Tyre-less effort by Volkswagen team
PETALING JAYA: Off-roading enthusiasts will tell you that good tyres are as important as good 4X4s in making sure you don’t get stuck in difficult terrains.
That’s probably the wisdom that got Rainer Zietlow and the Challenge4 team to complete their Melbourne to St Petersburg race across nine countries in 17 days using Continental Cross Contact LX 20 all-terrain tyres on their Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDI sports utility vehicle
The Australian team, headed by Zietlow set off on their non-stop journey near the end of July to deliver a message from the mayor of Melbourne to the mayor of its twin city, St Petersburg.
Their record setting drive covering 23,000km took them from Australia to East Timor, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, China, Kazakhstan and finally Russia on Aug 13.
On certain occasions, the team had to use ferries to cross seas.
Revisiting Malaysia with his record setting Touareg on a more casual drive, Zietlow made a brief stop at Continental Tyres PJ Malaysia’s head office today.
The 43-year-old adventurer said the Cross Contact LX 20 tyres were robust enough to take the punishing road and weather conditions throughout the overland journey.
Zietlow said he only used a set of the all-terrain tyres for the entire journey which covered scorching desert and gravel roads of Australia, China and Kazakhstan as well as slippery mud covered stretches of Laos.
“I had two spare tyres which I never had to use throughout the drive,” he said.
The Touareg was mechanically standard except it has larger tyres, heavy duty suspension, rollover cage and an enlarged fuel tank.