After three successful world-record drives with the same Touareg, Rainer Zietlow and his team were keen to put themselves to the test again: this time, they were looking for a new challenge on the Eurasian continent and, in just six and a half days, drove from the eastern Russian town of Magadan to the Portuguese capital Lisbon. As a result, Zietlow and his team secured another world record with their Touareg V6 TDI (1). This vehicle has so far seen the team travel from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska in 11 days, 17 hours along the “Panamerica”, from Melbourne to St Petersburg (“Russtralia”) in 17 days, 11 hours, and from South Africa to Norway (“Cape to Cape 2.0”) in 9 days, 4 hours.
This time, the trip against the clock took the team comprising Rainer Zietlow, cameraman Marius Biela and Russian journalist Petr Bakanov, in an east-west direction through Russia and Europe. They set off on 1 July 2016 at 6.20 in the morning from Magadan, a port on the Sea of Okhotsk in Magadan Oblast. It is the most easterly town in Russia still connected to the road network.
The first 3,000 kilometres were in fact also the most difficult of the entire tour and took the team over the Kolyma Highway, parts of which are unsurfaced. This section of the route is notorious for its unpredictable weather and road conditions – or as the locals say: “Anything may happen or then again perhaps nothing.”
The tour led Zietlow’s team via Yakutsk, Ulan-Ude, along Lake Baikal and over the Urals to Minsk, from where they continued their record-breaking drive in Europe after somewhat more than 4 days.
A little more than one day was all the record-breakers then needed for the remaining section through Poland, Germany, France, Spain and Portugal, arriving in Lisbon at precisely six o’clock on the morning of 7 July 2016. This meant that Zietlow had needed six days and nine hours for the entire distance of 15,145 kilometres and had thus not only set up a new world record but also beaten the previous best mark by more than two days.
Rainer Zietlow’s Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDI is a production vehicle which had of course been prepared for such extreme demands. For instance, two additional tanks were installed, allowing a range of up to 3,000 kilometres. To compensate for the increased weight, the suspension was reinforced and all-terrain tyres fitted. Furthermore, several additional headlights provided the necessary illumination during the night stages.
During the record drive, the team posted daily reports on their experiences at the website www.touareg-eurasia.com, and a blog also provided information about each day’s stage with photos and a brief video. The current position of the Touareg was also shown on a virtual map that was updated every thirty minutes.
As is the case with all of his projects involving Volkswagen vehicles since 2005, Rainer Zietlow also made a donation to the international charitable organisation SOS Children’s Villages. Ten euro cents for each kilometre travelled – making a total of 1,515 euros – went to the SOS Children’s Village “Marina Gorka” near Minsk, to which Zietlow paid a personal visit during his scout tour in June 2016.
Fuel value
1) Touareg V6 TDI 193 kW – Fuel consumption in l/100 km: 6,9–6,6 (combined);
CO2-emissions in g/km: 180-174 (combined); efficiency class: B