Extra-large fuel tank filled? Check. All-terrain tires properly inflated? Check. Snacks purchased? Check! Everything is coming together for the TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge, and driver extraordinaire Rainer Zietlow couldn’t be more excited to get behind the wheel of his Touareg TDI Clean Diesel. He’ll be blogging his firsthand accounts throughout the challenge—here’s his first report from the road:
June 23rd, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Yesterday, I finally reunited with the rest of my team, Carlos and Marius who arrived at Buenos Aires International Airport after a long flight. We are now ready and full of excitement to start the TDI-Panamericana Endurance Challenge. The entire day of June 22nd was spent taking pictures and shooting our first video for the website. The team’s morale is very high; everyone knows now that the start date of June 29th is getting closer and closer. After such a long period of preparation, we are very excited to see the project become a reality.
Last week, I drove the Touareg TDI Clean Diesel a few thousand kilometers through Argentina to make sure it could withstand the rough Latin American road conditions. Once again, I’m now fully convinced that the VW Touareg TDI was the right choice of vehicle for this kind of project. An endurance challenge of this magnitude requires a vehicle that can handle all different types of terrain, traffic and climate conditions.
In the evening, we had our first team meeting and enjoyed authentic Argentinean steaks.
We will stay in Buenos Aires until the 25th of June before heading towards the TDI-Panamericana starting point in Ushuaia, Argentina.
I would like to thank all the sponsors, partners, friends and colleagues who made this great endurance challenge possible.
Look for my next blog post on June 27th. –Rainer
You can follow Rainer’s adventures online at www.tdi-panamericana.com, where you’ll find a map and live streaming video to show the Touareg’s real-time progress on the route, as well as photos and videos documenting the journey from start to finish.
Tell us: how do you prepare for a road trip?
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