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XWORLD
XWORLD: Starting signal for a world of adventure
Get on board and the fun will start
cope with anything. The level of comfort offered by
these cars makes driving even more enjoyable.
Round the world four times
At eleven o‘clock on 9 March 2008 the time had come:
the procession of vehicles taking part in the XWORLD
Tour pulled away from the starting line. The convoy
of five brightly decorated Toyota Land Cruisers and
the Toyota Hilux escort car set off with their crews for
Istanbul from the yard of HANSA-FLEX‘s HQ.
The participants were seen off at the head quarter
of the HANSA-FLEX Group in Bremen by managing
directors Uwe Buschmann and Diether Horst
Seidler, who wished them lots of enjoyment on
their exciting trip. “We see the XWORLD Tour as
a good opportunity to present HANSA-FLEX as a
company with an international flavour to it,” says
Uwe Buschmann, once again underlining the motivation
behind this adventure. “With the XWORLD
Tour we want to bring people together, to promote
understanding between them and to learn about
other cultures. This is why we will also be stopping
at HANSA-FLEX branches along the route on the different
stages of the tour. Meeting the staff based
there will offer particularly clear insights of how
people live in the region visited.”
Months before setting off, the expedition vehicles
underwent tough testing to check their suitability
for the tour: the Land Cruisers have been out and
about on Europe’s roads since the spring of last year.
The vehicles are fitted out with all conceivable extras
and special offroad equipment such as snorkels
for driving through rivers, search headlights and a
cable winch. They have been customised in this way
to offer participants maximum safety both on- and
offroad while still enjoying the trip. In the months
of preparation leading up to the tour, offroad
fans were offered the opportunity to put the cars
through their paces, as well as customers and employees
of HANSA-FLEX and journalists from trade
magazines. Their verdict was unanimous: Land
Cruisers are great to drive on motorways and ordinary
roads, but offroad they really come into their
own. Whether faced with mud, steep terrain, roads
full of potholes or river crossings, these vehicles can
Besides the adventure of passing through 34
countries on two continents, pleasure in driving
also plays a key role. In 20 months participants
will cover some 150,000 kilometres in 43 stages,
a distance that is equivalent to four times round
the earth! The longest stage, estimated to be 5,000
kilometres, extends from Kashgar to Beijing and
even the shortest, from Lhasa – the city of the Dalai
Lama – to Kathmandu, is 1,300 kilometres. The trip
takes in the sacred sites of Asia, Lake Manasarova
and Mount Kailash. These two Buddhist sanctuaries
are not normally accessible to tourists but XWORLD
has been given permission to admire them.
In their offroad vehicles participants will be passing
through spectacular sites and fascinating landscapes.
Every one of these stages represents an
expedition with its own extraordinary route.
Right at the start of the tour there is a very special
offroad trip: On the first stage of the route, Bremen
to Istanbul in 14 days, participants have to cross
eight countries, driving right through the varied
Balkan landscape, where they certainly won’t miss
out on any fun. Every further stage has its own particular
charms: Crossing the Carpathians towards
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ISSUE APRIL 2008