Every now and then, someone with enough money and space to not give a damn about what happens to his/her supercar just comes out on social media with this Ferrari, Lambo, Porsche, or whatnot kicking the dirt from some unpaved roads for the thrills and a second of YT/Tik Tok glory.
Since automakers are good observers of their surroundings and they sometimes love to listen to input from their fans, they have taken notes of this interesting dirt-road sports car niche and acted accordingly. As such, just recently, we got to check out the first details and images of the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato limited editions.
While they are not necessarily direct competitors, both feature some extra ground clearance, off-road-rated tires, restricted max speeds, and additional body cladding and protection against the unforeseen. Now, can anyone imagine the influx of social media one-hit wonders taking to the roads untraveled with these special series once production and deliveries finally kick off?
But before that, some might be aching to decide which of them is the best (mild) off-road sports car. As there is virtually no stopping the crossover trend, passenger cars need to adapt (like the new U.S.-bound Toyota Crown CUV sedan) or die – such as the minivan or station wagon segments across North America. And both Porsche and Lambo did the intelligent thing, and quickly conformed to the crossover hype, even though they already have extremely popular SUVs in their regular lineups.
Remember, there is also one last connection between the Porsche 911 Dakar and Lambo Huracan Sterrato – while they belong to different sports and supercar categories, they share the same overarching parent, the Volkswagen Group. And it seems the head honchos over at VW AG are betting big on ultra-expensive two-seater high risers.
After they put on the ‘hiking gear,’ the style and presence favor the more extreme Lambo over the elegant 911, while the (subtle) off-road chops have the Dakar as the winner thanks to its Off-Road driving mode lifting the 911 a bit higher from the ground. The edge in terms of power, meanwhile, goes to the allegedly more expensive Lambo (a Porsche 911 Dakar is over $223k) because 602 horsepower beats 473 horsepower any time of day, of course.
Photo: wb.artist20 / Instagram
Plus, both of them have very conservative max-speed limiters, but the Italians again put the threshold a little higher after first sprinting together to 62 mph (100 kph) in 3.4 seconds. As such, the Sterrato can go on adventures at up to 162 mph (260 kph) whereas the 911 Dakar has to settle for 149 mph (240 kph). Alas, most of us feel that after the 1,499 units (Lambo) and 2,500 examples (Dakar) are off the market, everyone will be screaming for more.
So, if they prove successful, more rivals could hit the unpaved roads with their legendary sports cars. Naturally, that gave a few people a myriad of ideas. And some of them also decided to take matters into their hands. Or, rather, at the tip of their CGI brushes, as is the case here.
Thus, meet Oscar Vargas, the virtual artist better known as wb.artist20 on social media, who continues the slow return to sharing his CGI visions after a rather long hiatus. As such, we recently saw the pixel master post a sharp, custom Chevy C10 classic pickup truck, which was chopped, raked, and LED-infused, among other digital stuff.
But now he is back in the modern saddle and ready to bring out his vision of a potentially better dirt-road sports car than the real-world’s Porsche 911 Dakar and Lamborghini Huracan Sterrato. Well, that one would be his imagined Ferrari F8 ‘Bellgato’ (translated as ‘Kool Kat’ by the author). And it could easily join Lambo and Porsche with their own Prancing Horse off-road variant that would be tucked squarely in between them in terms of powertrain but would still have a ‘secret’ trump card to beat them.
So, the F8 ‘Bellgato’ would naturally have a 3.9-liter twin-turbo V8 in the middle, and perhaps the addition of AWD would detract from the usual 710-hp configuration of the F8 Tributo. But it would still be cooler and more proficient when equipped with a frunk-placed spare tire (for better weight distribution) and a set of Cosmo Tires Mud Kicker tires, which according to the author are the only ones rated for mud on the market! Hopefully, one day Ferrari might wake up thinking the Purosangue is not enough to win the SUV game…
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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