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A request I wasn't expecting.

Would I come along on a
trip to the Andes Mountains,

way up an active volcano
called Ojos del Salado,

the highest volcano on Earth

and the highest peak in Chile

to film a car.

And they said, "This all
has to be kept secret."

A small but enthusiastic team
of engineers, pro drivers,

and others would attempt to
drive to a higher altitude

than anyone had driven a
four-wheeled vehicle before.

The car was a Porsche,

an experimental all-terrain model,

one they'd finished only
a few weeks earlier.

My cameras and I would
be along for the ride

to document everything.

The altitude driving
challenge is considered one

of the most demanding records to achieve.

Over the past two decades,

many from around the world have tried it

and many have failed.

In the Andes, our base
camp alone would be higher

than the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The oxygen levels would be
50% lower than at sea level,

the thin air turning every breath

into a fight for survival.

Easy, right?

No.

With deep
respect for the mountain,

the environment, and
the local communities,

we partnered with seasoned Chilean guides

who know the Andes like
the back of their hand.

Their knowledge would help
us navigate the terrain

using existing climbing paths

as we aimed to drive through sand

and volcanic ash to the Western summit

of Ojos del Salado,

to the highest point
any four-wheeled vehicle

had ever been taken anywhere on Earth.

Little did I, or any of us, know that

for the next three years,

we would spend weeks on end

confronting one of the
most hostile environments

on the planet, the high-altitude region

of the Atacama Desert

to meet the altitude challenge head on.

And as we'd soon find out,

we weren't the only ones trying.

This is our story.

Hey!

Come on, accelerate!

First, a little context.

In its 76-year history,

Porsche has never shied
away from challenges.

It's taken on some of the
toughest races around the world

and has gone flat out

where there aren't any roads at all.

Throughout its history,

Porsche's tackled geographic challenges

to prove its engineering

from rallies and hill climbs

to endurance races across continents,

pushing innovations like high-performance

all-wheel drive systems
and active suspensions.

And every idea originates from one place,

Porsche's home in Stuttgart.

One day in 2019, Frank
Walliser spoke to me,

came to me with just a crazy idea.

The original objective
was we make a record

for a sports car.

We bring it to an altitude
where no sports car

have ever been before.

To set a new altitude record.

This task is special,

is a chance you have once in a life.

Most difficult question is,

why are you doing things like that?

What is your motivation?

And in my case, it's definitely,

it's my thinking on the history book.

We have to make stories for the future

of our next generation

to keep the company alive,

to keep the heart of the company alive.

Dr. Walliser is an outstanding
person in the company.

He's connected to the board very well.

So he has the right
connections to install projects,

to get the money for projects,

to motivate the staff to support this.

It's kind of in Frank's blood

to do these extreme types of projects.

He's been with Porsche for 30 years.

He's the guy that
developed the 918 hypercar.

He's the guy that the board
trusts to run Motor Sports.

I got a presentation

where the name "Ojos" was written.

And I thought, "Ojos what?

What is it?"

Well, I had to look in Google Maps

where this volcano is,

and I even did not know how
to pronounce it.

The volcano, Ojos del Salado,

is the highest active
volcano in the world.

It's in South America, in Chile,

a very remote area in the Atacama Desert.

My first
reaction was, "Why there?

Why in the last edge of South America?"

If you compare it to other mountains,

they are really steep.

But the Ojos del Salado,

the steepness is a little bit less.

So this allow us

to drive up with the car.

It's one of the most

hostile environments on Earth.

It's extremely dry air.

It's very cold.

At night, we had temperatures

around -20 degrees in the tent.

We have only half the
oxygen than at sea level.

And most areas, you have a mixture of sand

and volcanic ash, which is very deep

if you drive with the car there.

It was in 2007
when a team with the Suzuki

climbed to a height of
6,688 meters on Ojos.

12 years later, a Mercedes Unimog

set a new record of 6,694 meters,

just beating the old record by six meters.

This was our target.

We are gonna be working
hard at high altitude,

so we need to be very
attentive to the risks.

I've got a full suite

of advanced life support drugs with me,

along with splints, bandages,

and all the things we might need.

I’ll feed from there you pull from there.

Start winching station.

Roger, roger, gonna start winching.

You have to be careful.

If it snaps, it's really a dangerous.

Hermanos, like a prophet

in the Andes, huh?

You are good to go.

We thought we were prepared,

we were wrong.

A team with no prior experience

driving a brand new car

and tackling a mountain
for the first time.

Confirm that,
don't touch walking poles

or ice axes, electrical storm overhead.

We spent weeks
acclimatising at base camp,

hoping we could reach
the summit in one day.

But the conditions took a turn,

and we had to spend the
night on a mountain ridge.

A planned 10-hour ascent
turned into an overnight stay

at a higher altitude than
Camp One of Mount Everest.

We set up camp at Refuge Amistad.

It's not a place you wanna be.

And we start the next day early.

And it's sunny,

and we know the weather's coming in.

Stuart, could you tell me what day it is

and what we're up to?

Do you wanna
know the funniest thing?

- Yeah.
- I actually can't tell you

what day it is.

We had to leave the car here

'cause we couldn't get any
further 'cause of the conditions,

and it got dark, bitterly cold last night,

and this slope was just
absolutely crucifying us.

Oy!

- Yeah! Go, go!
- Go, go. Yes, yes, yes!

Yeah! Yeah!

Yeah!

Yeah!

Ooh!

Whoa!

We had thunderstorms, we had fog.

We had heavy snowfall.

We had such a fog

that we thought about tying all

the people together with rope.

Ojos beat us.

It took us weeks to get as high as we did.

And then we found ourselves evacuating

and running from a storm.

There was potential for
up to three feet of snow.

And if we were stuck in that,

then we'd have to leave the car there.

As the decision was made to stop,

the morale was totally bad.

We go home with nothing,

no record.

This decision was, for me personally,

standing at the mountain,
seeing what's possible

if the weather is fine.

It was really a hard moment.

The first attempt was
not published at all.

Also, the majority of the
board members did not know.

We had to convince our board

that we have a good chance

climbing up the mountain.

When they're in and said,

"Well, we wanna go on a volcano,"

They said, "Yeah, what can happen and risk

and what if the car is not
running in the altitude?"

I said, "Well, we tested that part.

And we have already
been there."

Then they looked at me and said, "What?"

Yeah, Frank talked to
me about this project.

And on the one hand side, very exciting.

On the other side, crazy.

Then I learned that
they've already been there

on the volcano.

Then I thought, "Why not?"

The board trusted this
small group of people

and said, "Okay, they
have some experience now.

We learned that just,

but okay, we released it.

That's okay, you try it."

First time we saw the car

was when it was unloaded in Chile.

That's how secret this was.

Little did we know it
was only three months

since they started engineering the car

in some back office in Weissach.

Weissach is the
development centre of Porsche.

There we develop all the model lines

and all the race cars as well.

I think it was also a
big motivation for the team

to do an extraordinary project,

a little bit what we
call a submarine project,

so it was not clearly visible.

Some bosses of the team members

didn't know what we are doing.

People, they achieve amazing results

in very short time.

We are not walking through
a proper decision process,

what we normally, German style,

are really good in.

And no question, no
requirement from somebody.

When you do a project like this,

you always form a special set of people.

There is gonna be a lot of ropework.

This is going to be
mountaineering with a car.

So maybe overall, about 25 people.

Didn't took long to have a list of names

in Chassis, Engine Department.

A problem which has
caused a lot of people

to get even 30 meters away from the record

and no further is a lack
of engine performance.

We have old cars that we
can take before we scrap them,

and then we just started modifying it.

My task in this project was:

please build a car that's capable

to run on the highest
mountains in the world.

First question was, why do it with a 911?

Why don't choose a Cayenne?

But it take 10 seconds to realise that,

yes, the 911 is the right car to do this

because it's our icon car,

and this is an iconic project.

It would take a
special car with a unique design

to tackle the mix of
boulders and volcanic ash.

The engineers had to get creative,

taking technology and ideas
from anywhere they could.

We knew from projects in the past

that there was a system
called Warp Connector

we used in our 919 LMP1 car

that is able to give a
very high roll stiffness

and very flexible articulation in the car.

When Achim explained what needs to be done

to implement the Warp Connector it was,

"Oh, we have to change a lot."

So when you look at the car,

you can see here the heave-roll separation.

And this is the Warp Connector

that connects the front suspension

with the rear suspension.

Because of the freeness in articulation,

the wheel loads are always equalised,

and this will increase traction.

The interesting question was,

how to handle the altitude?

And one guy from the Engine Department,

who was Maurice Martini said,

"What is the challenge?

We already did a really altitude project."

We had an altitude chamber

from a former project in end of the '80s

to build a 911 engine in a small plane.

One week later, he
came with the information

and said, "Believe it or not,

we still have it in Weissach.

We searched this chamber,

and reactivated, and put the current

911 engine in.

This was very extreme.

When the team decided to go

for the altitude record,

there were only three
months to build the car

before the 2020 summer weather.

We called the first car Doris.

It was designed before
anyone went to the mountain.

We came back from that first attempt

to a world much different than we left it.

...keep it fastened
while the seatbelt sign is on.

As a result of the outbreak of COVID-19...

With the world
shut down due to COVID,

the team started thinking about

how they could make Doris better.

Then someone posed a question,

"Why modify the first car

when we could just build an
entirely new second car?"

Second car was a classical
motorsport decision

because of course, if you have two cars,

you have 50% of risk.

Two cars, one as a backup.

And of course, we had a new partner

with Romain Dumas.

He's always in the extremes.

An unbelievable run.

He's everywhere.

He is very calculated.

He's one of these last multitalents

that have proven that they are
the top drivers in the world.

Frank Walliser told me, "You know, ah,

we have an idea.

We would like to do this.

You want to drive?"

I say, "Yes, I want to drive."

For sure, it's could be a nice expedition

but again, I had no really clear idea

about what was the altitude story.

So I went to Weissach,
and I drove the car.

They said it will be nice

that I give a kind of feedback.

He had a lot of
optimization ideas in the car.

I like the story, I like the idea,

but I want to be more
involved than only driving

because you know, you don't
win the race on a Sunday.

No, you need to prepare everything

before the event, you know.

And so I said, "Okay,
if you want, I drive.

But not only that,

I prepare everything on the side."

Means the team, the people around.

The second car here in south of France.

We became acquainted with all

the other new team members,

doctors, mountain guides

from Switzerland, from France.

We found
we cannot call it a volcano,

but a very deep mountain
here in south of France,

we start to test the car.

With more testing and more time,

the second car was already
showing improvements.

Embracing the future of fuel,

the new car would run entirely

on Chilean-made HIF e-Fuels,

synthetic fuels made from
renewable energy, water,

and captured CO2.

We put an electric
steering in the car.

We saved a lot of weight.

This steering system,

we are developing the future, you know,

to have less force on the steering.

It was not only about, you know,

publicity, marketing, no.

It was again performance

to try to improve everything

that I get less kickback,
everything smooth.

I think and I hope to show that

this steering are already strong,

but for the future, it can be even better.

In the weeks leading
up to the next attempt,

the team started to
train at higher altitude.

When was the last time you were up here?

- Whew.
- Yesterday.

- Yesterday?
- Yeah.

So the Swiss are
acclimatising now. Yeah.

Yeah?

Joke's on them, we're higher.

Yeah. America!

The car was ready.

Now, we had to get our bodies ready.

Medical checks determined
who could go again

and who would have to stay behind.

Not everyone on the first expedition

was cleared for another
high-altitude attempt.

So what we done we went in Switzerland

to a room that we
could simulate the altitude,

already to see in term of fitness

if we have some good points or bad points

or how we can prepare.

You know, I've spent 10 years

getting to know Romain

'cause he's been racing
here at Pikes Peak,

and we've been you know, helping him.

He was telling me about the penitentes

and all this just stuff

that sounded like crazy to me.

He could see that I was
interested, I guess.

And he just looks at me,
and kinda narrows his eyes,

and goes, "You should come."

And I'm like, "What do
you mean I should come?"

And he's like, "You can help."

And I'm like, "Okay."

He goes, "It's miserable. You'll love it."

Well, we just arrived
at the Cosmiques Refugio

around 3,600 meters.

Niko, have you ever had any
other filming assignments

that required this level of fitness or...

Not like this, man.

- No?
- Not this high.

It's damn near spiritual.

It's like...

We know a lot of details now.

We know way better how
to prepare everything.

The mentality of Porsche,
maybe also my mentality,

is no second places.

We are looking for absolute records

for outstanding things in the world.

We try it again.

This place is called Don Juan's.

He spends, I think, most of his time

in a small hut here.

He offers this land

that he rents as a space

for people passing through,

acclimatising for this journey.

Morale was very enthusiastic

because we had a optimised car,

we had a new team,

and we had a much better
organisation from Romain.

So everybody was enthusiastic

that maybe

it's possible

to get the record.

Muy bien!

It's nice, huh?
Wow.

Now myself, I am from south of France.

I like warm weather.

I like normally sea.

And right now we are in
the middle of the wind

and the middle of the mountain.

You can see already snow all around.

It's already very cold as you can see,

but we are only at 3,750,

so we can imagine it will be a lot more

cooler later on and colder, so.

But we will see what will happen.

Walking, do exercise,

and reach maybe 4,500 will be the goal.

There is not a race today.

It's just good to climb up.

If someone don't feel good,

there's not a problem

if you don't reach this attitude,

it’s not finish the expedition.

Well, when I went there the first time,

it's clear that, you know,

with the doctor and
all these guy involved,

I knew that it will be complicated,

but I was never expected

that it will be so complicated.

Not about driving but about,
you know, your own body.

And I mean, the first 10 days,

I had terrible headache.

I was completely sick.

I could not sleep on the night

for three or four days.

It was really bad.

It's sucking, like, the energy

- right out of your legs.
- Yeah.

So today, 84 kilometer of wind.

Tomorrow will be 74

The temperature?

Temperature, do
you really want to know?

Yep.

So -18.

Tomorrow -18.

Okay, let's go.

The car needs a name,

and the name is

Edith.

It is great to see
Romain testing the car.

- Okay?
- Yeah,

but we are quite high on the water,

so I would prefer to go in to have a look.

Bringing it through its paces

is kind of an understatement.

It's completely different
than what we have in Europe.

The air density, it's a lot lower.

So we have to look what is now

with the cooling system, the pressure,

if the water is enough,
and so on because all

is a little bit different here,

but everything looks okay so far.

So let's continue to double check.

Perfect!

When we arrived our base camp area

at approximately 4,500 meters altitude,

we realised that

we have massive remaining snow

and ice from the winter season before.

We had the right team and cars,

but the volcano challenged us again.

Doubt crept in as conditions

were unlike anything we'd seen.

Despite it being the best time of year

for a summit in Chile, the
route to Refugio Amistad,

the highest permanent
camp on the mountain,

was buried under snow.

If we couldn't reach it,
summiting was impossible.

And so we said, "Okay,

we need to find another,

another road, another
idea, another itinerary."

These were
unprecedented conditions.

During summer in this part of Chile,

we should have seen the
least amount of snow

on the mountain.

Easy, right?

No.

We're even thinking to go through Argentina.

Google Maps says no
road on the Argentina side.

But we didn't find anything.

So we focused
on the only known path

to the next camp, trekking through snow

sometimes a meter deep.

With all the people working together

and do this hard work,

you need around one hour

to clean four meters.

Normally when we are on the sea level,

our oxygen saturation, 98%, 99%.

Here today, maybe

76, 75.

It's difficult to move.

What do you think about the proposal

to walk a little bit up?

- No.
- No.

One moment, please let me speak.

- Okay.
- Without any tool,

without nothing.

Look at us, man.

We don't have any more energy.

So now, the very hard phase

of the project begins.

Plan is to drive with the car to an altitude,

hopefully, above 6,000 meters.

We don't know really. It'll
be first time for the car.

So let's see what's going on.

The team is ready to give everything.

Romain set off.

Hopes were high. Progress was fast.

Until it wasn't.

If we could just get through
the snow, avoid the ice fields,

and get on top of the glacier,
we might have a chance.

And then we went further up,

and then see all these massive ice fields,

and we thought, "What the
hell is going up here?"

The effect of attitude.

Yeah, can you
explain what it's like?

It's unbelievable, breathless.

You make one step,

and you need two breaths minimum,

you can make the next step.

Totally...

You're not enjoying?

At the moment, I'm not enjoying, yes.

Yeah!

The guy with the camera
to the doctor to the guide,

everybody was helping.

Was one of the hardest thing

I have ever done in my life.

I decide on morning to go,

and I arrive at 5,900,

like that in three, four hours.

But after we had no
chance, we went over 6,000,

and it was finished.

Even if we
cleared this ice field,

it brings us to a glacier.

There was no
chance going any higher.

It was a very bad feeling

not to get the record

to go home again with nothing.

After the last attempt, I thought,

"Maybe that's it,

maybe we won't get a next chance

to climb higher."

It's the same like you run Le Mans,

you lose it two years in a row.

We always hoped to have a third chance.

So the car stayed in Chile,

but it was not sure to get a third chance.

I was, of course, afraid
of telling the decision

to the team if it was negative.

I said, "Yeah, go there.

Go with the team, try it again."

Try again,

which is crazy,

but that shows the amount
of trust in Walliser.

This is a bold dream to get there

and doing this together with a team,

with the right mindset.

And at the end, I decided, "Go for it."

I am sure we can get to the top.

Did they doubt you at all?

Were they, like, hesitant?

Yes, for sure because you know,

at the end of the day,

it's a question of it's not about the car,

it's not about the team,

it can be only about the weather,

and nobody can predict the weather.

You cannot buy it, you cannot predict it.

So they said, "Okay,
we try one more time."

It was relatively clear,

"Okay, we go for a third time."

It was also coming out of corona,

motivation was high in
doing things like that.

But for a small time, I was also thinking,

"If the third attempt
would not be successful,

there will be no fourth,

no fourth attempt to go there."

We finally
arrive at our base camp.

You could see a lot less snow.

Good weather up there is
still 30-mile-an-hour wind

and maybe 10 degrees Fahrenheit
or something like that.

It's cold.

It kind of abuses you as a human.

It's like South Mediterranean,

warm sand, sandy beach

with a lack of oxygen.

I don't know if we can say nice day,

more like a hard day.

From day one, our only challenger

had been the altitude,

but now we had competition.

Another team was going
for the same record,

and they were aiming to reach the summit

in an electric-powered truck.

Despite of this competition,

you have to follow your own plan.

The only problem we have on
this mountain is the wind now.

It will reach, like, 90,

even 100 kilometers per hour.

So we had to
wait, and wait, and wait.

The window was
exactly the 2nd of December.

If we could not use this day,

we had to wait for one week
to have a second chance.

Yeah, so just the aim

is to explain what we do
tomorrow at what time,

who is doing what.

Congratulations to be late.

You see, he's not German.

So the aim is to arrive, more or less,

at nine o'clock at the glacier.

Our competitive spirit kicked in.

Having come this far,

we weren't about to hand
the record to a rival.

Knowing we only had one day with no wind,

we set out early.

And we got a head start on the competition

trying for a summit on the same day.

I knew that on my own,

I can go directly to 6.2 without any help.

The car reached the glacier,

which was, let's call it,

where the real battle began.

First, we arrived at 6.2,

and it was really a big piece of ice.

I mean, this car is ready

or was done to be on
the sand, on the rock,

but not really on ice.

We had no spike on the tires.

And I say, "Okay, now
it's really the place

that first difficulty
is just in front of me."

I can see, the ice,

I can see these 200, 300
meters to go through.

Quickly after 50-meter I was stuck,

I say, "Oh, that will be a long day."

Because at the time, it
was only nine o'clock

in the morning.

So we start with a rope,

we start to try to pull the car.

And actually, it was a kind of round

like that on a crest.

On the left side, if it go very bad,

you could crash.

I think we'll be not here
anymore to speak about.

On the right side, a little bit smoother.

So I said, "Okay, better
I try to be on the middle,

but if something is happening,
I need to turn right."

And so we lost a lot of time,

two hours now to go through this 100

or 200 meter of ice.

We went through,

but it was already 11:30.

And after, was the balcony, going up.

With the glacier cleared,

Romain has start to really push.

I took a lot of speed,

and there, I realised that
the traction of the car

and so on was great.

Holy cra-

I mean, it was incredible

to watch this car just eating volcanic,

you know, rubble,

just eating up the side of the hill.

Yeah, we're trying to
set up a solid belay,

but the rock is pretty sh--ty here.

We were making progress,

but the more we pushed,

the harder the volcano pushed back.

Now, I can see that it

start to be really, really tough.

And also on the radio when I was asking,

"Where we are?

Where are the other guide?

Are they ready?

Is the rope, blah, blah, blah?"

I could see that reaction,

you know, of people were not the same.

I remember talking
with other team members,

and I was like, I didn't remember

if I said something out loud
to them or just thought it.

You know, the lack of oxygen

really does take ahold of your brain.

Your brain maybe

does not work properly at sea level.

Yourself do not realise that.

Also between them, was starting,

you know, to have, "Hey. Please can you answer?

Why you are not here?

What is happening?"

For sure, the
decision-making process is changed.

You have to take
care to push not too much.

You don't need to have the
watch to look the attitude.

You can feel it with how you can breathe,

how you can speak,

how you can walk with the
pressure in your head.

Cresting the ridge, we finally

caught sight of the record point

just 200 meters away,

but we'd have to conquer
the steepest incline

we faced so far.

We mark the GPS point from Unimog

or from the Samurai so we knew exactly

where is the line we need to cross.

Whoa!

Unbelievable!

I think that's the proper
world record right there.

We came to the balcony,

where we knew that the record was.

We know that now the car
is higher than they were.

We have to have a new record.

So when we checked the GPS,

that was a confusing moment.

For some reason, the calibration's off.

I went to see the GPS.

The altitude is 25 meter lower

than we should be.

There was some question whether

we would be able to claim the record.

It was at that point that we decided that

we had to make for the summit.

Mika said, "Okay, we have to continue."

I look at him and said, "Well, well, well.

Where we could go, you know?

We cannot go higher.

We are in front of a rock here."

He said, "Ah, look,
if we go on the left..."

"We go around,

and we'd arrive on the
top of the volcano."

Are you sure?

He said, "No, but anyway,

if not, we don't have the record."

Okay, we turn left.

It was a difficult decision

because we were faced with
another very steep grade.

I could see the sky, nothing more.

Always with my foot on the
brake in case of something.

I think it will not
change anything anyway,

but you know, "Okay,
release the brake, winch."

Brake, the car going back.

"Okay, winch again."

It was like that.

We knew that if we could
get one past one pitch,

the rest was a smooth arc

all the way up to the summit.

So I need to stay on this crest.

If the car slides one way,

we might find it in an irretrievable

part of the mountain.

It's at this point that I say,

"Okay, I have to go this,
this, that, this, that.

Right, left, right, left
around this big rock."

It's our obligation that we really

write something down history books

when in 30 years, somebody
flips the pages back,

and they're all empty and said,

"What did they do in that time?"

We have to write things in, real stuff.

Things that really happened.

Also real heroes.

There is now one slope
standing in the way

of Romain from reaching the summit.

I knew that I need
to take a lot of speed.

When I smashed the rock,
I kept maximum throttle.

I said, "Okay, if it's missing something,

it's missing something,

but we will be there."

And that's our story.

We were a small passionate team

that never gave up until
we reached the summit

with a car named Edith.

Romain, what a life!

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I'm really proud

because it was not a competition.

It was not something about time,

but it was something about human being

and also push the human

and the 911 on the limit.

It is so extreme to go with a 911

up to this altitude.

This kind of passion, and motivation,

and fighting spirit.

He told me, "We made it."

We sat down and with tears in the eyes,

and it was so emotional.

I could see this message,

and then it started rethinking.

I said, "Wow, that's an achievement."

And I was really touched by that moment.

I could not talk to anybody.

And it took me five or ten minutes really

to realise what has happened.

And then I really started running around

and telling it to everybody.

To be part of this project,

to be part of a team

of such great people,

yeah, in total, it's just one of the best

experiences of my life.

I think you have to be a little bit crazy

to imagine this project.