One of a kind.
At Tangent, passion projects are crucial to running a successful business. They reward unbridled creativity and expand core competencies all while pushing the team out of its comfort zone. Conceived in 2019 after working on another Porsche 911 project for a client, the Tangent Urban Safari 911 is the culmination of 20 years of industrial design experience and know-how distilled into a single vehicle.
In 2021 Tangent took delivery of a 21’ Porsche 911 4 (AWD) in Paint-To-Sample Black Olive over a Tan interior. Based on the 992 platform, the Tangent Urban Safari 911 is inspired by Porsche’s rich (but lesser known) history of off road and rally vehicles, especially its Dakar 911’s. Conceived as a pet project for Tangent Design Group, constant evolution, refinement, and hours of CAD development led to a 1-of-1 Safari 911 equipped to take on the urban jungles of Chicago and beyond.
Unlimited Opportunity.
Working on a (mostly) blank, Porsche 911 sized canvas, Tangent took the opportunity to explore a multitude of design, material, and engineering processes that would both expand and deepen the knowledge base of the Tangent Design team. Given the full scope of the project, the Tangent team would need to concept, prototype, design, engineer, source, and visualize any number of parts, accessories, wheels and graphics to make this project come to life.
Boldly Go.
The simple answer for why we decided to do this project is because we could, and because no one else was doing it. With that in mind, we knew that the Tangent Urban Safari 911 would need to stand out in a world of one-off Porsches and limited edition 911 Dakars. This all started with the Safari 911’s base color, a highly unique PTS Black Olive, paired with a tan interior, and a must on an offroad 911, a rear windshield wiper.
Once the car was ordered, Tangent worked with a spec 3D model to create accurate underlays in VRED, a full suite visualization software, which would lead into 2D concept generation.
Content Heavy.
Initial concept sketches explored a variety of appearances but were primarily focused on the Safari’s front bull bar and fender flares. Additional sketching focused on the Safari’s rear wing, as it became clear that a full duck-tail wing would add heaps of character to the car. Careful consideration was given to the 911’s existing sensors and attachment points, ensuring that 2D concepts would be feasible in real world applications.
Utilizing Tangent’s large plotter printer, wheel concepts were printed at full scale, and placed on the car for evaluation, giving the team a better sense of which concepts were successful at conveying the Safari’s desired rugged image.
Addition by Subtraction.
Before any of Tangent’s 2D concepts could be developed in CAD, the base 911 that Tangent had ordered needed to be stripped of its OEM parts and thoroughly scanned. This 3D scanning process allowed Tangent to develop a true to life 3D model that would ensure every developed part would match its OEM counterpart in terms of fitment and tolerance. Parts scanned include the 911’s front and rear bumpers and assemblies, the lower rocker panels, wheel wells, front and rear fenders, and rear engine cover.
Prototype to Part.
Prototyping of the Safari 911’s numerous bespoke parts occurred entirely in house, via Tangent’s large format 3D printer. The printer allowed the design team to create 1:1 scale components that could be used to evaluate the styling, fitment, and attachment methods for each piece. After validating each part via 3D print, Tangent worked closely with suppliers to develop each accessory to the exact specifications desired by the design team.
Not Just a Pretty Face.
Tangent’s design team wasn’t content to let the Safari 911 be JUST an appearance package. Eager to flex our engineering skills, Tangent designed and developed a first-of-its-kind 3-inch lift kit that would retain the 911’s stock suspension without creating software errors. This development allowed us to fit larger offroad tires to the 911’s AWD chassis, giving the Safari legit off road chops to match its rugged styling.
Chicago Designed, LA Forged.
A car’s wheels can make or break the whole design. With that in mind, Tangent knew that any old off the shelf wheel simply wouldn’t cut it. Designed and developed in house, Tangent partnered with Brixton Forged LLC, to help create a bespoke set of aluminum forged, aerospace grade wheels that would perfectly capture the character of the Tangent Urban Safari 911’s offroad attitude.
Form Meets Graphics.
The final piece of the Safari’s puzzle came in the form of a unique graphic package. Designed in house, with a color palette that takes inspiration from rally 911’s of the past, while embracing Tangent’s own branding history, and the 992’s curvaceous form.
You can find the Tangent Urban Safari 911 parked in the studio space when it’s not whizzing through Chicago’s urban fabric. For kit inquiries, please email info@tangentinc.com
