Automotive

As some of you might know I have spent some years further East on an expat assignment prior to 2022. This also included things to do with cars. The post is about cars, driving and Santa only, not about politics.

Those members from the Northern climes or those that regularly travel to them will know that driving on snow and ice can be quite exciting. There tends to be a difference as well in the tires used. While in some countries people drive on so called summer tires at all times and in others on all-season ones, or switching between summer and winter tires, most places where roads are snow covered for a part of the year and not cleared use either soft compound winter tires or studded tires, both offering significantly more grip on snowy and icy surfaces (adding to the fun).

Generally frozen lakes are used for purposes of more extensive ice driving, especially if you need longer distances (for instance for higher speeds). While you do not need meter thick ice for safe passage, it's good if you have it and still the safety conscious will check it on a daily basis to see that it's sound - often the safety requirement is to drive on ice without having your seatbelt on, as it will slow you down upon exiting the vehicle, should the ice crack and you go for an unplanned swimming session (and the likelihood of you crashing into something solid is low on an empty lake with long run-offs in all directions) 🥶

Apart from the health and safety aspects, though, it's glorious. As you can see especially on larger lakes having a smooth long run surface requires quite a bit of work and is not natural. Given that both acceleration and braking distances are significantly longer than on a road you need to factor both into the length of the track required for the type of driving you intend to do. Making a track similarly requires work and regular maintenance to keep it at its best.

As mentioned earlier, the ice needs to be regularly checked for cracks. Whether it's as transparent as on the first picture of the post or murkier, it's difficult for the untrained eye to see what it will still carry and what not. In addition the water below is usually very tasty and at just the right temperature for drinking

Making holes in the ice for checking is not that high tech and also not as laborious as one would imagine, given the right tools

...and result! Assuring that all was safe (at least in this segment), it's time for some driving

First of all, one of my favorite pictures - Santa and his wheels for pulling the sleigh(s). With the inflation in both the number and size of presents, reindeer simply don't do it anymore these days 🎅🏻

As you can see, the pulling vehicle had some modifications made by Santa ⚒️

But he fancied some driving without the sleigh first. Who can blame him. One thing that is quite fascinating is that the speeds reached on ice can significantly deviate from those reached on a road or track - and are very car dependent. It very much depends on how good the car is to put down power under the circumstances and some cars are just significantly better at that then others. While something like a Subaru WRX STI seems a natural on ice (no surprises there), an all wheel drive Porsche 911 Turbo is hopeless and even with engine tuning to 900 bhp won't crack 200kmh. Easily bested by something much less performance oriented like an Audi Q7.

And the king (also holding the record for completely serial cars on regular production tires) is - surprisingly enough a Jaguar F-Type. See for the speed below (actually faster on test runs but this was the official record run). Not quite sure if anything such will get attempted with the new all electric ones but here's a glory moment from the past.

In addition to not all cars getting up to speed, it's also a very different driving experience. Going over 200kmh in a car that is constantly slipping is a somewhat unusual experience and even in a straight line you're moving a lot more than one is used even on wet or slippery roads which are not all ice. Invigorating and fascinating for sure but if you're really really pushing it ever so slightly scary, too.

There are of course vehicles purpose built for the environment but they are not necessarily faster. Just better adapted 🦾

This one even seems to have been for sale at the time. In case you have a more challenging drive home 🏁

But you can also go the other way and choose something less well adapted - and here you need a helmet for sure, otherwise the ice sprayed into your face by the front wheels will create freeze burns on your face within less than a minute.

And as always in winter, the appropriate attire is key when not driving. I can also highly recommend growing a beard beforehand (might take a while and is not practicable advice for everyone ). Beard or not, if you have the opportunity to really try a car on ice it's something I can highly recommend. If you do it often enough it might make you a better driver and even if it doesn't it's huge and addictive fun. And who can resist snow and ice with cloudless skies in winter?

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