Imagine doing a ballet on ice with the Audi A4 Avant Quattro. Aspi Bhathena shows you how
Photography Aspi Bhathena & Audi
Sometimes in life your wishes do come true. I was in Arjeplog earlier in February 2008 and had a great time driving on the ice test tracks and snow laden roads. The car I was driving at that time was a 1.6-litre front wheel drive car. I was really envious of all the Audi Quattros parked outside my room window with ‘Audi Driving Experience’ written on the doors. At that time, there was nothing I would not have done in order to get behind the wheels of one of them. Two years down the line, I get a call from Audi India saying that they would be taking some journalists for an ice driving experience to Sweden. When they asked me if I was interested in going, I said an instant yes without even batting an eyelid.
Whenever you visit a place for the second time, you always feel at home and are in a comfort zone. For instance, the sign at the Arvidsjaur airport that says pick up guns and ammunition from this counter. I bet you will not see this sign at any other airport. The Audi ice driving experience outfit is based in Arjeplog, a hundred kilometers shy of the Polar circle in northern Sweden. The temperatures here are anything from -6 to -30 degree Centigrade, depending on the time of day.
The driving course is specially designed by experts from Audi to explore the limits of their cars. There were four different test tracks for the winter testing program and they were laid out on frozen lakes. The snow is compressed in the shape of the circuit. It is like driving a car on an ice skating rink.
The A4 Avant Quattro was equipped with special Swedish Lappi metal studded winter tyres. Our instructor for the two days was Jochi Kleint, a former German national rally champion. He made it look so easy while going around corners sideways! The first instructions from him were that we had to remember that this was a four wheel drive car. Thus, the driving technique would be totally different compared to a rear wheel drive car. In a rear wheel drive car, you can turn the steering slightly, feed the power and the tail will hang out. But in the Quattro, you have to use the dynamic weight transfer to do this.
To achieve the dynamic weight transfer you have to follow a special braking technique wherein as you brake, the front wheels get loaded with the weight of the car and get more bite and traction, thus the nose of the car turns in. At the same time, the rear wheels get light with the dynamic weight transfer and you can get the tail out. As you gently feed the power, the car starts going sideways in a controlled manner with a little bit of opposite steering input.
The one thing that Jochi kept insisting on was very little steering input and controlling the car with power and brakes. Once the steering is at full lock, there is no coming back. If there is understeer, you have to apply the brakes gently in order to bring the car back on line and feed the power. In case of oversteer, you have to use opposite lock, feed in the power and you will have the car sideways back in control. The one thing that stood me in good stead was my smooth driving style as you have to be extremely gentle. The driving surface is like an ice skating rink and walking on this surface is not easy.
The A4 was extremely well poised under normal driving conditions with the ESP switched on even on this surface. If you wanted to have fun then all you needed to do was switch of all the driving aids like ESP and traction control and boy, you could get the car sideways and have all the thrills in a nice and safe environment. The most important lesson that I learnt from this drive is how much extra grip and traction you can get from a four wheel drive compared to a two wheel drive car. More traction and additional grip means a safer car for you and your family. This entire driving exercise was conducted by Audi to prove that their Quattro system is so much more superior to a normal car and they did prove it.
