After the two successful world record-setting drives from Tierra del Fuego to Alaska along the “Panamericana” with a record time of 11 days and 17 hours, and a second record-setting drive from Melbourne to St. Petersburg in 17 days and 11 hours, here is another attempt: This September, the team of Rainer Zietlow, Marius Biela and Matthias Prillwitz will once again attempt a new spectacular record in a Volkswagen Touareg: From Nordkapp, Norway, to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa.
The team will drive in a north-to-south direction through Europe and along the entire African continent through countries in eastern Africa. The drive starts at Nordkapp, Norway, the northernmost point of Europe, on 21 September 2014. The destination is the southernmost point of Africa, Cape Agulhas, which should be reached in around 10 days.
The route is over 17,000 km long, 97% of it paved, and it passes through the countries of Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Awaiting the adventurers are deep potholes in Sudan and Ethiopia, countless switchbacks in the African highlands and the infamous “Road of Hell” with its corrugated and volcanic rock surface in northern Kenya.
During the record drive, the team will post daily reports on their experiences at the website www.touareg-capetocape.com, and a blog will provide information about each day’s stage with photos and a brief video. The current position of the Touareg will also be shown on a virtual map that is updated every five minutes.
As in all of his previous projects since 2005, Rainer Zietlow will donate 20 euro cents per kilometer driven to two SOS Children’s Villages in Zambia and Sudan and visit both villages personally with the Touareg during this record drive. The team also supports “Food & Trees for Africa”. This South African organisation promotes sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture. Its planting of around 600 trees in a township in the vicinity of Johannesburg in October 2014 will make the entire “Touareg CapetoCape” project CO2 and climate-neutral, including the record drive and the scouting tour.
