AutoDrifting on a frozen lake might just be the best driving experience money can buyThe Jaguar Ice Academy taught me how to drift on a frozen lake in Swedish LaplandWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
AutoDrifting on a frozen lake might just be the best driving experience money can buyThe Jaguar Ice Academy taught me how to drift on a frozen lake in Swedish LaplandWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
The Jaguar Ice Academy taught me how to drift on a frozen lake in Swedish Lapland
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
“More power, more power! Go for it!” The friendly words of encouragement crackle through a walkie-talkie and fill the otherwise silent cabin of a Jaguar F-Type SVR wearing studded tyres. I accelerate hard, firing rooster tails of snow powder at my classmates patiently waiting behind for their turn.
Remembering whatever I can from the instructor’s high-speed demonstration a few minutes earlier, I turn left, right, then left again to provoke the car into a slide. Opposite lock applied, it’s time to accelerate as hard as I dare around a massive circular track carved into the icy surface of a frozen lake. The track is a whole kilometre in circumference and my goal is to match the 130 km/h I saw during the pro driver’s demonstration.
Speed rising and V8 engine howling, the car suddenly snaps further sideways than I’d anticipated.
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
Rewind to the previous night and I’ve just arrived in Arjeplog, a locality of about 2,000 people in Swedish Lapland, 60 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It took two flights and a long taxi ride to get here from London, making the town feel as remote as it looks – especially in February, when the days are short and the average temperature ranges from about -7 to -12 degrees. The roads are deserted and fresh snow covers the empty pavements.
But Arjeplog isn’t what it seems. When winter arrives so do thousands of automotive engineers, often driving heavily camouflaged test vehicles and always wearing heavily branded clothing. They are here to test, develop and calibrate the ABS, traction control and stability systems on over 1,000 miles of test tracks carved into frozen lakes. Arjeplog is the reason your car unlocks and starts on the coldest winter mornings, then stops safely on icy roads.
Car manufacturers have come to Arjeplog, pictured below, for half a century. Everyone who tests here – from Land Rover to Lamborghini – pays to use the lakes, which span thousands of acres and are suitably frozen for three months a year. Their testing pumps about £150m into the local economy.
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(Image credit: Future / Alistair Charlton)
(Image credit: Future / Alistair Charlton)
The traction and stability controls are switched off, save for an electronic safety net that only kicks in if the F-Pace SUV thinks it is in danger of rolling, and a system to prevent the I-Pace’s electric motors from spinning backwards. Studded tyres and all-wheel-drive means there is a surprising amount of traction in every car, but still plenty of power to spin out if you’re not quick with the steering and delicate with the throttle.
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
Every pair of guests is given their own car for each activity, with instructors briefly jumping in to demonstrate each challenge, before delivering instructions via walkie-talkie.
Our first challenge is a wide, simple slalom in the F-Pace hybrid, before switching to the more potent F-Pace SVR. Both cars are fantastic fun and serve as a quick introduction to the joys of sliding a powerful car on a low-grip surface, the vehicle dancing from left to right as the driver wrestles at the wheel.
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
You also soon forget you’re driving a two-tonne car on a frozen lake. We’re told the ice is about 60 cm thick, and I’d learnt on a previous trip to the Arctic how 40 cm is enough to support an army tank.
After lunch at a lakeside lodge, we move on from one-at-a-time exercises to driving around an entire circuit. Following each other at a safe distance, this is an opportunity to take what we’ve learnt in the set-pieces and apply it to a seemingly never-ending series of corners. Coat abandoned, I’m working up a sweat now as I saw furiously at the wheel to keep on track. It’s not elegant, and probably looks far less impressive from the outside, but I don’t care. I’m having a blast and I’m also learning; upping the speed but crucially also ironing out erratic wheel and pedal inputs.
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
Too much power, and you’ll spin out. Lift off the accelerator too aggressively, and you’ll spin out. Don’t be assertive enough with the initial steering input, and you’ll understeer into the snow bank. Taming the F-Type is a high-speed balancing act that requires all the concentration – and the quickest reactions – you can muster.
Which brings me back to the high-speed drift about to go wrong in the opening paragraphs. Had this happened in the morning, there’s no doubt that moments later I would have been on the walkie-talkie asking for a tow. But such is the quality of tuition on offer here – and the patience of the instructors with their pinpoint-precise commands over the radio – I’d just about learnt enough to get away with it.
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
(Image credit: Jaguar Land Rover)
I’ll be the first to admit it wasn’t the cleanest of saves, and I’m honestly surprised I didn’t knock the wipers on, such was my flailing at the wheel. But I caught it, saw 121 km/h (75 mph) on the speedo and basked in a massive dose of adrenaline. My hands shook for a whole minute while the other drivers took their turn.
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