Tuesday 24th January 2017

Ice driving a McLaren

There's a 'Pure McLaren Arctic Experience' now on offer to customers; course we had to have a go!

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I've never driven a McLaren before. Or anything that super in fact. Clearly then, I was the best person at PH to send into sub-zero temperatures on the inaugural Pure McLaren Arctic Experience in the wilderness of northern Finland. Fortunately Bruno Senna was also on the trip, and he hadn't driven on snow either. So there was some hope. We'll forget that he's an internationally recognised racing driver with more skill and experience I could ever dream of attaining.

While regretting not growing a winter beard to fit in with the locals, I learned that they only have four hours of sunlight a day in these parts at this time of year. Even then, the sun never properly rises, but sits on the horizon in a constant peachy sunset before dropping back into darkness. Fog lamps and light bars are a must, with our fleet of McLaren 570Ss equipped with the latter.

At this point I remembered I've never driven a supercar and the only time I tried to have fun on some snow back home I crashed. Ideally I'd start in something with limited power and lots of nannies for an amateur like me, but that's not really McLaren's style. Luckily out here, there's nothing to hit but small cones or a soft fluffy snow bank so it's not quite as daunting as you may think. Oh, and the odd tree. Best avoid those.

The first day of the two-day driving program would teach us the ropes and allow us to develop our car control ahead of taking on challenging courses amongst the trees on the second day. The five-year old in me was desperately hoping I'd end up in the only orange 570S in the fleet and I lucked out as my (probably weary) instructor Rob led me towards the car. Rob gave me a few sighting laps on every course we tackled, luring me into a false sense of security as he made it look so effortless. I'll admit at times it was slightly nauseating as a passenger, so I dread to think how it was for the instructors.

Lowering myself down into the driver's seat for the first time knowing what was in store, it was hard not to take in just how exquisite the interior is in a McLaren. Yes I know, not really the point, but it really is very nice. While the prospect of driving a supercar is sometimes likened to that of a spaceship, the interior felt spacious and the controls intuitive. I wanted to spend time admiring everything but Rob wanted to push on. Instead of taking a sensible approach, we turned off all of the driver assists, with gearshifts set to manual. Adding to the complexity Rob wanted me to left foot brake; sounds easy from karting experience, but my left foot is used to sweeping in and out quickly on a clutch, so it really does take a lot of practice to get used to modulating the pressure applied on the brake pedal.

Starting on an expansive circle, the aim was to hold big drifts. Straight up to second gear with an aggressive turn in and increased throttle, the back of the car broke away into a beautifully fluid slide. And then I spun. It's at this point you realise that when drifting on snow, everything happens in slow motion. You have time to think about what you're doing and how your next input will affect the balance of the car. Holding a steady throttle and steering angle keeps a consistent drift (harder than it sounds), while shifting up to third and pushing harder on the throttle pushes you wider into a faster heart-racing drift that makes you feel like Ken Block. While I didn't realise this at the time, it's taught me so much about car control by slowing everything down. Hopefully this should improve my driving on road and track back on Tarmac.

Despite the 570S having two turbos on its 3.8-litre V8 engine, power delivery is linear and controllable so there's no sudden rush of boost to upset the balance. While you'd expect snow to be a soft surface with little feel of grip, you can feel the variation in surfaces change instantly, right down to the grooves left from your last lap transferred through the studded winter tyres to your fingertips. It's sensational.

Once we'd perfected going round in circles, we progressed onto learning transition drifts with a number of doughnuts, figure of eights and slalom courses. Nailing the perfect full opposite lock transition is the most rewarding feeling, but can also be the most infuriating when you get it wrong. Get on the power too early and the car will understeer and either lose control or hit a snow bank. Carrying pace of up to 70mph on ice and snow is an exhilarating experience, but one you weirdly become accustomed to quite quickly. The key to success is keeping an eye on the horizon, looking ahead through the corners to where you want to place the car and pointing the front wheels in that direction, almost irrespective of the angle of the back of the car. What will catch you out is the constant change in grip and surface condition. Moving between snow and ice needs a different approach, and the slightest amount of snowfall or wind will loosen your grip.

Away from the snow, it was interesting to learn more about the McLaren owners over a glass of wine and finely cooked reindeer. The Audi R8 seems to be a running theme for most as their first supercar before either progressing directly to McLaren or through a couple of other marques along the way. Most of them had built up their own businesses to achieve their childhood motoring dreams, and are full of stories of their journey along the way.

So here's the quandary: what do I do now? I've spent two days driving a 570hp rear-wheel drive supercar in complete comfort and luxury through being a lucky so-and-so. Even if I'm fortunate enough to drive one in the UK it will never be as enjoyable as this. Ice driving really is the most fun you can have in a car; it's so rewarding when you get it right, plus kind to the car and your wallet when you get it wrong. If you have a bucket list, make sure that a proper snow and ice-driving experience is at the top of it. If not, make one immediately!

[DBRacingGod]

Like the smile of a newborn babe or a fat cat in a small box the hardy perennial 'unlikely car on a frozen lake' piece never fails to lift the spirits of an otherwise winter-bound features desk.

It's a "myeh" from me tonight, Matthew.

[Quickmoose]

Just watched Mr JWW do this, looked ALOT of fun..

[grkify]

Quickmoose said:

Just watched Mr JWW do this, looked ALOT of fun..

His videos really are leaps ahead of the current crop of youtubers. It does look like so much fun.

[zebede]

Just out of interest I went and looked at the brochure, it's £12,500 to do this for 3 days.

No amount of persuasion would make me part with 12.5k for that!