BACKROADS ONLY

Backroads Only

LA to Big Sky the long way in a 911 Dakar.

Standing in as our official mascot to the FAT Ice Race last month, Stephane Medam was never going to take the direct route from LA to Big Sky - that would betray the spirit of adventure that first inspired the purchase of his Type 7 liveried 992 Dakar, a stateside companion to our own example.

For those uninterested in testing the chassis of Porsche’s most off-road capable 911 ever, Interstate-15 makes the drive a remarkably boring affair, just stay on it for 899 miles and you’re basically there. For everyone else, we’ll let Stephane fill you in on the detours worth taking.

“I avoided the highway as much as possible. I left Los Angeles and drove through Valley of Fire, then Page AZ. I drove through a snow storm to Telluride for a ski break, then to Aspen through another snow storm. I convoyed with another Dakar to Jackson Hole where we drove alongside wild horses and wolves, and then I was joined by Nat Twiss for the final stretch from Yellowstone to Big Sky.

I’ve always been fascinated by the Paris-Dakar rally, when I was a kid growing up in France, I’d go to the Place de la Concorde every January 1st to see the cars set off, it was amazing to see all those adventurous people.

When the 992 Dakar was announced I was attracted to it right away, but I thought it was a bit out of my league. Then I sold my 356A and I stopped riding adventure motorcycles last year, so I decided the Dakar could take their place as a vehicle I could go on camping trips with. The car has everything and more that I can think of, I don’t plan on changing anything on it.

"I’ve always been fascinated by the Paris-Dakar rally, when I was a kid growing up in France, I’d go to the Place de la Concorde every January 1st to see the cars set off..."

"The car has everything and more that I can think of, I don’t plan on changing anything on it."

After the Ice Race I continued on to Bozeman. I really loved the people there and was amazed by the food, I must have done all the main restaurants in 3 days. Then I drove to Butte, an interesting old mining town. Passed through a third snow storm on the way to Sun Valley and then finally finished off in Las Vegas for some well deserved rest.

The next plan is to take the car on the Aether Rally in May, but already I’m thinking about winter after that…”