Porsche 911R goes sideways through the snow

Fear is what makes rallying mesmerising. Powerslides themselves are awesome, but it’s the menace of an imminent, fiery and massively expensive accident that keeps eyeballs glued.

Little wonder then this video of a Porsche 911R drifting on snow is impossible to turn off. It’s a mesmerising demonstration of driving talent that threatens to go wrong at any moment. Anxiety sufferers, watch with caution.

Mercifully, nothing goes awry, which is a good thing because punting one of the rarest and most desirable modern Porsches over the edge of a snowy mountain face would be a rather costly and embarrassing mistake.

The 911R is a limited run special edition, powered by a high-revving 4.0-litre naturally aspirated flat-six engine linked to a manual transmission producing 368kW at 8250rpm. It’s a visceral sensation built to satiate the purists who spoke ill of the PDK-only Porsche GT3 and GT3 RS, which use the same engine with no three-pedal option.

Buying a Porsche 911R is a very pricey proposition. When new they were $404,700, but they’re long gone. Collectors hunting for one now should expect to pay a lot, lot more.

Everybody likes to think they’re Michael Schumacher behind the wheel, but given the keys to a Porsche 911R we’re not sure drifting up an icy alpine road is the first thing we’d do. Yet, the unknown driver in this Instagram video is as cool as a polar bear’s paws, and gives us a front-seat ticket to that sublime soundtrack.

In less than a minute’s footage our protagonist has the 911R wound onto its lockstops in each direction, rear wheels lit and the flat-six singing the song of the Porsche people. It’s a delicate balancing act of considerable courage, slotted between snow berm and Armco in the coveted rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive sports car.

We may not know who the handy steerer in this footage is, but be it through bravery or stupidity, he has our respect.