TDI Panamericana

[haven]

The map on the TDI-Panamericana web site shows the time when the GPS coodrinates were recorded. The first GPS reading is on 2 July at 6:30am outside the government building in downtown Ushuaia. The time must be Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The web site says the team departed about 4am, and Ushuaia time is UTC - 3 hours.

The GPS reading at the northern end of the road, which is just north of Deadhorse, Alaska, was made on 14 July at 1:00am. Since Deadhorse is UTC - 8 hours during daylight savings time, that would be 13 July at 5:00pm local time.

Counting on fingers and toes, the drive took 11 days, 18 hours and 30 minutes. That's 11.77 days, or 282.5 hours. If the road is 15,000 miles long, the Touareg's average speed would be a little more than 53 mph.

The reason I bother posting these calculations is because in the last video blog entry, the project leader, Rainer Zietlow, says the trip took 14 days. Now I'm confused!

Project sponsors are wasting no time using the trip in their advertising. Here's the Continental Tire web site, showing Zietlow and the Touareg front and center
http://www.conti-online.com/generator/www/us/en/continental/automobile/general/home/index_en.html

 

[haven]

The web page www.tdi-americana.com has been updated with the record time: 11 days, 17 hours, 22 minutes for the drive from Ushuaia to Deadhorse, Alaska. That's about 3 days faster than the previous record. (Anyone know who the previous record holder is?)

That's an hour shorter than the time I calculated. I think that's because the team drove west from Ushuaia to the actual end of the Panamerican Highway, located at the entrance to Tierra Del Fuego National Park (a beautiful spot to visit, and a great location to view the Magellanic Woodpecker). That took about an hour from the time the trip map shows the team starting in front of the municipal building in downtown Ushuaia. So the drive north started at 5:30am local time.

The team also set a record for good luck on a long distance drive. They encountered very little bad weather (a dust storm in Chile, and a few hours of rain along the road), and had no mechanical difficulties. One of the video blogs mentions that a brake disc and caliper were replaced in the stop at the VW factory in Puebla, Mexico, but it was a precaution. There is no mention of flat tires. Were they shielding their sponsor, Continental, from possible bad publicity?

No official word yet about official miles driven, average speed or fuel consumption.

 

[haven]

VW of America is taking the record-setting Touareg on a tour of the USA. Check the schedule to see if the vehicle will be in your area. Note that the dates are displayed in European style, so 31.07.2011 means July 31st, for example.

http://www.tdi-panamericana.com/roadshow.php

Here's a video showing the Touareg rolling across the North Slope and into Deadhorse at the conclusion of their adventure.

 

[OutsideFamily]

So I've not been keeping up on reading the forum this summer, but I just met Rainer and saw his Touareg. He is on his road-tour promoting and recruiting sponsors for his next trip. Nice guy, definitely was a high-budget trip. Had to come here and read up on the details.

 

[haven]

I missed him when he stopped in Sunnyvale CA last week.

I did get the dealer to find out the tire size used during the journey.
They used prototype Continental CrossContact LX20 tires, 265/70 on a 17" rim.
The Touareg comes standard in USA with a 255/55R18 tire.

 

[J-man]

Wow, and i thought my fastest time from tijuana to cabo in 22 hrs was amazing, these guys rule. This is my kind of adventure - haull some azzz till u get where you want to go. Good for them.