The Ultimate Road Trip: from Dakar to Moscow in less than 4 days
Celebrating the launch of the new Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure, Goodyear supports Rainer Zietlow to drive 8,000 kilometers from Dakar to Moscow, in a world record time of less than 4 days.
On April 22nd, Rainer and his co-drivers will start the world record attempt, driving their Volkswagen Amarok, fitted with the recently launched Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure tires, from Dakar to Moscow in four days or less.
Because of the demanding on-and off-road aspect of the journey, Rainer Zietlow selected Goodyear’s new Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure. He will put the new tires to the test: from finding grip in the sandy desert of the Sahel region, to providing the much-needed mileage and strength on the tricky roads of Eastern Europe.
Winning team
Goodyear and Rainer Zietlow share a common heritage of establishing spectacular world records: driving from Norway to South-Africa in 2014, improving the same record in 2015 and finally driving from Russia to Portugal in 2016. With five long distance world records to his name, Rainer is about to embark on his sixth world record attempt.
This year the journey will take him through 10 countries: Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia. He will cross the Mediterranean by ferry from Tanger to Tarifa. A total of 8000 km in less than 4 days.
As he did with his previous challenges, Zietlow will donate the funds he raises to the charity SOS Children’s Village in Senegal which he will visit just before the world record run. Rainer Zietlow will donate around 1,500 euros, which is roughly 20 eurocents per kilometer driven.
Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure
The Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure is built with an ultra-strong Kevlar® fiber overlay. This re-enforces the tread, offering the rugged strength needed to help preventing punctures and cuts for a more confident off-road driving experience. This feature is reinforced by the Durawall™ Technology, which improves the resistance against punctures and cuts in the sidewall area.
Goodyear engineers optimized the tread design for an even pressure distribution across the footprint, resulting in excellent mileage and great on-road performance. DEKRA test results reveal that the Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure has, on average, a 37% better mileage performance than other tested tires[1].
“The Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure is our latest tire to carry the legacy of the award-winning Wrangler family,” says Martijn de Jonge, Brand Director Consumer PBU EMEA at Goodyear. “The tire’s improved toughness, versatility and increased mileage[2] will support Rainer and his team brilliantly during this demanding challenge.”
“With Goodyear as a partner we have reliable tires that offer the on-and off-road performance that we will definitely need. The Kevlar® reinforced Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure’s durability is a huge help when attempting to establish a new world record,” adds Rainer Zietlow.
About Goodyear
Goodyear is one of the world's largest tire companies. It employs approximately 66,000 people and manufactures its products in 48 facilities in 21 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear or its products, go to www.goodyear.eu.
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[1] Driven on front and rear axle, compared to the average performance of 3 competitor designs in SUV/ 4x4 segment (Bridgestone Dueler A/T, Dunlop GrandTrek AT3, General Grabber A/T). Tested by Dekra in Dec 2016 by order of Goodyear. Test Car Toyota Hilux 2.4- 4x4, tire size 265/65 R17 112T/S. Test location: Dekra Testing Center (FP01B), France. Report/Test ref. 16CPB34-389, Wear limit = 1.6 mm for all grooves. Front Axle, Wrangler AT/A is 49% better and on rear Axle Wrangler AT/A is 25% better than average of tested competition, therefore average is 37% better than average of tested competitors.
Kevlar® is a registered trademark of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
[2] Compared to predecessor