fighting for victory. In the end, however, the East African Safari Rally proved to be treacherous again: wishbones, shock absorbers, drive shaft - Waldegaard's Porsche suffered too much damage, sometimes far from helping hands. This leaves only fourth place for the fast Swede, while the South African Porsche duo Vic Preston Jr./John Lyall are second.
The sponsor's decor consists of wavy areas in orange, dark and light blue, and is known worldwide thanks to the activities of the Martini Racing Team, which has existed since 1958. In this case, too, the Porsche designers have carefully reinterpreted the historical foiling. The starting number 14 on the doors is that of Vic Preston Jr., who placed second. All decorative adhesive sets can be ordered ex works from Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. The decal adhesive sets "Rallye 1978" and "Rallye 5.950" can also be ordered later from Porsche Tequipment in the Porsche Centers.
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Historical decorative foils for the Porsche 911 Dakar
Photo credit: Porsche
