Green skies, white fields and occasionally bluish cheeks—Finland in winter has a way of toying with Earth’s natural colour scheme, suspending the standard for the surreal. But it’s not just the topographical colour palette that’s reshuffled. When it comes to driving in Scandinavia, the regular laws of physics don’t apply either. It’s the chief reason the Finns have such an affinity for driving. The country has thus far produced three Formula One World Champions and holds the distinction of having won 15 World Rally Championships between eight drivers. Even the average Finnish back road is filled with sudden crests and invisible dips, forcibly acquainting a novice driver with concepts like ‘weight transfer’ and ‘opposite lock’. Not surprisingly, it takes two whole years to obtain a full, unrestricted driver’s licence here.
After having driven on a frozen lake near a small town in Northern Finland for the better part of a week, it became perfectly evident why car control comes so naturally to the Finns. It also became evident why Finland was the chosen destination for Audi’s annual Ice Experience, which takes select loyalists on a sojourn that essentially involves drifting endlessly on ice to understand the limits of the car’s and, as a corollary, your own abilities. With temperature ranging between -15 and -29oC, the Jerisjärvi lake offered a reassuringly thick bed of ice to drift on, flanked by soft banks of snow to catch the unavoidable series of tailspins that occur as the car tries to break you in. The car in question being a twin-turbocharged V6-powered Audi RS4 with 444 bhp eager to be deployed with every dab of throttle.
The Art of Drifting
Drifting may have been popularised in mainstream media by neon-bathed visions of Tokyo’s underground racing scene, but it was discovered here in Finland, along with a popular but tricky rally driving manoeuvre called the ‘Scandinavian flick’. In simple terms, the move involves steering left to go right. When the ribbon of tractor-laden ice forms a sudden right turn, the fastest way around it is to turn left gently and dab the brakes lightly, allowing the car’s weight to be transferred forward. With the rear having gone light, the car’s own momentum is then used to pivot right. While steering and accelerating in the opposite direction the car is initially pointing towards, a drift is initiated. In order to sustain the drift one must then induce counter steer, essentially steering leftward when the car has successfully begun to follow its natural trajectory towards the right.
But it’s only on slippery ice, with little traction on offer that you can carry out this elaborate mechanical dance. It’s here on ice that you learn the importance of modulating both steering and throttle inputs, fighting against your instincts as much as you are against the forces of gravity. Steer too aggressively and the car spins out wildly, eventually plonking itself stubbornly into the snow. The smoother the steering input, the more assured the car is. Give it too many inputs at the same time and even the RS4 with Quattro adhesion, loses its famously cool temper. Three straight days of sliding about several km-long winding tracks of ice and the participants of this sidewinding expedition more or less learnt not to litter the snow banks with estate car-shaped bollards. This had devolved into an impetuous crash course on the visceral thrill of lateral movement, satiating appetites for dramatic driving in a way the real world never can.
Catching the Light
Mounio is, longitudinally further up north than even Iceland, increasing the probability of spotting the Northern Lights. Every year, thousands of pilgrims venture northward towards Europe’s snow-blanketed terrain with an almost religious zeal, hoping to view, and more importantly Instagram, the emerald-hued stratosphere that has largely been confined to desktop screensavers. Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights, are a unique solar-storm generated phenomenon with a proclivity towards being evasive and unpredictable. Sometimes they greet you outside the hotel room, other times they require several hour-long stakeouts in the freezing cold night. The brutal nights at Mounio, however, can wear thin even the most steely determination. The element of surprise lies with the Finnish night sky, so make no mistake, the lights are infinitely more likely to catch you. After encountering heavy snowfall for two consecutive nights, finally spotting the lights allowed the Ice Experience to end on a triumphant note.
But Northern Finland’s endless, pristine white acreage remains unconquerable precisely because it isn’t meant to be conquered. Only navigated through and negotiated with. The Finns understand that every time they exit the driveway.