The South Pole is the goal for rally driver Renée Brinkerhoff
Photo Barry Hayden
American adventurer Renée Brinkerhoff has driven her 1956 Porsche 356A on seven continents and raised nearly one million dollars for charity and now she wants to set a new world record.
The 66-year-old Colorado mother of four came relatively late to her rallying career but she quickly made up for lost time. In 2012 she entered La Carrera Panamericana, then took part with her Porsche the following year and went on to race in the Targa Tasmania, the Caminos del Inca, the Peking to Paris and the East African Safari Classic rallies.
Throughout it all her Valkyrie Racing team has raised $800,000 for the fight against human trafficking through non-profit Valkyrie Gives.
Brinkerhoff’s global adventures were part of her Project 356 World Rally and culminated in a 356-mile expedition across Antarctica in 2021. In order to cope with cold and ice her classic Porsche was converted to run on a combination of cat tracks and skis and it’s in this guise that she wants to head back to the southernmost point on the planet and set a new world record for the fastest time to get there.
British engineer Kieron Bradley, who devised the polar conversion kit for Brinkerhoff’s Porsche, formerly held the record for the grueling journey, having driven the 600 miles from Union Glacier base camp to the South Pole in one day, 15 hours, and 54 minutes in 2012.
“They found a new route last year,” Brinkerhoff tells Detour. “It would still be treacherous, but it wouldn’t be as treacherous.”
Brinkerhoff says that she would like to make her next Antarctic expedition more environmentally friendly and is considering adding solar electric power. “It would be great to see what we can do with the newest technology,” she adds.
Returning to the frozen wastes would also allow her to claim another record, which she had hoped to bag in 2021. “We purposely designed the car so that we could quickly take everything off, put some studded snow tires on and see how fast we could go. We had hoped to to create a land speed record on the ice runway, but the weather didn’t allow it. We got stuck for five days.”
Brinkerhoff says the project is still two years away, and in the meantime she is eager to get the Porsche back into competition. “There’s nothing more thrilling for me than feeling this car and its speed and being competitive.”
We’ll keep you posted on her progress.
Photo Barry Hayden
American adventurer Renée Brinkerhoff has driven her 1956 Porsche 356A on seven continents and raised nearly one million dollars for charity and now she wants to set a new world record.