In October 2011, Jan Kalmar, Oskar Slingerland and Thomas Fraser established a World Record by being the first people to drive the longest possible distance inside the same line of latitude in Eurasia. The team started from the Pointe de Corsen – the most western part of Continental France (48´24´53N / 04´47´40 W) and drove to the Krasny Partizan Lighthouse on the Tatar Strait, at the Far East Russian city of Sovetskaya Gavan (48´58´31 N / 140´23´19 E). The Team set a record driving the Longest Continuous Distance on a line of latitude in 5 DAYS, 21 HOURS, 14 minutes and covered 7,959 MILES.

 

When and where? 

The team launched at 0800 CET on the 13th October 2011 from Pointe de Corsen.

 

The Route?

 The team drove north, via the Baltic States and entered Russia at the Latvian border. From there the team took the straightest and fastest roads possible heading east and reached Sovetskaya Gavan and the lighthouse at St. Nicholas’ Point on Russias Far East Coast.

 

The Red Partizan Lighthouse? 

Locally known as Mys Krasnyy Partizan (St. Nicholas Point). This is the only 19th-century lighthouse of Khabarovsk Krai. The keepers were killed by an invading white (anti-Communist) army in 1919. The cape was renamed “Red Partisan.” Located on a prominent cape jutting into the Tartar Strait on the east side of Sovetskaya Gavan, about 6 km (3.5 mi) southeast of the harbor entrance.

 

The world record in numbers: 

Track length: 13,500 km Crossed countries: 6 (France, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia) Duration: 5 day and 21 hours and 14 min Time at rest: 15 hours, 31 mins (including 4 hours for crossing border to Russia and a 2 hour traffic jam, 2 hours showering in Kazan and 1 hour at McDonald’s) Longest distance driving on any one day was 2,640km Average speed: 90.7 Km/h. Repairs: 1 tire