Rainer Zietlow

Rainer Zietlow is a German world record holder, long distance driver and owner of the Challenge4 agency in Mannheim, Germany. Four of his long distance 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 19 successful projects. In doing so, it prefers to use Volkswagen Group.
== 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. Over 40,000 € have now been donated. 
== World record and long distance rides (2005 to 2021) ==
Year 	Tour 	Team
2005 	Guinness World Record for reaching a height of at Nevado Ojos del Salado in Chile's Atacama Desert with a standard VW Touareg. 	Rainer Zietlow, Ronald Bormann, Ingo Barensche, Matthias Merz, Florian Hilpert, Steffen Schmidt, Stefan Urlass, Hans-Jürgen Cordes
2006/2007	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 Januczewicz 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 . 	Rainer Zietlow, Franz Januczewicz
2009 	Visiting 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 Januczewicz
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	Rainer Zietlow, Franz Januczewicz Benny Wagener, Roman Huber, Leopold Freund
2010 	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 Biela
2011 	Cartagena, Colombia, to Panama City, Panama. Distance: around in 11 days and 17 hours. 	Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Carlos Fernandez
2012 	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 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 	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 . 	Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Matthias Prillwitz
2015 	Cape to Cape world record drive from the southernmost point of South Africa, Cape Agulhas|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 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 in 6 days and 9 hours. 	Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela, Petr Bakanov
2017 	Italiy, via Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Iran in a Volkswagen Tiguan. Distance: around in 5 days and 18 hours. 	Rainer Zietlow, Petr Bakanov, Dmitriy Makarov
2018 	Solvakia, to the Volkswagen Touareg world premiere in Beijing, China, in a Volkswagen Touareg Prototype. Distance: around . 	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 . 	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 in 10 days and 19 hours. 	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 in 65 days with stops at 830 Volkswagen dealers and 650 charging stations over 60 kW. 	Rainer Zietlow, Dominic Brüner
2021 	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 Collins
Category:World record holders