Skip to main content

Volkswagen Touareg Reaches Southern Tip of Africa in Record Time

Great challenges for car and team en route from the North Cape in Norway to Cape Agulhas in South Africa




As in the early hours of 21st September he set off from the North Cape (Norway) for the southern tip of South Africa, the primary goal of this latest project for long-distance record holder Rainer Zietlow from Mannheim was to test out the robustness of his Volkswagen Touareg. The journey was involuntarily interrupted by an accident caused by another driver. Following a workshop stop in Tanzania, East Africa, he and his team nevertheless reached Cape Agulhas yesterday evening in record time.


The German adventurer, who with his Volkswagen Touareg also holds the world records on the Pan-American Highway and the eastern Melbourne-St. Petersburg axis, has thus also set the new long-distance record for this route through Europe and Africa. At 21 days, 16 hours and 36 minutes, he beat the time of 28 days, which was last set as the world record in 1984. If you take away the time for the repair, the trip of around 17,000 kilometres was actually covered in just 8 days, 10 hours and 26 minutes.


Zietlow and his co-drivers Marius Biela and Matthias Prillwitz were perfectly on time when on the sixth day of the journey they were involved through no fault of their own in an accident in Tanzania. “Nobody was injured, but when I saw the car, I thought we’d have to give up,” recalls Zietlow. “However, it soon became clear in the garage that the engine and gearbox had remained intact – so we still wanted to see what we could achieve.” Using Volkswagen original parts, the mechanics in Tanzania were able to repair the Touareg for the final stage from Inringa, where the accident occurred, to Cape Agulhas.




The post Volkswagen Touareg Reaches Southern Tip of Africa in Record Time appeared first on VWVortex.






from VWVortex http://ift.tt/1z7jk2g

via IFTTT
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Saying Goodbye to the CC V6

For all its size and its global reach, Volkswagen is still, in many ways, a deeply human company. There was, for instance, the Bugatti Veyron an ego project if ever there was one. Then the purchase of Ducati, a move most called folly. And then there was the Phaeton, the Volkswagen that most folks can’t afford. Not only were these moves all strange, I’m sure that they made VW’s accountants furious. None of them made good business sense, but they were all deeply interesting and they all are evidence of the heart that beats at the center of VW. Among these follies is the CC, a car that everyone agrees is rakishly handsome, but that no one really wanted to buy. The car couldn’t last, but the world is brighter for its having been in it. With the approach debut of the Arteon, it seems like a good time to look back on its sadly departing predecessor. The version I drove, because I live in Canada, is a V6 Wolfsburg Edition, which apparently isn’t available in the States. Nor is the V6, not as...
Post a Comment
Read more

WRC: Volkswagen Motorsport Still Lead the Way Despite Luckless Rally Argentina

Volkswagen’s winning run ends after seven victories and 20 podiums in a row Power Stage victory: “El Cóndor” goes to Sébastien Ogier Eight of twelve stage wins – Polo R WRC sets the pace at the Rally Argentina Volkswagen Motorsport suffered a disappointing result at the fourth round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC), but still goes into the coming rally in Portugal leading the Manufacturer, Driver and Co-Driver standings in the World Championship. The toughest rally of the year saw a podium bereft of a Volkswagen driver for the first time since the Rally Australia in 2013. However, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer can look back proudly on a remarkable run of success that included 20 podiums and seven victories in a row. Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia (F/F) did manage to win the Power Stage on the final day to pick up three valuable points towards the World Championship. The Volkswagen duos also won eight of the twelve special stages with the Polo R WRC. Andreas Mikkel...
Post a Comment
Read more

More 3.0-Liter TDI Settlement Details Expected by January 31

Volkswagen and the TDI Plaintiff’s Steering Committee were in court today for another status conference following the agreement in principal reached earlier this week. Little new information was given at the conference held before Judge Charles Breyer today, but the court ordered the parties to develop a formal settlement agreement, class action notices, and a class notice plan by January 31, 2017. For now, though, owners still don’t know how much to expect in compensation. Elizabeth Cabraser, lead Counsel for the Plaintiff’s Steering Committee reaffirmed in a statement today that the compensation would be “substantial.” The potential cost to Volkswagen is widely reported to exceed $1 billion, though, with an additional $225 million going into an environmental trust to help offset excess emissions. Buy back offers are still only expected for the oldest 20,000 of the roughly 80,000 VW Group vehicles sold in America with the 3.0-liter TDI engine. Those vehicles are mostly SUVs, like ...
Post a Comment
Read more