FEATURE – SOME SIDEWAYS FUN IN THE SNOW WITH AUDI & FRIENDS PART 2

In the last post, I gave you the warmup to what unfolded the night before the snowy action in Nagano. In this post, you’ll be seeing all sorts of awesome cars going very sideways on the trickiest surfaces you can imagine. The best thing about the Megamiko Snow Driving Park is that the entire place is so well managed and totally safe for car and driver – you can really have a ball here and not have to worry about damaging your car unless you are a complete and total idiot…

Ready for some serious fun?!

Before they let you on the track, all cars needed to be steam cleaned.. the Porsche GT2 was just ahead of me in the cue.

Then it was the A1′s turn for a hot and steamy bath.

Here’s Tanabe san, the Master Instructor for the Audi Driving Experience, showing some awesome wall riding skills in my A1!! Take a look at his expression – priceless!

Whacking the section like a pro-surfer hitting a fat lip!

As if to make his point in skill, he came around the next lap, yanked at the E-Brake and sprayed another huge plume of snow on the same bank! This guy knows how to drive in these conditions and well he should, having previously competed in WRC! I learned a LOT from him during the day. Thank you “Snow Sensei”!

The A1 wheels after the ride. Of course, the car suffered zero damage thanks to the generous and soft banking that surrounds the entire park.

I got to drive all sorts of cars that day – including this white Porsche Boxter, which was sitting pretty next to it’s big brother GT2. I have to say, out of all the cars I drove that day, the Boxter was hands down the best balanced car. I felt really confident in it on the snow and ice, despite it being an MR package. I put that down in part to its tires but mostly to the superb balance of the chassis. First time I’d driven a Boxter and I was VERY impressed.

I got it PLENTY sideways, feeling out its traction levels and understanding the relationship between the cars grip and the surface it was on.

Unfortunately, I overstepped the mark a couple of times and on one transition through the cones on the back straight, ended up in the soft banking, necessitating a “push” to get out of the trap! Embarrassing to say the least but hey, we’ve all gotta learn how Porsches handle in the snow somehow! ;D

I can tell you right now, the transition between snow to ice and back again to snow was a REAL eye-opener. It was like going from a dry track to one that was completely drenched and back again to a hot grippy surface… on slick tires. You come in knowing there’s grip and then suddenly there’s NONE and the car starts to step out on all 4 wheels and you’re braking, adjusting power, adding it and counter steering all within seconds. GREAT fun!

And if cars like the M6 and the GT2 can be manhandled around places like this then I have no excuse not to make a good showing!

One of the trickiest cars to drive that day was this humble looking Miata/Roadster/MX-5. Legend has it, the owner is among the fastest female drivers in the entire country. This was her own little play thing!

This particular Roadster was a tricky little bastard to control – constantly switching up between oversteer and understeer. One moment, I’d be holding the slide, feeding in some power and looking for grip and then suddenly the front would find it, sending me forward and demanding an immediate correction. The same thing happened when it was understeering – suddenly the back would step out, making for a rapid dose of counter steer! Damn, the car was nervous and the point where it switched between under and oversteer was super quick. I later found out why… turns out, the car was sprung with 18kg springs front to rear!! No wonder it was so fidgety!

Probably the most difficult car of the day ( and one of the laziest to drive ) was the Toyota Mark X that Tanabe san had rented! Thanks Toyota! The tires though were rubbish and the open differential proved extremely demanding in the conditions with a slow, patient and steady hand was really needed here. It felt like sailing a huge tanker on some rough high seas, with the heavy and cumbersome Mark X rolling and heaving all over the place under brakes, steering and power. ZERO traction from those crappy snow tires!

There were plenty of AWD cars out there as well and I got to sample a few of them, including this V8 powered Audi S4! It was amazing to watch the mid sized Audi pulling through snowed over corners like an absolute Boss.

Here’s one of the A5′s getting it’s ass out in style. Thumbs all round!

Quattro for the win.

The highlight for me came when I got a chance to get behind the wheel of this Chinese Domestic Market STi Impreza. Naturally, it turns out this car was the fastest of the lot that day. You could absolutely cane it through the slalom and it was pulling like a train on either surface – so MUCH grip!

I was shocked to see it actually; I mean, how often can I recall seeing any LHD Impreza, let alone being able to throw one around on the snow and ice? Never! I got in and set the DCCD to “lock” and then set off, hammering through the drift course, nailing some sweet apexes with the STi spinning all 4 wheels in anger. Such a sweet feeling to be so confident in such a capable car. It was almost too easy. That’s why my gong went to the Porsche Boxter – it was so much more involving to drive and needed a steadier hand. With the STi, you could really abuse the grip it offered.

It was also joined by it’s more muscular brother – this rare S203 STi.

I was really surprised to hear about what was going to happen to the Chinese STi. When it’s duties as a test car are done… it will be crushed. This was the last time I was ever going to see it in this form! The next time, it will probably be a block of recycled metal…

Time for lunch! Bloody hell, where did the time go!??

Good lunch though!

And no sooner was that food demolished, that it was back into the cars for the afternoon thrash. Here’s our mate Scott giving the M6 a proper caning through the cones.

Followed very closely by the GT-2; the ass heavy Porker really struggling with its massive power on the tricky surface.

Something Tanabe san even had some trouble handling! The larger turbo of the Porsche would spool and deliver power a lot differently to it’s GT3 cousin. The resulting spin left the GT2 beached with a mouthful of snow!

Audi Quattro power saving the day, haha!

Some of the trickiest parts of the course were definitely the skid-pans where there was nothing but ice! Delicate throttle and steering inputs were demanded here and it was so interesting to observe how you had to treat each platform differently with the AWD systems providing the most fun; get the angle set up and then open the steering and feather the throttle to keep the heli’s coming!

Okay… seriously, reverse heli’s?? Now you’re showing off…

Crap! 4pm already?? I was running out of time and the day was coming to a close. I was sad to be leaving on one hand but super excited because later that same day, I was flying out to Thailand for the countries biggest racing festival and 8 days of absolute chaos!

Knowing I had little time left, I grabbed the Nikon D3S and trekked into the snow to grab some actions shots… like this!

And this.

And yep, for sure this one!

I’ve always wanted to feel like a Rally Photographer, trekking through the elements to get some great shots. But this was really kid’s play in reality. GREAT fun!

I want to say a BIG thank-you to Tanabe san and the team from HERS international for inviting me to the event and taking care of everything for me. I had some of the best fun I’ll have all year – and I learned a GREAT deal about driving on the snow and ice. Also a big thanks to Audi for providing the A1. Next time I need a Quattro to make the most of it; the handbrake on the poor A1 was crying constantly toward the end of the day!

Next up, I’m bringing you all the ABSOLUTE INSANITY from an EPIC 8 day trip to Thailand!! Trust me, you’re going to want to see what that was like!

Remember to visit our FACEBOOK page! 30,000 fans and absolutely rocking!

7Tune. The Ultimate JDM Experience Since 2005.

Words and Photos – Adam Zillin