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There is serious competition in this amazing discipline. The current world record is 69 thousand kilometers – the Indians took such a unique route across their country. To beat it, the Russian run started on April 8, 2024 at VDNKh in Moscow. There are only two cars, both made in Russia: [Москвич 3](https://motor.ru/testdrives/moskvich3test.htm) and [Lada Vesta SW Cross](https://motor.ru/testdrives/lada-vesta-cvt-2024.htm). They were purchased at a retail chain, and their manufacturers did not sponsor the expedition.
LAV Racing We talked about the interim results of the expedition in the summer, when it crossed the “equator”, 50 thousand kilometers. Let us remind you that the author of the idea was Andrei Leontyev, a journalist, motor sportsman, multiple Russian record holder in motor sports. Readers of “Motor” know him at least from the Days of Speed ​​on the Ice of Lake Baikal. Leontyev’s partner is world boxing champion and two-time world champion in powerboating, Russian record holder in motorsports, public figure, children’s ombudsman and philanthropist Nina Abrosova.
LAV Racing Expedition vehicles in Arkhangelsk. In each region, travelers visited not only “points of interest”, but also interesting people who contributed to the development of their small homeland. This is one of the goals of the entire run. Three more – actually setting a world record, conducting a full audit of the country’s attractions, road routes and tourist infrastructure, as well as recreating and expanding the famous collection of color photographs of Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky.
LAV Racing Severomorsk, Murmansk region
LAV Racing Yaroslavl, Cordiant plant, one of the sponsors of the expedition. Interestingly, sponsorship for the Russian tire company did not turn into a simple conversion of certain amounts into stickers on the sides of cars. These were actually accelerated tests of tires on all types of roads that exist in the country. We started on the summer Cordiant Gravity, and when snow fell, they were changed to Snow Cross 2. We have details about both models [уже рассказывали](https://motor.ru/lab/cordiant-2023-overview.htm) earlier, but now let’s note an interesting fact. The summer sets have covered 60 thousand kilometers and, perhaps, would have lasted longer if the time had not come to change shoes for the “winter.” Of course, the expedition tires were taken to the Cordiant research center for detailed study.
LAV Racing The village of Vyatskoye, Yaroslavl region, has already gained numerous fans – it is called “the most beautiful village in Russia.” In the photo, the expedition vehicles stopped in front of the depot of the Vyatka Free Fire Brigade. Or rather, a cultural center, which was opened in a renovated building in 2013.
LAV Racing Karmadon Gorge, North Ossetia. The place of death of the film crew of Sergei Bodrov.
LAV Racing Alan Assumption Monastery, North Ossetia. This Orthodox monastery is considered the highest in Russia.
LAV Racing Tver region. Since the start, the expedition has visited 85 regions, including the Moscow, Tula, Lipetsk, Voronezh and Rostov regions, Krasnodar Territory, Karelia, Ryazan, Tambov and Belgorod regions, the Republic of Adygea, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Ingushetia, Dagestan and Chechnya, Republic of Karelia, St. Petersburg, as well as Astrakhan, Saratov, Smolensk, Tver, Novgorod, Leningrad, Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Yaroslavl, Magadan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Chita regions, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Primorsky Territory, Republic Buryatia, Khabarovsk Territory, Republic of Tatarstan and others.
LAV Racing The reusable spacecraft “Buran” at the Voenfilm-Medyn film studio in the Kaluga region looks quite sad. But this is a real flight prototype No. 2.01, while at VDNKh, for example, one of the early models is on display.
LAV Racing Kolyma highway – you can rarely see cars from the European part of Russia here.
LAV Racing Not the entire route ran along well-maintained roads and populated areas. Kadykchan is an abandoned urban settlement in the Susumansky district of the Magadan region. It resisted decline for a long time, but eventually became empty in the 2000s. Coal was once mined here. The village itself arose during the Great Patriotic War. It was built by prisoners, among whom was the poet Varlam Shalamov.
LAV Racing Susuman, Magadan region.
LAV Racing Magadan
LAV Racing Ivolginsky Datsan, Buryatia.
LAV Racing Vysotsk, Leningrad region.
LAV Racing Stavropol region. It is worth noting that the expedition’s track also included several already existing routes developed within the framework of the national project “Tourism and Hospitality Industry”. Thus, anyone can repeat at least part of the journey with reasonable comfort. We are talking about ready-made route guides to the regions of Russia from tourism industry experts. They contain many important points of interest. To date, 45 such routes have been developed for 50 regions. All of them are posted on the national tourism portal Travel.rf.
LAV Racing The technical finish of the expedition took place in St. Petersburg on December 4 at around 100,992 kilometers. Andrey Leontyev: “The main conclusion we made: today in our country you can get into any car somewhere near the Norwegian border on the Kola Peninsula – and quite calmly finish in Vladivostok, while driving through the North Caucasus, the Urals, Khakassia, and even stopping at BAM. This is possible, and everything is there for this.”
LAV Racing The final point was set on December 18th. The expedition team at the site of the Rossiya National Center in Moscow. The final mileage figure: 101,853 kilometers. It has already been recorded by the Russian Book of Records. One day, we hope, this result will be verified by the Guinness Book of Records.
LAV Racing

100 thousand kilometers? A passenger car can achieve this mileage in about five years. And the expedition “100,000 kilometers of opportunities” did this in less than 8 months. But that’s not what the record is about – there were no time restrictions, and the trip was essentially ethnographic. What’s more important is that this is technically the longest unclosed automobile mileage in history within one country.

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