German team drives VW Touareg 15,000km from Magadan to Lisbon in record 154 hours Get short URLZietlow and his co-drivers, fellow cameraman Marius Biela and Russian journalist Peter Bakanov, completed their epic 15,000-kilometer journey in 6 days, 9 hours and 38 minutes. The previous world record was 8 days and 12 hours./NZKTmzJydr— Rainer Zietlow (@rainer_zietlow) July 1, 2016The mark was set in a Volkswagen Touareg 3.0 TDI V6 225 hp. The vehicle was equipped with two reserve fuel tanks. The drivers took turns at the wheel and stopped only to refuel the vehicle.The adventure began in the city of Magadan, in a remote region of Russia. The three-man team hit the road at 6am on July 1 and arrived at their final destination in downtown Lisbon at 6am on July 7, having traveled across seven countries.The team said the most difficult part of the road was the first 3,000 kilometers on the infamous gravel Kolyma Highway, also called the “Road of Bones” for its unpredictable weather and road conditions.

It took 25 hours to traverse it.The only time the car wasn’t being driven was on a ferry over the Aldan River some 1,600 kilometers after leaving Magadan, which took only about 30 minutes.“The highway between ferry and Yakutsk was difficult and from time to time flooded. It’s a dirt road with big bumps. But we managed to do this and came to the east side of Yakutsk at 07:00am,” they wrote in a blog.In Yakutsk they changed the Touareg’s heavy-duty off-road tires to more speedy ones and continued along the Lena highway./H02Zklz02S— Rainer Zietlow (@rainer_zietlow) July 3, 2016“After Kolyma this road sometimes is like autobahn, because it has long asphalt sections.”After reaching the Amour highway, the road led them directly to the west, though Buryatia to Lake Baikal, where they encountered their first traffic jams.“After Krasnoyarsk the traffic became more and more intensive. The section between Omsk, Tyumen and Kurgan cities has awful roads.”On the morning of July 5, they crossed the Urals Mountains and entered Europe (the continent).

Surprisingly, this part of the road all the way to Moscow was “much worse” due to a lot of traffic and road reconstruction. Warehouse For Sale Saratoga NyBut passing Moscow and getting to the EU through Belarus appeared a much easier task.Light Bulb Dxf/mZdF1V2Izx— Rainer Zietlow (@rainer_zietlow) July 4, 2016The team entered Poland on the early morning of July 6 and 24 hours later they celebrated a World Record Tour in the capital of Portugal, crossing the European Union from east to west in a matter of a day.Samsung Cyclonic Vacuum Cleaner ReviewRainer Zietlow is famous for taking part in challenging expeditions crossing both Americas from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska, from Melbourne in Australia to Russia’s Saint Petersburg, from South Africa’s Cape Agulhas to Nordcape in Norway.We've done it!!

6 days 9 hours and 38 minutes #magadanlisbon!! /OMmkPo9nV3— Rainer Zietlow (@rainer_zietlow) July 8, 2016In 2013, Zietlow participated in the Moscow-Yakutsk-Anadyr-Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky rally, crossing Russia to its most distant city in the Pacific region.Explore Moving Vehicles, Off Road Vehicles, and more!Tom's Hardware At The NWAPA Mudfest Hyundai Santa Fe Sport Mini Cooper S Paceman Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged And The Winners Are... Tom's Hardware spent two days at DirtFish Rally School testing 23 different SUVs and crossovers with 30 other automotive journalists. At the end of the event, we helped crown one contender the Northwest Outdoor Activity Vehicle of the Year. Every year, the Northwest Automotive Press Association (NWAPA) hosts Mudfest, a gathering of regional journalists and manufacturer reps to evaluate more than 20 off-road-capable vehicles on pavement and dirt courses. For 2013, the event was held at DirtFish Rally School in Snoqualmie, Washington.

The 310-acre playground with three specially-designed courses simulated extreme driving conditions the entrants might be expected to encounter out in the wild. I was inducted into the NWAPA shortly before the event, garnering a spot amongst 30 other automotive journalists present for the two-day event. There were 23 vehicles present for Mudfest, broken down into five different classes: compact, luxury compact, family, luxury, and off-road. Testing was spread across two days. The first day included on-pavement testing. DirtFish put together an autocross course on their skid pad and kept it wet on a rare beautiful sunny day in Washington, allowing everyone to test performance with common weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest. Drivers were required to leave the DirtFish grounds and test their vehicles on the street to get a feel for them on the road. The second day was filled with off-road testing on a dirt course put together by DirtFish. It included plenty of mud, ruts, and gravel.

There were actually two off-road courses. One simulated the worst of dirt service roads, trails, or a leisurely camping trip. The harder course required real piloting skill to take advantage of locking differentials, great axle articulation capabilities, and approach angles. Only three vehicles qualified for the more difficult setup. All of the journalists were required to drive every vehicle in both scenarios. As there were only 23 vehicles and 31 journalists, it was a game of musical cars. Each member of the press spent about 20 minutes in each car per day. Because our time was limited, the automotive testing we'd normally do for Tom's Hardware had to be brief. We did, however, bring along a fourth-gen iPad to test compatibility with the Lightning connector and an HTC Droid DNA for Bluetooth pairing and Bluetooth MAP compatibility testing. Our autocross playground at DirtFish Rally School The vehicles entered are listed below and organized by class. 2013 Ford Escape Titanium 4WD2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport AWD 2.0T2014 Mazda CX5 Grand Touring AWD2013 Mini Cooper S Paceman ALL42013 Subaru XV Crosstrek 2.0i Premium