Volkswagen Amarok Sets New Off Road Record

by AGUSTIN JIMENEZ Four Wheeler Magazine

Over 60 Days and Almost 10,000 miles through the Russian Outback

Volkswagen has just broken a huge off-road record for the longest off-road trek in a single country using three custom Volkswagen Amaroks to cross almost 10,000 miles from Moscow to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky o help promote the 2014 Winter Olypics. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is one of the worlds largest cities and it sits on the Bering Sea but getting there is no walk in the park and since there are no roads leading to it, Volkswagen's record breaking run was not for the weak.

The almost 10,000 mile trek began in the Russian capitol Moscow where three Volkswagen Amoroks pickups equipped with huge lifts and giant tires departed on an over 60 day journey to reach the Bering Sea. Of course having giant tires is practically a requirement if you don't want to get stuck in the freezing deep Russian snow. The team traveled across Lake Baikal which was frozen over abput three feet thick. Luckily the Amoroks made it through without incident but the same could not be said when they reached Lultin Pass, where the crew managed to get stuck in the deep Russian snow. Although getting stuck did set them back, the team was able to work together to recover the stuck vehicles and push in toward the ultimate goal.

You would think that spinning tires that large would be a huge undertaking especially when it's well below 40 degrees below-zero for most of the day but it turned out to be nothing the 2.0-liter Turbo diesel Volkswagen Amorok engines couldn't handle.

We're not sure we'd be as willing to brave the elements while crossing nearly two thirds of the frozen Russian backcountry in the dead of winter but if we had to, we wouldn't hesitate to do it in one of these beefed up Volkswagen Amorok trucks. After all, Amarok is Inuit for 'Arctic Wolf' and this was one wolf pack that couldn't be stopped by thick snow and icy conditions.