Rainer Zietlow
![Porträt Rainer Zietlow, 2019](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Rainer_Zietlow_Portrait_2019.jpg/220px-Rainer_Zietlow_Portrait_2019.jpg)
![VW Touareg Ojos del Salado (Chile) at the world altitude record by Rainer Zietlow, 2005](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a8/High_Altitude_World_Record_2005_by_Rainer_Zietlow.jpg/220px-High_Altitude_World_Record_2005_by_Rainer_Zietlow.jpg)
![Amarok Polar Expedition 2013, Rainer Zietlow and others](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Amarok_Polar_Expedition_2013_by_Rainer_Zietlow_and_others.jpg/220px-Amarok_Polar_Expedition_2013_by_Rainer_Zietlow_and_others.jpg)
![Cape to Cape Tour from South Africa to Norway, Rainer Zietlow 2015](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/Cape_to_Cape_Tour_2015_Rainer_Zietlow.jpg/220px-Cape_to_Cape_Tour_2015_Rainer_Zietlow.jpg)
![ID.4 USA Tour by Rainer Zietlow 2021](http://178.128.105.246/content-http-upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6e/ID.4_USA_Tour_2021_by_Rainer_Zietlow.jpg/220px-ID.4_USA_Tour_2021_by_Rainer_Zietlow.jpg)
Rainer Zietlow (German pronunciation: [ˈʁaɪnɐ ˈtsiːtloː]) is a German world record holder, long distance driver and owner of the Challenge4 agency in Mannheim, Germany. Four of his long-distance records and two altitude records are or were officially registered at Guinness World Records.
Activities
[edit]In 1988 Rainer Zietlow crossed the Sahara to Niger in a Mercedes 230. In 1990 he crossed the Sahara to Cameroon in a Toyota Land Cruiser BJ 55. In 1996 Rainer Zietlow drove around the world in a Land Rover Defender 110 in six months.[1]
Challenge4
[edit]In 2004 Rainer Zietlow founded the agency Challenge4 GmbH.[2] It specializes in the planning and realization of international long-distance and record-breaking tours. Since 2005, the agency has run 20 successful projects.[3]
SOS Children's Village
[edit]With a few exceptions, Rainer Zietlow has supported the international children's aid organization SOS Children's Villages since 2004 with each of his world record or long-distance tours by handing over a donation during a village visit on site.[4][5]
World record and long distance rides (2005 to present)
[edit]Year | Tour | Team |
2005 | Guinness World Record for reaching a height of 6,081 m (19,951 ft) at Ojos del Salado in Chile's Atacama Desert with a standard Volkswagen Touareg.[6] | Rainer Zietlow, Ronald Bormann, Ingo Barensche, Matthias Merz, Florian Hilpert, Steffen Schmidt, Stefan Urlass, Hans-Jürgen Cordes |
2006/2007 | Guinness World Record for the first circumnavigation of the globe across six continents in a car powered only by natural gas, a Volkswagen Caddy EcoFuel. This included crossing Australia for the first time in a natural gas vehicle that was not registered in Australia. Distance: around 45,000 km (28,000 mi).[7] | Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz, Florian Hilpert, Falk Gunold |
2007 | Long-distance trip from Berlin, Germany, to Bangkok, Thailand, in a natural gas-powered Volkswagen Caddy EcoFuel. This included crossing China for the first time in a natural gas vehicle that was not registered in China. Distance: around 22,000 km (14,000 mi).[8] | Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz |
2009 | Visiting all 800 natural gas filling stations within Germany in 80 days in a natural gas-powered Volkswagen Passat TSI EcoFuel. Distance: around 23,700 km (14,700 mi).[9] | Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz |
2009 | First crossing of the Eurasian continent from the Atlantic (Cabo da Roca) via Russia to the Pacific (Tokyo) in a natural gas-powered Volkswagen Caddy Maxi EcoFuel. In the process, Japan was crossed for the first time in a natural gas vehicle that was not registered in Japan. Distance: around 15,000 km (9,300 mi)[10] | Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz, Benny Wagener, Roman Huber, Leopold Freund |
2010 | Long-distance journey along the Pan-American Highway from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Deadhorse, Alaska, in a natural gas-powered Volkswagen Caddy Maxi EcoFuel. This was the first time the Pan-American Highway was driven continuously by a natural gas vehicle. Distance: around 35,000 km (22,000 mi).[11] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela |
2011 | First world record drive on the Pan-American Highway from Ushuaia, Argentina, to Deadhorse, Alaska, with a Volkswagen Touareg. Vehicle and team were flown over the Darien jungle from Cartagena, Colombia, to Panama City, Panama. Distance: around 23,000 km (14,000 mi) in 11 days and 17 hours.[11][12] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Carlos Fernandez |
2012 | World record trip from Melbourne, Australia, to the twin city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, in a Volkswagen Touareg. Vehicle and team were flown between Darwin and Dilli, East Timor, and shipped between Indonesia and Malaysia on a wooden boat. Distance: around 23,000 km (14,000 mi) in 17 days and 18 hours.[13] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Vadim Gagarin |
2013 | Guinness World Record for the "Amarok Polar Expedition" a 60-day journey in Russia from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky with three converted Volkswagen Amaroks as part of a promotional tour for the Winter Olympics in Sochi 2014. Distance: around 16,000 km (9,900 mi)[14] | Rainer Zietlow, Gannadij Paramonov, Alexey Vorobiev, Alexander Nesterov, Andrey Ivanov, Ilya Novikov, Alexey Simakin, Rafael Usmanov, Denis Solomovich |
2014 | Long-distance trip from Norway to South Africa in a Volkswagen Touareg. Distance: around 18,000 km (11,000 mi).[15] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Matthias Prillwitz |
2015 | Cape to Cape world record drive from the southernmost point of South Africa, Cap Agulhas, to the northernmost point of Europe, Nordkapp, in a Volkswagen Touareg. The vehicle and the team were flown from Jordan to Turkey. Distance: around 17,500 km (10,900 mi) in 9 days and 4 hours.[16][17] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Sam Roach |
2016 | World record drive from the easternmost place in Eurasia that can be reached by highway, Magadan, Russia, to the westernmost point in Eurasia, Cabo da Roca, Portugal, in a Volkswagen Touareg. Distance: around 15,100 km (9,400 mi) in 6 days and 9 hours.[18] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Petr Bakanov |
2017 | World record drive along the ancient Silk Road from Shanghai, China, to Venice, Italy, via Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Iran in a Volkswagen Tiguan. Distance: around 12,600 km (7,800 mi) in 5 days and 18 hours.[19] | Rainer Zietlow, Petr Bakanov, Dmitriy Makarov |
2018 | Long-distance drive from Bratislava, Slovakia, to the Volkswagen Touareg world premiere in Beijing, China, in a Volkswagen Touareg Prototype. Distance: around 16,500 km (10,300 mi).[20][21] | Rainer Zietlow, Rodion Baranov, Alexandre Pogodin |
2018 | Long-distance drive from Beijing, China, back to Wolfsburg, Germany, with two Volkswagen Touaregs and accompanying journalists. Distance: around 16,500 km (10,300 mi).[22] | Rainer Zietlow, Rodion Baranov |
2019 | Second world record drive on the Pan-American Highway from Deadhorse, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina, with a Volkswagen Amarok. Vehicle and team were flown over the Darien jungle from Panama City to Medellín, Colombia. Distance: around 23,000 km (14,000 mi) in 10 days and 19 hours.[23] | Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Nelson Scarabela |
2020 | World record for the longest distance driven within one country (Germany) in an all-electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.3. Distance: about 28,000 km (17,000 mi) in 65 days with stops at 830 Volkswagen dealers and 650 charging stations over 60 kW.[24][25] | Rainer Zietlow, Dominic Brüner |
2021 | Guinness World Record for the longest distance driven within a country (USA) by an all-electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.4. Distance around 58,000 km (36,000 mi) in 97 days with stops at 628 American Volkswagen dealers[26][27][28] | Rainer Zietlow, Derek Collins |
2022 | Guinness World Record for the greatest height above sea level with an all-electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.4. An altitude of 5,816 m (19,081 ft) was reached at the Uturuncu volcano, Bolivia[29] | Rainer Zietlow, Cristian Órdenes, Pedro Abarca, Alvaro Rojas |
2023 | First drive with an all-electric vehicle, a Volkswagen ID.4, and no support vehicle in the spring through Alaska from Homer to Deadhorse. Subsequent drive from Deadhorse to Key West, Florida.[30] | Rainer Zietlow, Derek Collins |
2023 | Guinness World Record for the fewest charge stops to cross Canada in a battery-powered electric car (St. John's - Victoria) in a Volkswagen ID.4 GTX: 18 stops (7,133 km in 7 days).[31][32] | Rainer Zietlow, Elric Popp |
References
[edit]- ^ Coburger Tageblatt, ed. (1997-02-22), In 210 Tagen ans "Ende der Welt" (in German)
- ^ "Challenge4 GmbH". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "Challenge4 GmbH – Projekte". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
- ^ "Team Zietlow spendet bei Erdgas-Fahrt für SOS-Kinderdorf" (in German). 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "Chalenge4 GmbH – Charity". Myheimat.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "The Altitude World Record Holder/The Volkswagen Touareg Conquers the Summit". NextCar. 2005. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "Around the world with CNG". Autoservicepraxis.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "From Berlin to Bangkok with CNG". Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "From Lisbon to Tokyo with CNG". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ Sebastian Viehmann (2009-12-09). "Sushi und Sibirien". Stern.de (in German). G+J Medien GmbH. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ a b Lutz Algermissel (2010-03-29). "Mit dem Erdgas-Auto die Panamericana entlang". Welt.de (in German). Axel Springer SE. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "EcoFuel TransAmerica | CHALLENGE4". www.challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "Mit dem VW Touareg in Rekordzeit von Melbourne nach St. Petersburg". Auto.de. auto.de Media GmbH. 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "From Moscow to Kamchatka". Challenge4 GMBH. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "In Rekordzeit vom Nordkap zum Südzipfel Afrikas" (in German). 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ Dana Packert (2015-09-22). "Von Kap zu Kap in 9 Tagen, 4 Stunden und 8 Minuten" (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "Touareg CapetoCape 2.0 | CHALLENGE4". www.challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "Team Zietlow: Vierte Weltrekord-Fahrt im Touareg". Motors-tv.de (in German). 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "From Shanghai to Venice". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ Sylvia Telge (2018-05-04). "Mit dem neuen Touareg nach Peking". Waz-online.de (in German). Wolfsburger Allegmeine Zeitung. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "Touareg Bratislava 2 Beijing". www.touareg-bratislava2beijing.com. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "From Beijing to Wolfsburg". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "Proyecto Panamericana: Rainer Zietlow y su Volkswagen Amarok V6 TDI establecieron un nuevo récord mundial". 16valvulas.com.ar (in Spanish). 2019-07-15. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ Franziska Albrecht (2020-12-04). "Elektro-VW ID.3 fährt 28,000 km (17,000 mi) in 2 Monaten: Das ist das Fazit des Mega-Tests". Efahrer.chip.de. BurdaForward GmbH. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
- ^ "ID.3 Germany Tour | CHALLENGE4". www.challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "Longest journey by electric vehicle (non-solar) in a single country". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
- ^ "Mit dem ID.4 quer durch die USA", Auto Motor und Sport (in German), no. Heft 2/2022, Stuttgart: Motor Presse Stuttgart GmbH & Co. KG, January 2022
- ^ Sandro Kipar (2021-11-11). "Weltrekord: In 97 Tagen 56.000 Kilometer reinelektrisch durch die USA". Next-mobility.de. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
- ^ "Volkswagen ID.4 GTX climbed 5,816 meters, breaking Guinness World Record among electric cars". The National Update. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
- ^ "Volkswagen ID.4 electric car reaches northernmost point of US Highway System for first time in Spring". EV Design & Manufacturing. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
- ^ "Fewest charge stops to cross Canada in a battery-powered electric car". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Ltd. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ^ Bell, Sebastien. "VW ID.4 Crosses Canada In Just 18 Charges, Setting World Record". carscoops.com. Carscoops. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
External links
[edit]- "Rainer Zietlow World Record Drive Dakar Moscow", YouTube, 7 July 2017
- "Neil Huffman Volkswagen Hosts the VW ID.4 USA Tour - Rainer Zietlow", YouTube, 21 August 2021
- "Rainer Zietlow, The Journey with VW Touareg", YouTube, 28 August 2013