Rainer Zietlow

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.

Porträt Rainer Zietlow, 2019
Rainer Zietlow 2019
VW Touareg Ojos del Salado (Chile) at the world altitude record by Rainer Zietlow, 2005
World Altitude Record 2005
Amarok Polar Expedition 2013, Rainer Zietlow and others
Amarok Polar Expedition 2013
Cape to Cape Tour from South Africa to Norway, Rainer Zietlow 2015
From South Africa to Norway 2015
ID.4 USA Tour by Rainer Zietlow 2021
VW ID.4 USA Tour 2021

Activities

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

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

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)
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
  1. Coburger Tageblatt, ed. (1997-02-22), In 210 Tagen ans "Ende der Welt" (in German)
  2. "Challenge4 GmbH". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  3. "Challenge4 GmbH – Projekte". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  4. "Team Zietlow spendet bei Erdgas-Fahrt für SOS-Kinderdorf" (in German). 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  5. "Chalenge4 GmbH – Charity". Myheimat.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  6. "The Altitude World Record Holder/The Volkswagen Touareg Conquers the Summit". NextCar. 2005. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  7. "Around the world with CNG". Autoservicepraxis.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  8. "From Berlin to Bangkok with CNG". Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  9. "From Lisbon to Tokyo with CNG". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  10. Sebastian Viehmann (2009-12-09). "Sushi und Sibirien". Stern.de (in German). G+J Medien GmbH. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  11. Lutz Algermissel (2010-03-29). "Mit dem Erdgas-Auto die Panamericana entlang". Welt.de (in German). Axel Springer SE. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  12. "EcoFuel TransAmerica | CHALLENGE4". www.challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  13. "Mit dem VW Touareg in Rekordzeit von Melbourne nach St. Petersburg". Auto.de. auto.de Media GmbH. 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  14. "From Moscow to Kamchatka". Challenge4 GMBH. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  15. "In Rekordzeit vom Nordkap zum Südzipfel Afrikas" (in German). 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  16. Dana Packert (2015-09-22). "Von Kap zu Kap in 9 Tagen, 4 Stunden und 8 Minuten" (in German). Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  17. "Touareg CapetoCape 2.0 | CHALLENGE4". www.challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  18. "Team Zietlow: Vierte Weltrekord-Fahrt im Touareg". Motors-tv.de (in German). 2016-07-14. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  19. "From Shanghai to Venice". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  20. Sylvia Telge (2018-05-04). "Mit dem neuen Touareg nach Peking". Waz-online.de (in German). Wolfsburger Allegmeine Zeitung. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  21. "Touareg Bratislava 2 Beijing". www.touareg-bratislava2beijing.com. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  22. "From Beijing to Wolfsburg". Challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-02-02.
  23. "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.
  24. 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.
  25. "ID.3 Germany Tour | CHALLENGE4". www.challenge4.de. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  26. "Longest journey by electric vehicle (non-solar) in a single country". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  27. "Mit dem ID.4 quer durch die USA", Auto Motor und Sport (in German), Stuttgart: Motor Presse Stuttgart GmbH & Co. KG, no. Heft 2/2022, January 2022
  28. Sandro Kipar (2021-11-11). "Weltrekord: In 97 Tagen 56.000 Kilometer reinelektrisch durch die USA". Next-mobility.de. Retrieved 2022-02-03.
  29. "Volkswagen ID.4 GTX climbed 5,816 meters, breaking Guinness World Record among electric cars". The National Update. Retrieved 2022-05-26.
  30. "Volkswagen ID.4 electric car reaches northernmost point of US Highway System for first time in Spring". EV Design & Manufacturing. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
  31. "Fewest charge stops to cross Canada in a battery-powered electric car". Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records Ltd. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
  32. Bell, Sebastien. "VW ID.4 Crosses Canada In Just 18 Charges, Setting World Record". carscoops.com. Carscoops. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
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