Audi quattro Driving Experience. Idre, Sweden. 2004
This weekend I attended the Audi quattro Driving Experience, Stage 2.
About 500 km north west of Stockholm lies Idre. A nice place for skiing, fresh air etc. and since a few years the place for the winter training of Audi.
After a long drive up from Stockholm we arrived at Idre and started the evening with a tour on snowmobiles.
We stayed at the brand new Pernilla Wiberg Hotel. Apparently the ski queen of Sweden needed a hotel to store all the prizes she won...
After the tour we had a short lesson in how a car behaves (remember, this is stage 2 we're supposed to know most of the stuff needed :idea: :vhmmm: ), something like Car Physics 101. After that we had an excellent dinner, a few beers and a good night's sleep.
Up early in the morning for breakfast and transportation down to the frozen lake that would serve as our training ground.
The weather was really nice, a few degrees below zero (C), no wind and sunshine.
We picked up our cars for the day. Audi 1.8T Avant quattro (manual) in either 163 or 190 hp versions. The cars were on studded Michelin winter tires. We split into two groups and started practicing two different excersises to get us some feeling of the ice and the car. It was extremly slippery! To give you an idea how slippey I can tell you it was hard ot even walk on the ice and 20 km/h was sufficient to get the car skidding. Of course we drive without the help of ESP.
After the basic training the short track (3 km long) was opened for free driving. The real fun could begin! :incar:
In total there were about 10 cars so there was never a crowd on the track, we tried to keep about 300 m space in between the cars. If anyone got stuck we passed real slow.
There was a lot of time one hand to perfection one's rally skills. I think we drove sideways most of the time, mainly on second gear controling the drift of the car with the accelerator! :wo:
It took us about 3 minutes to drive the short track. Fun is not a straight line!
We stopped for lunch and after that the long track (~5.5 km) was opened. To finish a lap without mistakes was very hard! The problem was that the snow surrounding the track was quite hard so once you got stuck it was very difficult to get free. The car would lift and stay above the snow. Very different from last year when the snow was much softer.
The biggest challenge was to stay in the area were most car drove, since grip was a lot better there. If you drove too fast you would find yourself in the most slippery section very soon.
To perfection our skills we took one of the instructors in the car who told us what line to pick. It wasn't as fun to drive, but speed and track time was improved. It also helped a lot to drive on 3:rd gear, it made the driving a lot less nervous.
I finished the long track in about 6 minutes, and so did my friend.
I could easily have driven more, but all good things come to an end.
However, as usual Audi added a little spice with the arrival of an RS6. :dig:
Straight from Germany it arrived around lunch on Pirelli P Zero 18" summer tires. :eye: During our fun on the afternoon ice someone had the sense to put on the best winter tires around.
They can best be described as super-studded rally P Zeros.
I think they are 145 mm x 18" and I did not count the spikes but the animal hedgehog comes into mind...
The amount of grip that these tires combined with quattro
produces is astonishing. It simply is difficult for the brain to understand. Imagine a surface that you can barely walk on only to see a 2 tonne RS6 pass sideways (in control I might add) doing 90 km/h plus seconds after... :hahahehe:
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-1.jpg
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-3.jpg
Going sideways!
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-4.jpg
Yes, I admit. I had to call on help as well...
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-5.jpg
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-7.jpg
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-2.jpg http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-6.jpg
The Beast arrives... :heart:
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-8.jpg
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-10.jpg
Take a good look at the best winter tires around...
http://www.rs6.com/pics/Various/quattro-Idre-11.jpg
