Chris Harris video: ice driving

Harris does a serious, educational video - with skidding and giggling

First, I have to declare that the bloke who owns the ice driving school featured in this video is a friend of mine. We share the type of infantile friendship which means it is beholden upon me to try and make life difficult for him, so I will now say that there are many other ice driving experiences you can buy, and many of them are very good. Seek them out of you can.

This one uses proper rally cars and studded tyres though, and for me, that's the only way to go ice driving.

What a fairly ordinary 3.2 Carrera motor running 250hp can do on studs, on a frozen lake remains one of the more uplifting automotive constants. Every time I do this, I come away wanting more. The skills you can learn, re-learn and hone on the ice are limitless - anyone who enjoys driving to an expert level and wants to take the next step in car control needs to go and do something like this.

Intermediates will benefit hugely too because teaching the human mind to respond to a wildly oversteering motor car with calm steering and throttle inputs, as opposed to that dreadful pang of fear that shoots down the spine is best done between soft(ish) snow banks.

This course also helps deflate those who deride the 911 as physically wrong for decent handling. That rear engine gives added pendulum effect into turns and through transitions, and all the while you have that traction to fall back on.

Spending cash on driving experiences is a notoriously shady activity - but in my opinion, if you like the feeling of a car moving around underneath you - if you're one of those always being told off on trackdays for cutting the occasional drift - then ice driving is the best thing you can do in a car for cash.

Hopefully this is last video we'll shoot for some time that contains snow.

Enjoy the vid.