Take note: 17 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes is the all-new world record for a trip spanning from Melbourne, Australia, to St. Petersburg Russia. The trip was performed with a Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDI and spanned 23,000 kilometers (14,000 miles), nine different countries and over two major bodies of water.
The Australian team, headed by Rainer Zietlow set off on their non-stop journey near the end of July to deliver a special message from the mayor of Melbourne to the mayor of St. Petersburg (although we think an e-mail would have sufficed).
The letter from the Mayor was in regards to their two cities good standing partnership since 1989.
The diesel-powered off-roader was able to conquer some of the roughest terrain along the way and allowed them minimal fuel stops thanks to an 8.2lt/100km (29 mpg US) rating and an extra fuel tank.
Completing a new world record, the team arrived in St. Petersburg on August 13th at 11:00 P.M.
Check out some videos and pictures of Zietlow and his team right after the break.
By Jeff Perez
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