Fastest Tires on the Ice: Nokian

Back in February, news of an unlikely model achieving the fastest recorded speed on ice broke. The car that managed to set the new record at 205.48 mph (330.695 km/h) was a Bentley Continental Supersports convertible, which was later brought to the Geneva Auto Show.

Now, one month later, a very strange report comes from Nokian Tyres, a company which specializes in doing just that: tires. According to the manufacturer, its driver, Janne Laitinen, managed to reach speeds even higher than that, 206,05 mph (331,610 km/h), on board of an... Audi.

Now, Nokian's attempt was to set a new speed record for tires (which, apparently, it did, using Nokian Hakkapeliitta 7 studded), but we can't help noticing that the Bentley achievement of last month is in jeopardy should Audi take note of what the Nokian test driver managed to achieve on the Gulf of Bothnia in Oulu, Finland.

“Testing at high speeds in demanding conditions forms an important part of our winter tyre development. Testing our boundaries can teach us new things, which can then be reflected in all of our products,” said Matti Morri, Nokian Tyres' technical customer service manager.

For the drive to be recorded as a new world record by the Guinness World Records organization, the tires have to be commercially available and approved for road traffic in the country in which the record attempt takes place. The speed at which the car wearing them travels is measured on a one-kilometer distance in both directions, with the record being the average between the speeds of the two runs.