A stock VW Touareg has set a new record for “the greatest average speed developed by a stock car over the 1,000 km distance of Lake Baikal” in Russia.
On April 21 the Russian Book of Records officially confirmed the result of the VW Touareg, which was set on March 20-21 on the frozen surface of Lake Baikal by 14-time motor sports record-holder Andrey Leontyev and ice captain Alexander Burmeister.
They used a stock 204PS (201hp) VW Touareg 3.0 V6 TDI without the Off-Road package, equipped with the Michelin Latitude X-Ice North 2+ tires.
The crew covered the 1,037-km (644-mile) route in 19 hours and 16 minutes with a general average speed of 46 km/h (28.6 mph) as measured by the GPS. Their average speed in motion was 69 km/h (43 mph).
The team followed a looped route of ranging from the southern end of Lake Olkhon to the northernmost point of Lake Baikal (the village of Nizhneangarsk), before returning to the start point. Over the entire trip, the SUV did not leave the ice surface and only stopped at score and refueling points. It also had to stop when there was zero visibility.
“We drove across the entire Baikal to the North and back — through cracks, ice hummocks, snow… We moved almost across the entire Baikal where the weather changes 24 times in 24 hours,” said Andrey Leontyev.