About the writer: Marcus Berger is a trained automotive mechanic. After completing his training, he began an internship in automotive journalism. He has been the editor in chief of the online magazine VAU-MAX.de since 2008. He flew to Sweden for us to participate with the Volkswagen Driving Experience.
Wanted: The perfect drift angle
Breath-taking landscapes and fascinating plays of light in northern Sweden
“Small ice crystals glisten in the air as the sun slides behind the horizon. Small bursts of snow fill the air, spreading packets of white over “Arvidsjaursjön” as if they were being sprinkled by some magical hand. As this wild force draws near, you recognise the source: It is an Arteon that is churning up this curtain of ice and is causing it to grow with every curve it makes.
We are taking part in the Volkswagen Driving Experience in Arvidsjaur, Sweden, a laid-back town made up of red wooden houses. You’ve seen them before in travel guides, these houses whose roofs are covered with a meter-high layer of snow and have a motley collection of snow shovels stuck in a drift outside the front door. It is also a small town with more than its fair share of hotels and B&Bs. It really has quite a collection of them, particularly when you consider that the town has just 4,800 residents and that they live in an area that is just about as big as Berlin is.
Winter changes everything
Once autumn arrives and the temperature begins to fall here, 110 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, the time for something very special has arrived. The town’s population suddenly shoots to more than 7,000 people.
Arvidsjaur and its countless lakes become a playground for car manufacturers winter after winter, a rink of sorts where they can try out their latest models and put them to fierce winter testing – the automotive future is on wheels here! Far away from prying eyes, many test drives are deliberating conducted in this sparsely populated region.
It’s all about the ice!
When November rolls around each year, the temperature dips permanently below freezing and the lakes turn into proving grounds. Once the ice is 10 centimetres thick, it can support a car. By the time it reaches 50 centimetres, it can handle a truck. This year, the ice is more than a metre thick, Martin Escher of the Volkswagen Driving Experience tells me. With a twinkle in his eye, Escher adds: “We’ve also packed life jackets under the front seat just in case.” At this point, we are already standing on the lake. Joining us is not just one Arteon, but 15 of them. Their job today is to show just what they are capable of. Ours is to demonstrate our driving skills.
Before we get started, the Swedish rallycross driver Anton Marklund provides us with a few tips about driving on ice and in the Arteon.
“You won’t get anywhere with normal winter tyres and certainly won’t have any fun,” Anton says. Some simple start and braking exercises are used as a warm-up for the major event of the day. They give you an opportunity to get a feel for this unusual road bed, something that normally sends shivers down drivers’ spines. Our Arteon R-Line shoots from the starting position almost as if it were on asphalt. The 4Motion all-wheel drive system distributes the 272 HP directly and perfectly to all four wheels. The seven-gear double-clutch gearbox takes care of the gear changing.
All I have to do is concentrate on a square marked off by four blue pylons where I am supposed to bring the front wheels to a stop. It is a feat that I accomplish effortlessly on my second and third attempts, thanks to ABS and braking assistance.
By now, Anton, his radio set in hand, is standing at the stopping point and giving individual tips to each driver.
Minus 3 degrees is not cold
I ask him how he manages to spend the entire day out in the cold at the lake. “Cold? Minus 3 degrees is not cold. A couple of days ago, we had some real cold. We had daytime temperatures of minus 20 degrees. And with the wind blowing the way it was, you couldn’t go out on the ice. I had to sit in the car most of the time and offer instructions from there. Today is perfect. Minus 3 degrees, very little wind and some sunshine.”
Shivering ever so slightly, I jump back into my Arteon and am welcomed by a seat heating system and a pleasant 22 degree interior temperature that is set in the display of the Climatronic and is constantly maintained. We then head off to the slalom course to try our hand at vehicle handling. After the end of the third run, we reach a special point and have a chance to enjoy an Arteon feature. Unlike a “normal” Arteon, the ESC of the Driving Experience model can be completely deactivated just like the Golf R by using the sport mode. All at once, we can now drift around the pylons.
Individual settings for almost all weather conditions. With the dial on the center console, you can adjust the 4Motion drive system to different conditions (snow or off-road).
Step by step, the participants work up their courage and precisely steer their Arteon around the blue pylons. Anton likes what he sees and says we are now ready to take on the “track”. More than two kilometres of the 10-kilometre long and icy course lie ahead of us. Straight stretches have been deliberately left out of this course for the most part.
Instead, we are looking at a sensational combination of curves that were designed and sanctified by no other than Hermann Tilke, one of the best racetrack designers in the world. It is a course that seems to have been created just for the Arteon. It brings a huge grin to the face of all participants after an introductory round.
From drift to drift, from curve to curve
The Arteon sails easily and precisely through the curves. All by itself, the load change brings the rear of the 4.86-metre-long, four-door coupé into the right position. Immediately afterwards, you can use the gas pedal and 380 Nm torque to pull off a clean drift on the ice. Trust builds with each curve. The vehicles, drivers and the road bed have gotten to know one another. The drift speed continues to pick up. I am really grateful for the progressive steering system used in the Arteon: It reduces the steering angle input to just one turn to the right or the left. This feature is a real benefit on this track. Without it, the job of steering and the transition from drift to drift would be much more demanding.
The driver ahead of me seems to really love the precise chassis set-up. The back wheels of his Arteon are kicking up more and more thick clouds of snow. In the process, the rear continues to move closer and closer to the white, cold retaining wall. I wonder just how much longer he can continue to pull it off.
The Touareg as rescuer
The silent, nearly forgotten radio set built into the left door pocket suddenly perks to life: “Wrecker to Track 1 please.” The time has finally come. The Touareg safety car with its two orange beacon lights heads off to pull another overly adventuresome driver back on the track.
I take advantage of the break, head to the pits and strike up a conversation with Lutz Nitsche as he climbs out of his Touareg after his latest rescue mission.
Today, Lutz is acting as a “wrecker” once again and is really happy that his services are rarely needed. “I have had events with more than 50 jobs on one day. I wouldn’t be able to make so many photos again.”
Lutz pulls out his mobile phone and shows me a photo of the driver whom he has just rescued from his predicament: the way he so casually poses and is having such a good time despite the little mishap. “This is for my personal day’s statistic and a small souvenir for the driver I pulled out.”
I roll back out on the course and continue to search for the perfect drift angle, always knowing that Lutz stands ready in reserve. Fortunately, I avoid becoming one of his statistics on this day.
