When Slippery is the Norm

We were invited by Audi to take part in the ice driving experience organised by them in Austria. Here is how it went off

- Aspi Bhathena

AUDI CONDUCT DIFFERENT DRIVER training programmes on different road surfaces. These include the racetrack driving experience in the Audi R8 and the ice driving experience in the Audi RS 5 Sportback and RS e-tron GT. All these programmes have a common goal: to improve your driving skill and to make you a better and safer driver.

Incidentally, this was not the first ice-driving experience for me, having taken part in a couple of such events in Sweden and Finland, where these were held on frozen lakes. The experience in Austria this year was held on a frozen field.

The actual driving experience was preceded by a short briefing in the evening to explain to us what we should expect over the following two days. We were split into two groups, one driving the RS e-tron GT and the other driving the Audi RS 5.

Of course, we would swap cars after each exercise. Both the cars were fitted with Swedish Lappi studded snow tyres for the driving experience. We were instructed to switch off the ESP and traction control to make sure there was no assistance from the electronics. It would be our respective driving skill alone that would help us in controlling the cars.