Rainer Zietlow (pronounced as /de/) 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.
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.
In 2004 Rainer Zietlow founded the agency Challenge4 GmbH.[1] It specializes in the planning and realization of international long-distance and record-breaking tours. Since 2005, the agency has run 20 successful projects.[2]
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.[3] [4]
| Year | Tour | Team | |
| 2005 | Guinness World Record for reaching a height of 6081m (19,951feet) at Ojos del Salado in Chile's Atacama Desert with a standard Volkswagen Touareg.[5] | 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 45000km (28,000miles).[6] | 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 22000km (14,000miles).[7] | 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 23700km (14,700miles).[8] | 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 15000km (9,000miles)[9] | 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 35000km (22,000miles).[10] | 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 23000km (14,000miles) in 11 days and 17 hours.[11] | 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 23000km (14,000miles) in 17 days and 18 hours.[12] | 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 16000km (10,000miles)[13] | 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 18000km (11,000miles).[14] | 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 17500km (10,900miles) in 9 days and 4 hours.[15] [16] | 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 15100km (9,400miles) in 6 days and 9 hours.[17] | 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 12600km (7,800miles) in 5 days and 18 hours.[18] | 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 16500km (10,300miles).[19] [20] | 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 16500km (10,300miles).[21] | 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 23000km (14,000miles) in 10 days and 19 hours.[22] | 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 28000km (17,000miles) in 65 days with stops at 830 Volkswagen dealers and 650 charging stations over 60 kW.[23] [24] | 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 58000km (36,000miles) in 97 days with stops at 628 American Volkswagen dealers[25] [26] | 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 5816m (19,081feet) was reached at the Uturuncu volcano, Bolivia[27] | 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.[28] | 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).[29] [30] | Rainer Zietlow, Elric Popp |