Weekend Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: Just go with the floe
Driving an Audi RS4 Avant and the e-tron GT over a frozen lake in Finland is a test of control, speed and ultimately, your ego
It’s 9.30am and the sun is just a faint orange glow above the snow-draped pine trees. Dawn is breaking, revealing the expanse of the pure white landscape slowly unfolding in front of us. It’s early February and we are at the edge of a frozen lake close to the small town of Muonio in Finland, some 160km north of the Arctic Circle. This spot will be our playground for three days. Our toys: The Audi RS4 Avant and the Audi e-tron GT.
The beauty about driving on frozen lake is that it’s absolutely flat and there is nothing to hit. No trees, no rocks or anything to crash into. All that stops you are the high snowbanks, which act as pillow- soft crash barriers. They don’t hurt your car, only your ego when you skid off the track and get beached on a mound of snow.
We start off in a large circle with the aim of holding big drifts and I’m immediately reminded why ice is such a captivating surface – its slippery, very slippery. The low threshold of grip means you don’t have to drive like a pro to drift, you can break into a slide almost at jogging speeds.
You are taught by experienced instructors on how to balance the throttle and steering angle to keep the car in a controlled drift. This is really an exercise in car control. The RS4’s are fitted with studded tyres and Audi’s famed quattro system, without which it is impossible to make it around any course, however slow.
You realise the secret to smoothly pirouetting round the multiple tracks is weight transfer. In fact, getting off the power is as important as getting on it. The trick is to abruptly lift of the throttle just before you enter a corner. This transfers the weight to the front wheels which bite into ice whilst the rear neatly steps out. Simultaneously, you have to push hard on the throttle pedal and keep the rear wheels spinning which pivots the car around the corner.
The instructors push you to go beyond your limits, and eventually you find a rhythm as you flick sideways from corner to corner just like they do in the movies. You also realise the line between grip and slip is ultra thin, so thwacking the snowbanks is something you can’t avoid. And when you’re stuck, it is embarrassing to walkie-talkie for help, more so when the tractor driver punches your event ID card to record the number of times you’ve had to be towed out. What was amazing is how well the RS4 stood up to this kind of abuse. Snow is soft, but ice is not. The Audi took some pretty hard knocks without flinching.
And after an exhilarating few days, you relive every moment over dinner (reindeer as the main course, Aurora Borealis as dessert. What a perfect way to wrap up the ballet on ice.
