Marrakesh Express: built in Zuffenhausen, toughened in Denmark

Jan Kalmar specialises in toughened-up Porsches. And it’s not just looks. With his ‘Beyond Adventure’ travel program, his fleet of Porsches is currently sandsurfing the desert dunes of Morocco, and tackling the Atlas Mountains. Jealous? We? Naaaah.

Danish specialist Kalmar beat the Safari-restomod craze, long before Porsche came up with the 911 Dakar. For the last couple of years, Kalmar Automotive has worked on its own ‘7-97’ restomod, based on the 964 and the 993 Porsche 911 series. With the 7-97 RS-R, Kalmar produced a 345 hp, lightweight (1130 kg) off-road adapted Porsche 911 that copies Porsche’s approach to its 1970s Safari rally 911s.

The RS-R is the more extreme version in Kalmar Automotive’s RS line-up. The Danish firm offers offroad RS versions of the 911, the Cayman (RS-C) and the Cayenne (CS).

Porsche 996 RS-6

Recently, Kalmar has also premiered the ‘RS-6’, which pours the offroad sauce on the 996 model of the 911. Kalmar is the first to do so with the watercooled 911, thereby adding appeal to a still unloved member of the 911. You can choose power outputs from 300 hp to 500 hp. Both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive versions are available. The price for a Kalmar-converted 996 starts at €45,000 ($48,000).

8 days of sun and fun

The other part of Kalmar’s business is showing his clients what his cars are capable of. Transcontinental crossing of the Americas in Porsches has already been crossed of the list, and these days the Kalmar Beyond Adventure team set up camp in Morocco. The program leads participants on an eight-day, 1000-km journey from Marrakesh to the Sahara and the Atlas mountains.

It all looks like an awful lot of fun, but it also serves as preparation for another adventure Kalmar is preparing: trekking across the southern part of Africa with his Porsche fleet. You can find out more on the Kalmar cars and the travel adventures here.