We humans are a funny bunch.

If you were to track the evolution of our species over the past 100 or so years, the timeline would read as such: make life as fuss-free as possible and eliminate manual labour unless we're getting paid for it or receiving some sort of mutual benefit. Automated vacuum cleaners, 3D printers, remote controls, phones that can capture every element of our existence – convenience really is de rigueur in the modern world.

But as life becomes cosier (read: lazier), primalism has bubbled back into our impossibly busy conscience. People will part with their hard-earned for vegetables that are sourced organically rather than from a lab. We – your correspondent included – will pay trainers to tone our bodies to caveman specification. We will even go out of our way to 'live like our ancestors' on primitive outback camping retreats; glamping, as the marketing rhetoric states. Old habits must die young.

Purity has also ensconced the automotive world. In the face of half-degree measured climate control, satellite navigation, three-stage seat warmers and software programs which mirror our smart phones, there is a small but valuable yearning for primacy. Manual gearboxes are still highly sought-after by true enthusiasts. Classic used car values are steadily climbing. Even our Aussie politicians are presumably holding back on electric vehicle co-investment legislation because their hearts collectively beat to the sound of internal combustion…

In this sense the new Porsche 911 R is an analogue anachronism in a world of digital distraction. It takes the purest elements of Porsche development and distils them to their very essence. A naturally-aspirated (though not air-cooled) 4.0-litre flat-six sends drive through the rear wheels exclusively via a six-speed manual transmission. There is no radio. No sat-nav. No cruise control. No seat-warmers. In fact, no rear seats. In place of regular door handles there is a length of fabric to pull on.

The 911 R is a sell-out success in Australia, and every other global market for that matter. It will arrive locally in late 2016 priced at $404,700 (plus on-road costs), and is already being billed as the most collectable Porsche of the modern era; hardly a surprise given there are only 991 produced.

The ultimate symbol of automotive purity deserves a destination of equal measure. And so it was recently decided, upon approval from Porsche in Germany, to take the 911 R to the source of Europe's best-known living and breathing organism: the Rhine River.

Back to basics

There is a certain amount of trepidation in the lead-up to taking delivery of the 911 R. Not because its 4.0-litre engine boasts 368kW and 460Nm. Nor because second-hand examples are already trading internationally for seven-figure sums. Rather, it is the thought of no satellite-navigation that weighs heavily on my mind as I catch a train from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof into Porsche's headquarters, the aptly-named Porscheplatz. I walk into reception, prepared for the thought of driving to Switzerland via hastily scribbled notes, when Porsche official Jan takes my details and escorts me to the car.

Porsche 911 R across Europe. Photo: Nicolai Brook

There it is, gleaming in the European summer sun, adorned in a silver paint scheme punctuated by those oh-so-retro green stripes that pay homage to a rich racing pedigree. Importantly – thankfully – I can see a large touch-screen resides in the middle of the dashboard; a space that would normally be empty but has been filled as a no-cost option. The car has sat-nav, music and the vital (for an 850km road trip) mod cons at my beck and call. Pure? Not as much. But convenient? You betcha.

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A plaque on the 911's delicate, carbon fibre-laden dashboard reads Build 0 of 991: "this particular car is a pre-production model, so it won't be sold to the public," Jan states very matter-of-factly as he shows me the controls. "It will be crushed or crashed at some point. This is a little bit sad."

Running like clockwork

A circa eight hour round trip from Stuttgart to the Swiss Alps lies ahead, but it isn't long before the Porsche begins snipping off big chunks of the journey via high-speed autobahn. The 911 R, equipped with a top speed of 323km/h, eats up and spits out the sprawling E81 as if it were a lazy Sunday drive.

At 1370kg, the 911 R is comfortably the lightest of the current 991 crop, but it feels stable and planted at autobahn speeds. Perhaps it's those four solid contact pads – Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s, 245mm wide at the front, 305mm wide at the rear – anchoring the car down to the tarmac.

The kerb mass is owed in part to a lightweight magnesium roof, carbon bonnet and front wings, along with its plastic rear windows and rear screen, and reduced sound insulation. The stripped-back ethos is similar to that of the 911 GT3, the road-going race car with which the 911 R shares rear-wheel steering and carbon-ceramic brakes featuring 410mm discs up front and 390mm discs at the rear.

Pared-back simplicity may course through the 911 R, but it is hardly a device of primacy on the open road. Carbon bucket seats lifted from the 918 Spyder cocoon the driver and passenger from excessive lateral movement, and the interior presents compellingly even for the brief. That said, the rigid structure means there is no adjustment available on the seatback angle and getting into the 911 R requires a mild degree of contortion. But once you are in, you are in.

The seats are dressed in Pepita tartan, a nod to the original 911 R from the '60s that was used as part of a homologation process for Porsche's sports car racing program. With such an emphasis on racing, I take great delight in the 911 R's compliance on every different grade of road surface. It adheres to dynamics typically mastered by Porsches, ably juggling sportiness with supple bump absorption courtesy of its adaptive suspension. And it only gets better with speed.

And so I continue, without cruise control but with the dulcet tones of my English-speaking satellite-navigation, crossing the German-Swiss border at Gottmadingen, and following the more strictly Swiss-enforced E41 past Zurich and into Lucerne.

The steering wheel has no buttons on it, the centre fascia is less Starship Command centre than your typical 911, and everything on the R has a purpose. "This is quite refreshing," I think to myself, the 911 R ironically whipping up a frenzy of camera phones and selfie sticks as it burbles through central Lucerne. The older folk in particular here really admire 911 R's analogue-style crunching, whirring and grinding noises, typical of a race car at low speeds, as it saunters between traffic lights. They must be watch salespeople.

Crunch time

A quick but expensive lunch stop in Lucerne is followed by several photo stops en route to the final destination in Andermatt, in the Swiss Alps.

Call it a lack of research on my behalf, call it an oversight; the purpose of this journey – visiting Lake Toma, the origins of the Rhine River – is dealt a cruel blow upon chatting with Victor, a Spanish man that I meet during a final photo stop overlooking the gorgeous Lake Lucerne.

"I've seen this car in the magazines and papers, but never in real life. It is simply beautiful," he says. "Where are you taking it to?"

Victor's response after informing him Lake Toma is a bit of a kick in the guts: "Sorry, but you can't access Lake Toma by car: it's a three hour round hike from the roadside. We were there only yesterday".

"Well, I'll just go and see what I find," I respond. If only the thought process in my mind was so measured.

Swiss surprise

Driving to Andermatt knowing full well there is no access to Lake Toma is a little bit like visiting Bunnings Warehouse knowing they don't stock the part you require. There's bound to be an alternative.

To my delight, this comes in the form of an unassuming German man, Nicolai Brook. I meet the likeable 23-year-old by sheer fluke about 10km outside of Andermatt. We are both pulled over at the same corner to get photographs, when the nonchalant design student strolls over for a chat. "Spreken ze English?" I fumble. "Of course," Nicolai says. "Hey, this is a nice car, if you're heading towards Andermatt, I'm going the same way. I have my new drone in the car, I can help you out with some photography if you'd like some?"

With that, the anguish of supplanting photos of the 911 R on the banks of Lake Toma is erased. Even if Nicolai's €1500 remote controlled device doesn't live up to expectation, at least I now have someone to share the experience with.

The climb up to the Oberalp Pass, the closest road point to Lake Toma, is fast and immense. It begins at Andermatt, some 1444-metres above sea level, climbing via a ribbon of switchbacks to 2044-metres, where the walking trail to the Rhine's origins are marked by a red lighthouse.

As we climb closer to the peak, Nicolai has by now ditched his Opel rental and is riding shotgun in the 911 R as I begin exploring its dynamic traits. There is only an occasional nervous giggle from the passenger chair as we both lull forward in our seats under the force of its immense carbon brakes, bobbing from side to side as the R deftly dissects a mix of open and tightening radius, varying camber corners.

The engine is brilliant. Flexible enough to be lulled around in higher gears, rapid enough to leave the gear shifter and steering wheel lathered in sweat, controllable enough to be driven at 95 per cent with an acute awareness of seemingly every minute moving part of the vehicle, including its seamlessly good mechanical limited slip differential. The engine feels as though a cyclone is brewing, the smooth tones strengthening at about 6000rpm before climbing with maniacal resolve to a 8500rpm cut-out.

"So, does it drive nice?" Nicolai asks. "It's the best road car I've ever driven," I respond, instinctively, the enormity of the statement only reinforcing my immediate first impression of this limited-edition Porsche.

The 911 R is the greatest road car I have ever driven. It's not all-out clinical like the GT3, actually it's a little softer. There is more body roll than what you'd expect – contextually speaking, absolutely next to none - the car's mass shifting ingeniously to a point, gripping and then sticking like glue until the apex has passed. On higher speed turns, it bobs and weaves, with a level of lateral grip that just cannot be unseated with your humble correspondent at the wheel. It isn't locked to the ground like pure track-focussed 911s, but it elicits more driver involvement because of this.

It all helps cultivate a level of communication I've never felt in a car. Like everything I've driven before this point has been exchanged via hand signals. Here, I am physically communicating via all the senses. The steering is typically Porsche perfect, devouring corners with ease while sending constant feedback to the driver's hands.

About the only element that isn't pure is the rev-matching feature in the manual gearbox – a function that comes into play in Sport mode but can be disengaged with the electric nannies turned off. In deleting the process of heel-and-towing, Porsche has only given more back to the driver, further enriching the experience at the wheel. And on the six-speed, the lovely mechanical shifting action brings a level of involvement that cannot be matched by the equivalent seven-speed PDK fitted to the GT3. Sure, the stick may be slightly slower on acceleration, but at 3.8 seconds to 100km/h, it's certainly no slouch.

Nicolai is equally enamoured. His favourite word on this particular day may just be 'epic', and it is certainly fitting on the Oberalp Pass. The road is smooth enough to keep all four Michelin hoops on terra firma, open enough to plan several corners ahead and, from the vantage point before the bitumen flirts with the bottom of a nearby valley, high enough to enable a pinch-yourself aspect of the Swiss Alps. You wouldn't be a bell-carrying cow up here for quids in the winter, such is the extreme climate, but in summer the entire region comes to life.

The 911 R's evocative soundtrack bellows past the tunnels and into the rich, profound vista. Anyone within earshot is spared the needless and artificial crackling and popping of your typical 911; the R is all purposeful, a symphonic rush that you just don't want to go away.

The exercise is extremely fruitful. The friendly, laid-back Nicolai has bagged a handful of arty shots – many on show in this story – and I have just experienced the thrills of arguably the best Porsche road car ever produced.

Ultimately, it's the feeling the 911 R gives you that is most defining. Pure, uncomplicated bliss.

2016 Porsche 911 R

On sale: Sold out

Price: $404,700 (plus on-road costs)

Engine: 4.0-litre six-cylinder petrol

Power: 368kW at 8250rpm

Torque: 460Nm at 6250rpm

Transmission: Six-speed manual, rear-wheel drive

Fuel use: 13.3L/100km

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