A frozen lake in Arctic Finland is the playground for an unforgettable expertise behind the wheel of an Audi RS4 Avant.
Revealed On Apr 28, 2024 08:00:00 AM
It’s 9:30am and the solar is only a faint orange glow above the snow-draped pine bushes. Daybreak is gently breaking, revealing the sheer expanse of the pure white panorama slowly unfolding in entrance of us. It’s early February and we’re on the fringe of a pristine frozen lake near the small city of Muonio in Finland, some 160km north of the Arctic Circle. This spot shall be our playground for the subsequent three days, and our toys would be the Audi RS4 Avant and e-tron GT, serving up an unforgettable cocktail of energy and ice.
Over 10km of tracks are etched on an unspoilt ice lake.
And it’s all about ice – not simply the frozen variety that lays the inspiration for essentially the most magical driving expertise, but in addition the sort that’s quickly disappearing, destined to fade within the years to return: the inner combustion engine (ICE). Meet the Audi RS4 Avant, which belts out 450hp and 600Nm of torque from its 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6.
Finely balancing steering and throttle inputs are the important thing to holding a protracted drift.
Now let’s be clear, Audi has no plans to launch the RS4 in India, particularly given its Avant physique type (there isn’t a marketplace for estates or station wagons in India). It simply so occurs that the unflappable RS4 has the correct mix of energy, measurement and construct high quality (to take the beating of numerous excursions into the snow banks), which makes it the right device for this intense ice driving programme. For Audi and different luxurious automobile manufacturers, promoting vehicles isn’t sufficient nowadays; their clients must be wooed by extra. And it’s curated ‘experiences’ like this which might be massive ticks off the bucket record, changing into an intrinsic a part of the model’s promise.
Tractor’s foremost job was to drag out vehicles stranded on the snow financial institution.
For me, this isn’t the primary Audi Ice Expertise. I used to be in Austria final yr for what was an unbelievable expertise of driving on ice in an unspoiled winterland close to Seefeld. However right here, within the remoted expanse of Arctic Finland, the magnitude of the joys is elevated to a different stage.
Tractor driver punches your ID every time you’re towed out.
The wonder about driving on frozen lake is that it’s completely flat and there’s nothing to hit. It’s a lake in spite of everything, which in summer time months is only a physique of water. So there aren’t any bushes, no rocks or something to crash into. All that stops you’re the excessive snowbanks that act as pillow-soft crash obstacles and don’t harm your automobile, solely your ego while you skate off the observe and get beached on a mound of snow. A bulldozer is readily available to drag you out each time you get caught, and the uncovered towing eyes on the back and front of each RS4 gave a touch that this might be a standard prevalence, as I used to be quickly to find.
Towing eye on each RS4 put to good use.
The larger job of the bulldozer, nevertheless, is to carve out a number of tracks on the lake. From what’s actually a clear sheet of paper, or on this case an unspoiled white sheet of ice, the Audi group has fastidiously etched over 10km of tracks to go well with completely different ranges of coaching and talent.
We begin off in an enormous circle with the intention of holding massive drifts and I’m instantly reminded why ice is such a fascinating floor to float on; it’s slippery, very slippery. The low threshold of grip means you don’t must drive ridiculously quick like a professional to float, you may break right into a slide at virtually jogging speeds.
Restricted daytime presently of the yr means you’re usually driving at nighttime.
The RS4s are fitted with studded tyres and Audi’s famed Quattro system, with out which it could be inconceivable to make it round any course, nevertheless gradual. The studs chunk into the packed ice floor and provides a base stage of grip and respectable management below braking, nevertheless it doesn’t take greater than a prod of your proper foot to interrupt traction and coax a slide.
Reindeer meat a deal with in Arctic international locations.
Going spherical in circles, you’re taught by very skilled instructors the best way to steadiness the throttle and steering angle to maintain the automobile in a managed drift. That is actually an train in automobile management, which when you grasp, will make you are feeling like a hero for the remainder of the day. There’s nothing extra rewarding than powering via a nook with the tail out and an armful of reverse lock, however that’s simpler stated than carried out. Get on the ability too early and the automobile will understeer miserably. Push the throttle too laborious or instantly and the tail will snap out, flicking you right into a spin.
Studded tyres a should to offer you a base stage of grip on ice.
You realise the key to easily pirouetting around the a number of tracks that get faster and trickier because the day progresses is weight switch. In actual fact, getting off the throttle is as essential as getting on it, and the trick is to abruptly elevate off the throttle simply earlier than you enter a nook. This transfers the load to the entrance wheels, which chunk into ice while the rear neatly steps out. Concurrently, it’s important to push laborious on the throttle pedal to maintain the rear wheels spinning, which pivots you across the nook.
Temperature reads -22.5-deg Celsius and GPS says you’re on a lake.
The seasoned instructors push you to transcend your limits, to drive in a approach you’ve by no means carried out earlier than and ultimately you discover a rhythm that makes the RS4 your dance companion as you flick sideways from nook to nook, similar to they do within the motion pictures. The trick is to not break your rhythm, as a result of when you do, it’s laborious to get it again and you find yourself driving sloppily. You additionally realise the road between grip and slip is an extremely skinny one, so thwacking the snow banks is one thing you may’t keep away from. More often than not, you may merely energy out of the snowbanks and be in your approach, however on the quicker tracks which we graduated to on the finish of three days, there was little margin for error. Going off at over 100 klicks can pitch you deep into the snowbank and depart you properly caught. It’s embarrassing to walkie-talkie for assist, extra so when the tractor driver punches your occasion ID card to file the variety of occasions you’ve needed to be towed out. What was wonderful is how nicely the RS4 stood as much as this sort of abuse. Okay, snow is tender, however ice is just not, and the Audi took some fairly laborious knocks with out flinching.
Drifting on ice makes you are feeling like a hero.
Just a few laps within the RS e-tron GT made for an attention-grabbing comparability with the RS4. The EV sportscar is of course heavier, however its low centre of gravity and extra equitable weight distribution, minimised the fore-aft weight switch below laborious acceleration and deceleration to make it truly simpler to drive. Additionally, immediate response enables you to exactly meter the 830Nm of torque accessible. However for sheer thrills, the RS4 supplied extra. It seems to be extra spectacular on the restrict, makes you are feeling like a hero and by the tip of the day appears like your intimate dance companion.
Every little thing is roofed in a magical and surreal white blanket of snow.
And after an exhilarating couple of days, you relive each second along with your colleagues over dinner, which has reindeer as the principle course and the Aurora Borealis as dessert. Sure, we did see the Northern lights! What an ideal solution to wrap a subliminal, surreal expertise of a high-octane ballet on ice.
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