Rainer Zietlow

Rainer Zietlow is a German world record holder, long distance driver and owner of the Challenge4 agency in Mannheim, Germany. Six of his long-distance records and two altitude records are or were officially registered at Guinness World Records.

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.

Challenge4 In 2004 Rainer Zietlow founded the agency Challenge4 GmbH. It specializes in the planning and realization of international long-distance and record-breaking tours. Since 2005, the agency has run 20 successful projects.

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.

World record and long distance rides (2005 to present) YearTourTeam1996Round-the-world trip visiting all cities with the name “Coburg” in a Land Rover Defender.Rainer Zietlow2005Guinness World Record for reaching a height of at Ojos del Salado in Chile's Atacama Desert with a standard Volkswagen Touareg. Rainer Zietlow, Ronald Bormann, Ingo Barensche, Matthias Merz, Florian Hilpert, Steffen Schmidt, Stefan Urlass, Hans-Jürgen Cordes2006/2007Guinness 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 . Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz, Florian Hilpert, Falk Gunold 2007Long-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 . Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz2009Visiting all 800 natural gas filling stations within Germany in 80 days in a natural gas-powered Volkswagen Passat TSI EcoFuel. Distance: around . Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz2009First 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 Rainer Zietlow, Franz Janusiewicz, Benny Wagener, Roman Huber, Leopold Freund2010Long-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 . Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela2011First 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 in 11 days and 17 hours. Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Carlos Fernandez2012World 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 in 17 days and 18 hours. Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Vadim Gagarin2013Guinness 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 . Rainer Zietlow, Gannadij Paramonov, Alexey Vorobiev, Alexander Nesterov, Andrey Ivanov, Ilya Novikov, Alexey Simakin, Rafael Usmanov, Denis Solomovich2014Long-distance trip from Norway to South Africa in a Volkswagen Touareg. Distance: around . Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Matthias Prillwitz 2015Cape 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 in 9 days and 4 hours. Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Sam Roach2016World 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 in 6 days and 9 hours. Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Petr Bakanov 2017World record drive along the ancient Silk Road from Shanghai, China, to Venice, Italy, via Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Iran in a Volkswagen Tiguan. Distance: around in 5 days and 18 hours. Rainer Zietlow, Petr Bakanov, Dmitriy Makarov 2018Long-distance drive from Bratislava, Slovakia, to the Volkswagen Touareg world premiere in Beijing, China, in a Volkswagen Touareg Prototype. Distance: around . Rainer Zietlow, Rodion Baranov, Alexandre Pogodin2018Long-distance drive from Beijing, China, back to Wolfsburg, Germany, with two Volkswagen Touaregs and accompanying journalists. Distance: around . Rainer Zietlow, Rodion Baranov2019Second 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 in 10 days and 19 hours. Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Nelson Scarabela2020World record for the longest distance driven within one country (Germany) in an all-electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.3. Distance: about in 65 days with stops at 830 Volkswagen dealers and 650 charging stations over 60 kW. Rainer Zietlow, Dominic Brüner2021Guinness World Record for the longest distance driven within a country (USA) by an all-electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.4. Distance around in 97 days with stops at 628 American Volkswagen dealers. Rainer Zietlow, Derek Collins2022Guinness World Record for the greatest height above sea level with an all-electric vehicle, the Volkswagen ID.4. An altitude of was reached at the Uturuncu volcano, Bolivia. Rainer Zietlow, Cristian Órdenes, Pedro Abarca, Alvaro Rojas 2023First 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. Rainer Zietlow, Derek Collins2023Guinness 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). Rainer Zietlow, Elric Popp2023First all-electric journey from Geneva, Switzerland to Doha, Qatar with ferry crossing from Lavrio, Greece to Amman, Jordan in two Volkswagen ID.BUZZ, around 6,800 km. Rainer Zietlow, Frank M. Rinderknecht, Anouk Köpfer, Camillo Pohl 2024Guinness Word Record for the largest GPS drawing by an electric battery powered car, set in Australia by replicating the logo of Volkswagen Australia's 70th anniversary. To achieve this, 33,548 kilometers were covered in a Volkswagen ID.4 GTX within 43 days. The actual record is the distance for the drawing: 23,849 km Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela2024Guinness Word Record for fastest time to cross all ten Australian deserts in a petrol-and-diesel-powered production pick-up truck. In 6 days, 10 hours and 15 minutes, 6,241 kilometres were covered in a VW Amarok V6 Diesel. Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Brad Howes