Snow-slaying Porsche 356 to tackle Antarctica

A heavily re-engineered and snow-ready Porsche 356 race car will take to the South Pole later this year in a polar expedition that’s part of a campaign to help end child trafficking.

In what is dubbed the ‘Project 356 World Rally’, race driver and philanthropist Renee Brinkerhoff will get behind the wheel of the modified 1956 Porsche 356A in December, alongside navigator Jason De Carteret, for the duo’s final 356-mile (573km) leg of a seven-continent and nearly 20,000-mile (32,200km) challenge.

The project is said to be both an expedition and a humanitarian effort, part of a global mission to aid women and children at risk – with a special focus on ending child trafficking. 

Already having competed in the Peking-to-Paris and the East African Safari rally events, Brinkerhoff and De Carteret have covered Asia, North America, South America, Europe and even our very own land Down Under, with Antarctica the final frosty endeavour of the challenge.

Naturally, plenty of updates to the vintage rally car were required to enable it to conquer the icy run. 

The work to transform the Porsche race car into a snow-slaying monster was undertaken by UK-based extreme explorer, Kieron Bradley, who’s said to have spent the past 18 months re-engineering the Valkyrie Racing-built car. 

That includes replacing the wheels and tyres with a ski and track system, which, although making the 356 much heavier overall, is expected to make “less of an impact on the snow than a footprint”, thanks to clever load distribution that’ll allow it to glide through the snow.

Bradley has been involved in almost all of Brinkerhoff’s rallies, in a technical preparation role, saying the success of the final challenge will come from the thoughtful balance of appropriate technology added.

“The ski we’ve created must do 40-50 per cent of the work by compacting and prepping the snow for the track unit to follow over, with the underside blade guiding the direction – this ensures the tracks will not submarine under the light snow,” he said.

A TIG-welded roll cage features, along with a four-tonne bag jack to lift the vehicle in soft snow, twin solar panels to produce 150W at peak saturation and a temperature gauge for the gearbox.

In keeping with some tech requirements, the Porsche is also able to be fitted with spiked ice tyres without the need to adjust the wheel alignment and must use the original rally-prepped suspension and steering system, with only additional suspension components to control the ski tracks.

The car must also be operational between -50 and +55 degrees Celsius, while a recommended speed is rated at 40km/h to preserve components.

You can see read more about the program and see other legs of the Project 356 World Rally on Valkyrie Racing’s website.

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