Before driving we have to listen. Listen carefully. And although it is unbelievable
is early. The sun has not risen for a long time, it is shining deepest night. Whereby, here
up, a good 400km north of the Arctic Circle, daylight is such a thing anyway ...
But we must not distract, we have to be careful. Because the structure warns
in a serious voice that it is like racing - who does not attend the driver briefing
participates, he doesn't drive either. It's that simple. Of course we don't want that and
therefore follow carefully his remarks on the subject of Kamm's circle,
Tire grip, understeer and oversteer, as well as the possibilities to do the same
check.
Then there is an overview of the training units with which we do it
days to come. First is the slalom. Everybody has
I've done that before, so it's easy to get in and achieve quick results
Success in vehicle control. It continues with driving in a circle before
the rally Flic is on the program. Quasi the supreme discipline among the
Drift introductions. You want to drive through a left turn, but the car is short
before harsh to the right. The result: he breaks out for you, you catch him and the
Counter-commuters are the perfect introduction to the following links. Just stay on the gas and
with the stern in the lunge through the bend.
Splendid. Without any excitement, without any hectic rush and without raping the
Machine, but loose and light. A nice maneuver. You have the basic terms
understood and internalized after a few repetitions of the section, it goes on
Afternoon out on the handling tracks. And what routes. No less than
Hermann Tilke had the layout on the Pasasjärvi lake near Ivalo milled and so on
Not a few corner sequences are reminiscent of those of well-known racetracks. But it is
Of course, not as if one knew the speeds known from there, nor those
Take over braking and turning points. After all, we're driving on bare ice. With
Spikes, but still: grip is different.
And so it's all about feeling on the handling routes. Feeling for traction,
Steering angle, brake pressure and use of gas. Everything has to be well coordinated. In the end reaps
But then on the radio you are just a "curve exit drifter". What's up here in
Lapland is a swear word. Because it is clear that the Porsche horsepower is the car after
Immediately place vertices across. The trick, however, is drifting at the entrance to the curve
to have initiated.
So it means practicing. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower. Time with an instructor in the pursuit
Vehicle, sometimes with him in the passenger seat. Lots of words, big steering gestures,
in between an invigorating coffee, so that hands and feet are not completely at -25 ° C
freeze. And at the end of the day things are better because they are smoother. No
Corners in the driving style, no drift breaks, because suddenly no curve, but nevertheless
there is a straight connecting line.
It is completely creamy and without a break. You read the route, you know the points at which you are
have to use the counter-commuter. Never too much gas, but above all: with the steering angle
budget. And that is the toughest test. Who steers understeer. Demands that
Tires too much and ends in the snow wall. Because if a curve with a half
You can turn the steering wheel at 25km / h, then you can do the same at 65km / h. You have to
just somehow teach the panic department of the brain stem.
But if you have understood that, so the switch has been thrown, then it is
just driving pleasure in its absolutely most beautiful form. You throw meters high
the snow in the Finnish expanses if necessary, mills to the centimeter on the
Pylons over and the instructor is proud of you. Because if at the end of the
Day, on the last trip before the return flight, when the lake is just dancing
Xenon headlights and the clear moonlight that illuminates
Radio message “that looked really cool” reached, then that is a feeling that
just can't be described ...
You roll into the box, lean back, listen to the hoarse one again Boxer voice
and crush a small tear of joy when the engine is switched off. Can be so beautiful
Be school.
A driving report from Fabian Mechtel, who was kind enough to replace me at short notice. Man, I think I put too much on him (: