Discover motoring nirvana while drifting across the great Scandinavian freeze

The Art of Drifting

Drifting may have been popularised in mainstream media by neon-bathed visions of Tokyo’s underground racing scene, but it was discovered here in Finland, along with a popular but tricky rally driving manoeuvre called the ‘Scandinavian flick’. In simple terms, the move involves steering left to go right. When the ribbon of tractor-laden ice forms a sudden right turn, the fastest way around it is to turn left gently and dab the brakes lightly, allowing the car’s weight to be transferred forward. With the rear having gone light, the car’s own momentum is then used to pivot right. While steering and accelerating in the opposite direction the car is initially pointing towards, a drift is initiated. In order to sustain the drift one must then induce counter steer, essentially steering leftward when the car has successfully begun to follow its natural trajectory towards the right.

But it’s only on slippery ice, with little traction on offer that you can carry out this elaborate mechanical dance. It’s here on ice that you learn the importance of modulating both steering and throttle inputs, fighting against your instincts as much as you are against the forces of gravity. Steer too aggressively and the car spins out wildly, eventually plonking itself stubbornly into the snow. The smoother the steering input, the more assured the car is. Give it too many inputs at the same time and even the RS4 with Quattro adhesion, loses its famously cool temper. Three straight days of sliding about several km-long winding tracks of ice and the participants of this sidewinding expedition more or less learnt not to litter the snow banks with estate car-shaped bollards. This had devolved into an impetuous crash course on the visceral thrill of lateral movement, satiating appetites for dramatic driving in a way the real world never can.