To some, drifting may come as a hard thing to do. Blame your FWD econobox or blame the lack of experience, but drifting is more than just oversteer. It’s about smoothness, transitions, composure and, of course, having a good time. And the perfect playground for drifting beginners is [wait for it] winter time.
When the temperatures drop below freezing point, Mother Nature is not following its normal course. It roots for those who want to train in the art of dancing on ice. I, for example, learned to control a car at the raggedy edge of grip thanks to the coldest season of them all, even though the vehicle in question came in the form of my father’s diesel-powered Corsa. McLaren, however, has a better idea: why not have fun with a supercar on snow?
Dubbed “Pure McLaren Arctic Experience,” the British automaker will gladly let you drift the wheels off a twin-turbo V8-engined 570S at the McLaren Ice Driving Center in Ivalo, Finland. From the adjacent video presentation, it sure looks fun to let the rear axle step out on a frozen lake located 200 miles from the Arctic Circle. This being McLaren, this sort of leisure activity isn't cheap.
According to the program’s brochure for the 2017 season, there are three types of packages available. The cheapest Arctic Experience pack costs €12,500 and it includes lodging, food, swimming pool access, as well as “2 days driving on a variety of winter tracks.” That’s a minimum of 3.5 hours of driving per day. The least expensive Arctic Experience package also consists of a snowmobile safari, a Husky Experience, and a visit to a “Design House.”
Two more packages are available, at a cost of €16,000 and €22,450, respectively. In other words, the least expensive package mirrors the starting price of the 2017 Opel Corsa three-door, whereas the top-tier package is pretty much the same money as the plushest trim of the 2017 Opel Astra.
At the end of the day, however, what McLaren Automotive dreamed up with the Arctic Experience is the right kind of driving school. For those more interested in arse-engined Porsche 911s than McLarens, the German brand has got you covered with a winter driving program of its own.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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