A Denver Woman Is Taking Her 1956 Porsche 356A To Antarctica

And what makes it even cooler is that it’s supporting a great cause. Renée Brinkerhoff and her 1956 Porsche 356A have been on the road. At 64-years-old the Denver woman took up classic car road rallying and has visited six continents in the car.

When Brinkerhoff found the car she had it built into a racing machine that could handle the week-long 2013 La Carrera Panamericana rally in Mexico, where she finished first in her class.

“I only intended to go race one time, that was it. Go do that thing you told yourself you gotta go do. But it got a life of its own.”

However, she caught the racing bug and continued to hit the track. One day, everything changed, though. She met an FBI agent working to locate human traffickers involved in prostitution and child pornography and became interested in the subject. Little did she know how it would affect her personally. Brinkerhoff was on a bus ride to a rental car agency when she noticed a man beside her was looking at what appeared to be child pornography on his phone. She felt that was a sign that she needed to do her part.

She figured why not mix her passions? So she took her rally driving and turned it into a cause. Soon she turned her hobby into Valkyrie Racing and launched the Project 356 World Rally Tour to raise awareness about child trafficking and money to help fight it.

To date, the team has raised over $200,000 for charity however, the goal is $1 million, and she’s going to the ends of the earth (literally) to reach it. Brinkerhoff has already been across Asia, Europe, and South America but the next stop on the tour is Antarctica’s Union Glacier. That’s where she’ll drive the Porsche on a 356-mile route she mapped out with polar adventurer Jason De Carteret.

As of now, the Brit holds the record for the fastest overland trip to the South Pole. This is significant in that it will also mark the first time a Porsche car has ever visited the continent. To make the trek it’s being converted with tracks, skis, solar panels, and a front crevasse bar to keep it from falling in the ice.

It’s scheduled to be done in October and then will be put on a ship and sent to Chile before flying with the team to Antarctica for the race. Brinkerhoff said they’ll need to put the finishing touches on it once they arrive and of course, test it at the location before the big event. Time is of the essence since they only have three weeks to complete the trip.

The plan is to establish an Antarctic land speed record before they pack up and head home.