A COMMUNITY PROJECT

A Community Project

Kurt Bradley’s story of borrowing a particularly well loved Porsche 911 Dakar.

When your motto is “Drive Yourself Happy” and you own dozens of Porsches, it’s hard not to be successful at this task. Being generous enough to share that belief and collection of cars with good friends is a special set of characteristics that Texan Jeff Mosing possesses. With a comprehensive list of iconic Porsches, both vintage and modern, Mosing certainly has his choice of cars for himself and friends to enjoy. He also has a background racing Porsches in IMSA and Carrera Cup.

A recent addition to Mosing’s collection is the 2023 911 Dakar. Optioned with the roof rack and tent box, this Dakar has a Rallye Special livery that has been personalized to match the Rothmans-branded 1984 Dakar Rally winner, and Jeff also added the number 56 that he sports on his race cars. Rather than wasting away on a battery tender in a climate-controlled garage, Jeff makes sure his version of the limited-to-2500-examples Dakar gets to take fun treks that test its off-road kit and drive modes. Personally, Mosing has driven his 911 Dakar from Amelia Island in Florida back to Texas, then to Aspen and Pikes Peak in Colorado, and uses it frequently as a daily driver in his home city of Austin, Texas. Along its adventures, Jeff has a bunch of markers in the center armrest, to have people who experience the Dakar sign it like a yearbook to share in the car’s story.

With a shared passion, and a lot of trust, Jeff has tossed the Dakar’s keys to a couple of his friends. In April 2025, junior racing driver and instructor Mia Leroux got to take the off-road-ready 911 from Austin to Southern California, camping in its tent box along the way, and then parking it on display at the 2025 edition of Air|Water in Orange County. Following the Dakar’s and my attendance at the gathering, and on two days of notice, Jeff offered to let me drive it back to Texas, rather than taking my booked flight home. Without hesitation, I jumped at the chance.

The only rules from Jeff were simple: Don’t crash it, and make sure not to take the boring route home. With these terms happily agreed to I whipped out my Mac, loaded up Google Maps, and charted a course between Southern California and Central Texas. Rather than a direct 1400-mile drive along Interstate 10, ahead of me was a spirited 2000-mile adventure that would take four days.

My first day of driving would quickly head east from LA towards the Palms to Pines Scenic Byway, with forest-lined roads filled with fast sweepers, plenty of elevation changes, and gravel areas just off the paved highway that I made certain to play on. Still a 911 at heart, the Dakar was a blast through here. A close friend’s father and fellow Porsche owner was en route in Indian Wells, so I paid them a quick visit, had them sign the car, and headed toward Joshua Tree and the Mojave.

Along its adventures, Jeff has a bunch of markers in the center armrest, to have people who experience the Dakar sign it like a yearbook to share in the car’s story.

The deserts of Southern California are visually stunning, hot as hell, and slightly eerie in some parts; one of my favorite photo locations at an abandoned fuel station is equal parts of all three. Phoenix, Arizona was the end point for my first night.

The only rules from Jeff were simple: Don’t crash it, and make sure not to take the boring route home.

Day two of my journey meandered towards White Sands National Monument. Fuel stops along the way certainly weren’t done in a hurry - fellow travelers were curious and excited to check out the Dakar up close. Happy to talk about the car and its adventures, I made sure to have people add to the signatures and notes the Dakar accumulated. A family I met at White Sands was on a road trip from Florida, and had previously spotted the Dakar at the Amelia Island Concours D’Elegance earlier in the year - definitely worth the moments to sign it and take some pictures. After some time at White Sands with much of the park to myself, I spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with Marfa, Texas as my next stop the following day.

Thanks to the ultra-fine gypsum powder from White Sands I made a precautionary stop on the adventure at Porsche El Paso, and had the techs do a quick inspection and blast out the calipers and cross-drilled rotors to avoid the highly abrasive sediment doing any damage; you know a car is special when every employee at the dealer makes a point to check it out. From there, I was blasting towards Prada Marfa, the now-legendary permanent art installation by artists Elmgreen & Dragset, designed to resemble a Prada store. Despite the name, it's actually located nearby in Valentine.

Marfa is a special place to me, even if it has become a bit more of a popular tourist destination in recent years. I’ve made several trips there, and got married at the historic Hotel Paisano, where the cast of the 1956 movie Giant (starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean) stayed during production. This West Texas town is renowned for its arts scene and known for several art galleries, including a few which are focused on the work of Donald Judd. One is the Chinati Foundation, filled with imposing concrete sculptures by Judd, set across a sprawling field.

My final day of driving was sadly adjusted by a massive thunderstorm that swept across the entire state of Texas, so my planned drive into Big Bend National Park was cut short before having to slightly break the rules, covering several hundred miles on the interstate in a torrential downpour. After 2100 miles across four days, I dropped the 911 Dakar back off with Jeff at his shop in Austin, putting it back in its rightful place amongst the rest of his extraordinary collection, expressed my immense gratitude, and reflected on the experience with a final note added to its roof.