SKIDDING AROUND IN CARS IS SOMETHING WE do rather a lot of here at evo. It's not big and it's not clever, but as anyone who has done it knows, it's bloody good fun. So, when Skoda UK called to see if we fancied heading to northern Sweden for a crack at beating the existing record for the longest continuous vehicle drift on ice, we packed some thermals and headed north.
There are several different records for drifting. The outright distance record of 374.17km (232.5 miles) was set by Johan Schwartz driving a BMW M5 (for eight hours!), while the EV distance record of 43.646km (27.1 miles) was set by Wei Pengda in a Zhiji L7. Both records were set on wet steering pads. The fastest drift is held by Masato Kawabata in a 1380bhp rear-wheel-drive Nissan R35 GT-R, who achieved 30 degrees of slip angle on a bone-dry Dubai runway at 189.5mph. There's even a record for the fastest vehicle drift while steering with a foot...
The record we're attempting to beat was set in China in 2022 by Wang Dongjiang, who slid his Subaru WRX for 6.231km (3.87 miles). Until now no one has attempted the ice drift record in an EV, so as we'll be using Skoda's Enyaq iV VRS electric SUV, all being well we'll be claiming an outright record and establishing a new EV record in the process.
It goes without saying that it's easier to make any car slide on ice, but it's much harder to stop it sliding too, with mistakes taking longer to correct and more likely to end in a spin or the car straightening up. To comply with Guinness World Records rules the ice can only be cleared of snow and not treated or improved in any way. As we're using a frozen lake and not a frozen steering pad, the surface will be rougher and more variable, but in common with all ice-record surfaces it will deteriorate during the course of the record attempt.
This story is from the March 2023 edition of Evo UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March 2023 edition of Evo UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
RENAULT SPORT MÉGANE R26 R
It's possibly the greatest hot hatch ever made, but it took true dedication and extreme measures to create it. This is the story of how the Mégane R26.R came to be
THE ART OF THE ESTATE
Fast estates have always been cool, but today they can take many forms. We pitch Peugeot's updated hybrid 508 PSE against Skoda's more conventional but equally compelling Octavia vRS
HYBRID WORKING
Bentley's new Continental GT will be its most powerful and most advanced road car to date. A drive of a pre-production example provides our first taste of its new V8 hybrid powertrain
THE LONG GOODBYE
After powering Bentleys for more than 20 years, the magnificent W12 engine has finally ceased production. We go for a farewell drive in the model where it all began - and look forward to the new Crewe generation
A DESIGN FOR LIFE
As a star of the very first issue of evo, Audi's design icon is a car entwined with this magazine's history. But now it's no more. We drive an early Mk1 quattro alongside a late Mk3 RS to find out if it enters retirement with grace
BACK ON TRACK?
After the slightly under-achieving M4 CSL, could the new M4 CS be the sweet-spot in the M3/M4 range?
FAMILY AFFAIR
Thirty years ago, the McLaren F1 set new benchmarks with its speed and purity; now Gordon Murray's latest supercar, the GMA T.50, promises to do the same. We drive them back to back
Aston Martin DBX707
Much-needed interior overhaul, plus other mid-life updates, ready the DBX for its second act
Radical SR1 XXR
Radical's entry-level racing car has been re-released in enhanced XXR guise. We find out just how good it is in the most revealing way - by racing it
VW Golf R
The Mk8 Golf R has never really wowed us. But can the Mk8.5 change all that? A drive in a prototype version provides some clues