Wednesday 22nd January 2014

Ice driving with AMG

Car control lessons the AMG way; V8s, a frozen Swedish lake and one very cool tutor

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To be entirely honest, it was hard to know what to expect from the AMG Winter Driving Academy. There was an itinerary but all that mentioned was 'warm-up training', 'advanced training' and 'perfection training'. There wasn't even a car list. So hugely excited then, but a little apprehensive too; would it be all theory with hardly any driving?

The oversteer is coming, and very soon

I needn't have worried. It was a sensational weekend. Even before the hour of Saturday theory there was a taster session on the Friday evening; you know, just to get in the groove. Our group was led by F1 safety car driver Bernd Maylander (an absolute dude, full PH Meets shortly) who was clearly very keen for everyone to have massive amounts of fun. Within 100m of entering the lake at Arjeplog, he was on the radio telling everyone to turn the ESP off and 'feel the car move around'. He gave the ESP Sport setting a token mention.

Friday night (well it was four in the afternoon but pitch black) was spent in the E63 AMG S 4Matic. As a total oversteer novice bar a few accidental slithery moments on the road, it felt like a good place to start. I was paired with Jason Barlow and he did make it look simple; turn in, bit of throttle, catch it, balance the slide, easy.

Yeah, right. My first forays into drifts just resulted in little wiggles caught too early. But the fantastic thing about this event was the amount of time spent driving. So with enough laps of the small circuit, it felt like I was getting somewhere. But then it was time for a car change. Into the SLK55. Uh oh.

On cold tarmac last month it had felt like a tricky little car. Unsurprisingly that sensation was intensified markedly on ice at night. That short wheelbase meant very quick transitions into and out of oversteer, the complete opposite of the E63. I left the lake on Friday perspiring lightly, and not just because of the heated seats.

After an hour on positive and negative oversteer (or drifts and spins to you and me) on Saturday morning, we were back to the lake. And that damned little SLK55. But with some sunshine and a little prior experience, it was a lot less daunting. Then I spun. I got some flow eventually, but it's not one for the powersliding neophyte.

Well how else can you drive a C63 507?

The C63 507 most definitely is. It was responsive, balanced and just beautiful. How it is on the road actually. But the A45, that was something very different. I wasn't totally bowled over in the UK as it felt a little one dimensional. Fast and composed yes, but lacking a little on the driver interaction front.

Not on the ice. Beyond that limit that is so rarely breached on the road there are myriad options. Trail braking works really well with the A45, allowing it to be tucked into a corner or have the back end well out of shape or corner entry. Enter the corner normally and a lift with some extra lock will have the same effect. The stiffness of the A45 keeps the weight well under control so momentum can be used to swing it between bends. And don't think because it's 4WD the A45 doesn't present a challenge. Just ask Jason about his spins...

Aside from a couple of laps with Bernd driving, there wasn't a huge amount of dedicated instruction from the pros. They let you discover the limits of both the car and your ability in a very relaxed environment. Mostly this was great, but I think some dedicated tuition with the instructors in the passenger seat would have been beneficial. After all, if you're paying 4,000 euros for a weekend, you're entitled to some one-on-one time.

More on this coming soon

Hopefully you'll agree that driving a G63 AMG on a frozen lake is worthy of a separate blog; that's coming soon. By Sunday it was all starting to come together, or at least it felt that way. Back in the E63, I felt so much more confident working with the balance of the car and using the throttle to dictate so the slide. Driver's window down, V8 thundering and the sun setting, it was somewhere close to driving nirvana. Just as the flow was coming arriving actually, I overcooked it, half spun and got a face full of snow.

But all silliness aside, I think learning car control in such a safe, risk-free environment (alright, I had to be towed out once) has to be hugely advantageous. If a slide does occur on the road or the race track in future, I hopefully won't freeze in terror any more. Unless it's in a G63.

[KillerHERTZ]

'Bumpers' to fit over the exisiting bumpers due to the fact that these days they are more vent than bumper

[ayseven]

Come to our part of Canada, and do it for a hell of a lot less than they charge! Ours is $45 a day for Snowcross (really ice), and you can rent cars off club members for about $40. We have an ice racing series too now, all within 45 minutes from my house. Course if you don't want to do that, you can always drive around on the river - watch the ice fishing holes.

[wemorgan]

KillerHERTZ said:

'Bumpers' to fit over the exisiting bumpers due to the fact that these days they are more vent than bumper

Add them to the options list and surely someone will buyer them.

[EifelSL]

I did this event in Arjeplog, Sweden back in around 2010. Thomas Jager was our instructor. Great fun and met some nice people from all over the world. Remember seeing 2 older German guys,who were friends race each other on the slalom track then one of them lost it after the finish line and they had a head on collision at low speed and wrote-off 2 CLK63's. I know because I was a passenger in one of them. If you get stuck in the snow a G63 comes along and tows you out!
The metal covers over the front spoilers is because at that lower temperature the original plastic spoilers become very brittle and snap off if you hit the snow. I saw -24 DEG. C on the cars temperature gauge. I seem to remember I flew to Hannover to pick up the charter plane to Sweden and that the whole weekend cost around £3000. Great thing to do,I had more money then, and I will never forget it. Still your only this way once.

[Denorth]

if it was literally last weekend than I wonder how low the temperature was?
My old folks had -33C in Alvsbyn and it's not that far from there.

[Chris-R]

http://www.pistonheads.com/doc.asp?c=52&i=2289...

I seem to recall beating Mr Trent to the fastest lap the last time PH was invited on this jolly... Happy days!

[RacerMike]

Denorth said:

if it was literally last weekend than I wonder how low the temperature was?
My old folks had -33C in Alvsbyn and it's not that far from there.

It's been hovering around -30 to -35 for over a week now here in Arjeplog! Finally it's warmed up a bit today and is sitting at a fairly comfortable -19...

[Sampaio]

So they needed some oversteer pictures of their A45 so the Internet would buy it... sounds fair

[Ed Straker]

Sampaio said:

So they needed some oversteer pictures of their A45 so the Internet would buy it... sounds fair

Don't feed the Troll......

[sanctum]

Not the same as driving on the road, don't expect any of that to help when you loose traction in the snow or ice, there's normally not enough road to do anything other than hit a kerb or another car, and more power often just makes things worse.

Great looking trip though, glad you enjoyed it.

[Denorth]

RacerMike said:

Denorth said:

if it was literally last weekend than I wonder how low the temperature was?
My old folks had -33C in Alvsbyn and it's not that far from there.

It's been hovering around -30 to -35 for over a week now here in Arjeplog! Finally it's warmed up a bit today and is sitting at a fairly comfortable -19...

-19 is much more comfortable suspension works better and doesn't feel like a wooden bench initially. I do miss the cold...

[RacerMike]

Denorth said:

-19 is much more comfortable suspension works better and doesn't feel like a wooden bench initially. I do miss the cold...

And you're entire face doesn't feel like it's about to fall off when you walk around outside!