Day 1 of the Porsche Ice Trial can be found here.
Up bright and early to get ready for a full day of driving – breakfast began at 7 am and the briefing at 8 am, so there was little time to wait.
And departure? 9:11 sharp.
Get it? 911.
Unlike last year, the day dawned with perfect conditions – crisp and cold with just a few wisps of cloud in the sky. Even the sunrise seemed to bode well.
I was pleased to see that Estérel’s breakfast buffet remained every bit as good as the year before. The crepes and sausages were particularly delicious, as was the breakfast omelette (not pictured as I demolished before remembering to photograph it).
Coffee service is done at the table, rather than as part of the buffet – it means that it’s somewhat slower to start, but it’s lovely to have an entire pot of coffee with which to wash down breakfast.
After, I again dressed myself for the weather – we’d be in the cars most of the day, but there were times when we’d be outside and I was determined not to be underdressed.
I also had to set up my GoPro, which I intended to use to document the finer details of the Ice Experience. But sadly I did not have a suction cup mount so I was going to try to use a chest mount instead. This made me look vaguely like a cyborg, but it would be worthwhile so long as it worked. Otherwise I would just look silly. It was a risk I was prepared to take.
Off to the briefing room for 8 am – though the briefing itself didn’t start until close to 8:15 am. I’m not usually a fan of artificially early timings but they did have 40 people to seat, and still more coffee to serve. So not too onerous, all considered.
Jonathan (the event director) went through some theory about friction circles and driving technique, and assigned us to our driving groups. I was thrilled to hear that I would be learning directly from Kees Nierop, a Dutch racing driver who has been working with Porsche for more than 30 years. To say he knows something about ice driving is akin to saying the Pacific Ocean is, at times, somewhat damp.
♫The Porsche bus is drivin’, and everybody’s jivin’… ♫
Then we were off to the coach bus that would take us to Circuit Mecaglisse. In summer months, this is one of the finest rally circuits in Canada – but in the colder months, it’s transformed by Porsche into a true winter wonderland.
Some of the participants elected to drive to the track in their own vehicles. This doesn’t mean that they get there any quicker – everyone starts at the same time, and the self-drivers need to be bussed the final stretch onto the track – but it does mean that they’re able to leave directly from Mecaglisse rather than return to the hotel.
The event is structured so that most participants will depart immediately after the track day is done. This holds zero appeal to me personally. As mentioned earlier I’ve elected to stay an extra night so that I don’t follow a day full of driving with a night full of driving.
The bus ride was a bit jouncy – as they tend to be in rural Québec – but they did have the screens on so that those susceptible to motion sickness could see where they’re going. I also seem to be the only one on the bus willing to buckle their seatbelt. I won’t belabour this point, but I will say that there are many, many good reasons why everyone should buckle their seatbelt while on a coach bus.
Once assembled, we gathered at the chalet for the final briefing and – if so inclined – to eat some freshly-baked muffins, washed down with still-more coffee. It also served as a convenient place to store my pack, and use the facilities before sitting in a car for an extended period of time. (Each of the tracks also has its own basic bathroom facilities – so you won’t be caught out. They are clean, but not particularly luxurious.)
Then we stepped outside to this beautiful sight:
Photo courtesy of Porsche Ice Experience
We were paired up and assigned to a car. We’d be starting with the all-wheel-drive, snow-capable 911 Carrerra 4S before moving to the rear-wheel-drive, tail-happy Carrerra S.
And traction control will be off, thank you very much – you won’t learn much unless you’re sliding around at the edge of what’s possible with these incredible machines.
We worked through 5 different stations using the following format:
- Kees explains how each station is supposed to work using his “whiteboard” (a spare patch of snow) and a toy car.
- Kees demonstrates how to do each station properly.
- We each make a hash of it.
- We switch around so that our partner can also make a hash of it.
- Kees shouts at us over the radio.
- We learn how to successfully drive through the station!*
* Learning is not guaranteed.
Photo courtesy of Porsche Ice Experience
The first station was the pylons, where we had to initiate a tail slide “pendulum” which we would swing backwords and forwards as we weaved through the traffic cones.
The trick here is to slow down, turn, and then apply throttle. This shifts the weight to the front wheels so that they’re able to steer before losing traction in the rear. Then you need to oversteer to ensure the vehicle goes where it’s supposed to, as opposed to a nearby snowdrift.
It’s more difficult than it looks – and it looks difficult.
Next, we practiced driving in circles with the goal of intiating – and recovering from – understeer. The trick here is to back off the throttle when the steering starts to drift, and back off on steering until the front wheels start to bite in once again. That’s where you can start another round of oversteer.
There was also a “lesser circle” where we had some more free reign to focus more on oversteer.
We then broke for lunch, where we enjoyed a delicious buffet of pasta, cod, and veal (not an obvious combination, but they did genuinely complement each other) along with cheese, focaccia, salad, etc., etc. All very tasty.
Then it was time to switch to the rear-wheel-drive Carrerra S, where we put through a brief course, including the beginnings of a “Scandi Flick” – the oh-so-difficult rally flick that allows drivers to circle a hairpin turn in some of the slickest conditions imaginable.
The approach path had been set up with pylons, and it was a good thing – because we nearly duffed it into the snowbank on more than one occasion.
(And indeed one of the cars did duff it into a snowbank. The event staff then used a wooden spoon – dubbed the Spoon of Shame – to pull a brick of snow from the radiator. But we’re here to learn, and Porsche is not looking for excuses to charge anyone the deductible for minor dings. So we carried on.)
After the mini-course, we went to a new location where we practiced initiating oversteer at high speed. This can be challenging, as you need to hit the throttle to get the back end out in most cases, but not so when you’re carrying a lot of speed. Instead, you’re expected to use the brakes to start a slide.
It’s difficult to get used to this, particularly when Kees decided to further complicate matters by asking us to do a full loop of drifting before we shoot through the final pylons.
It looked something like this:
For most of us, it looked like we were in the middle of a snowstorm as we spun and spiralled.
But eventually, we managed something like this:
Then back to the main circuit, driving along some truly beautiful forest roads.
We then got to build upon all we’d learned up until this point, and work on trying out the venerable Scandi flick, which looks like this:
They make it look so easy. What you don’t see is that you need to slow down, turn, hit the brakes hard, wait until you’re just about at a stop before spinning the wheel in the other direction, and then gradually introducing more throttle as you spin the car around a narrow forest road.
Or, you know, into your driving instructor. Who – for some inexplicable reason – decided to plant himself directly in front of us while we were making these complex, intricate turns.
But whether from practice or sheer terror at the prospect of mowing down a venerable racing coach, we did eventually learn how to thread the eye of the needle – or the hairpin, at least.
It was 4 pm at this point and we thought the day was over, but Porsche had one more treat for us – a hot lap with our respective racing coaches.
It was the perfect end to an exceptional day.
(Apart from, you know, collecting certificates and getting back on the bus. But at least Porsche rewarded us for our troubles with these adorable mini-Dakars.)
And the ultimate verdict?
It was a great course. Highly recommended. A fantastic blend of track-induced mania combined with some very practical real-world lessons.
If I had to pick nits? The hotel is showing some signs of wear. And… well, that’s it really.
But who cares? We’re here to drive, and drive we did.
Photo courtesy of Porsche Ice Experience
Disclaimer: This particular trip, which was affected by poor weather last year, was complementary. Thanks go to Porsche Centre North Toronto for making the arrangements.