To the ends of the Earth with a pair of Porsches
Two classic Porsche Cayennes have just completed a 2,000-mile trip to Tierra del Fuego.
On the outskirts of the southernmost city on the American continent there’s a sign that reads: “Ushuaia, end of the world.” The pair of Porsches had reached their destination after a truly epic drive across South America.
The 2009 and 2010 Cayennes were brought back to as-new condition by Porsche and equipped with roof tents, external cages, off-road tyres and skid plates from Porsche Tequipment in preparation for the journey which began in the Chilean town of Puerto Montt.
Heading out on the Austral Highway the duo ran parallel to lake Llanquihue, passed within earshot of the thunderous Petrohue waterfalls and under the Osorno volcano, before tackling the curves of the Andes as they travelled through the Puyehue, Naheui Huapi and Perito Moreno national parks known as the Argentine Switzerland.
A trio of ferry boats took them across the Reloncavi estuary, from Cholgo to Pillàn and across the Reñihué River to Chaitén. Now the Carrertera Austral took them past the Corcovado volcano and alongside the 30-mile-long emerald waters of Lake Yelcho. Muddy dirt roads slowed the cars’ pace a little, but that gave them more time to enjoy the natural wonders of Patagonia. “He who hurries in Patagonia wastes his time,” say the locals.
Onwards past the Piti-Pelana fjord the Porsches travelled with their drivers overnighting under the stars in their roof-mounted mobile homes, then continuing to the city of Cayhaique - an unexpected metropolis in the middle of nowhere.
Over the Andes again the Porsches crossed the border into Argentina, passing beneath the 3,000-metre Cerro Torre, the Perito Moreno glacier and into the desolate Argentine pampas for mile after mile.
Eventually the road would cross back into Chile, down towards the Strait of Magellean and the first sight of the Atlantic Ocean at the Cabez del Mar Lagoon.
The Porsches paused at the Hari Oni eFuels plant to take a look at how synthenic petrol is made using renewable energy from wind power and carbon captured from the atmosphere, before taking a final ferry across the Strait of Magellan and back into Argentina to reach Ushaia. The end of the journey and the continent itself.
A full account of the adventure is available in Curves magazine.
In 1969 Chris Wall, Mike Palmer and Waxy Wainwright set out from London in their £400 Land Rover “TEN”. Nine months later they were home after driving 40,000 miles through 40 countries.