 In the 2012 Volkswagen Golf R, on the way to VW’s test facility near Arjeplog. Click image to enlarge |
Article and photos by Paul Williams
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2012 Volkswagen Golf R
Arjeplog, Sweden – From Canada it takes considerable planning and about 24 hours to get to Arjeplog, Sweden, situated 50 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle. First you travel to Stockholm, and then take another flight to Arvidsjaur followed by a two-hour bus ride. Many visitors stay at the Silverhatten hotel with its panoramic view of the lakes, surrounding hills and the town with its signature church steeple.
There are 2,000 permanent residents in Arjeplog, which is larger than you might expect for a community this far north. At night, the northern lights are a common sight, and local fauna include bear, reindeer, moose, trout and salmon, although in my experience, evidence of these creatures was limited to gourmet versions prepared by local chefs for dinner.
What has all this to do with cars? Arjeplog is a cold weather testing and winter driver training location for just about every major automaker in the world, and many automotive engineers and technical staff live there year-round. Each company has “their” lake, upon whose frozen surface all manner of automotive shenanigans take place for a good third of the year. Additionally, there are many private driving schools.
 Northern Lights over Arjeplog; photo by Roman Bilz. Click image to enlarge |
Residents regularly see camouflaged versions of upcoming vehicles stealthily driven along local roads, although unlike journalists, they likely don’t pay much attention to them. At a recent Volkswagen press event, we saw the new Kia K9 and the new BMW X5, although Fiat, Ferrari, Audi, Porsche, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Land Rover and a range of other companies had signage in the area, and also bring pre-production examples of their latest vehicles.
Photographing these vehicles is a challenge, as they wear black and white camouflage that fools cameras (they can’t focus), and car companies do their best to keep them out of sight unless absolutely necessary. However, we were told by a practical-minded VW engineer that the best time and place to see them is early in the morning at one of the town’s gas stations: makes sense.
The reason for our visit was to get a taste of the “Schweden Ice Drive,” a Volkswagen Driving Experience program that comprises several events held throughout the world. What’s the draw? Getting to drive an all-wheel drive Volkswagen Golf R sideways at very high speed is a good start.
 Arjeplog Church, at night; photo by MAF. Click image to enlarge |
The Golf R in European specification has a couple of additional features compared with the Canadian version (which we’re finally getting), due this April. The Euro R runs the 270 horsepower engine, has an electronically adjustable suspension, is fitted with hardshell racing seats (that accept a four-point harness) and can (almost) fully defeat its electronic stability control system, enabling the Haldex all-wheel drive system (Volkswagen’s “4Motion”) to really earn its keep.
And in comparison to the American Golf R, our Canadian car is equipped with a full leather interior, navigation system, sunroof and sundry other creature comforts, rendering it pretty much “option proof.” Total cost, plus tax and fees, is $39,650.
The Arjeplog facilities are much like other winter driving centres, only bigger. Basically, Volkswagen has carved long, twisting tracks in the surface of a frozen lake with a view to teaching Driving Experience participants how to drift through the corners, get maximum acceleration on the straights, and respond to the icy terrain in a way that gets maximum performance from the car.
 2012 Volkswagen Golf R. Click image to enlarge |
The vehicles wear studded tires (as is the practice for all Swedish cars in the winter) and if a driver should “lose it” in the corner, the worst that could happen is to drive into a knee-high wall of snow that flanks the track. Nonetheless, repeated incidents will (and did) redesign the Golf R’s fragile front fascia.
As well has having careers in motor racing, some of the Volkswagen instructors have unusual skills they bring to the job. Champion race driver Ronny Wechselberger (aka Ronny C-Rock), for instance, was also a stunt driver on The Bourne Ultimatum movie, and he holds the Guinness World Record for precision parallel parking.
The latter is something he does in his spare time which involves driving a Volkswagen Polo toward two parked cars with enough space between them to barely fit his vehicle. You and I would have the cars on your right, carefully parallel parking between them in the normal fashion. Ronny drives at some speed facing the cars, yanks the parking brake, cranks the steering, rotates the car 180 degrees and slides sideways between the two parked vehicles. Total space in front of, and behind his vehicle: 26 centimetres.
 2012 Volkswagen Golf R. Click image to enlarge |
And that was the record, until someone shaved one centimeter off it – now Ronny will attempt to reclaim his record in April, 2012. Check out his drive here.
Although this is arguably “just a stunt,” Mr. Wechselberger suggests that the skills necessary to execute such a manoeuvre are similar to those he would use as a race driver visualizing the details of a track. Likewise, participants in Volkswagen’s Driving Experience are taught to learn the characteristics of the program’s circuits and exercises, and identify subtle surface variations in order to anticipate the car’s behaviour on them.
A constant message is to look where you want to go, and although this sounds axiomatic when driving a car, it’s surprising how easy it is to become distracted by surrounding objects. Looking where you want to go, we were told, will be the difference between driving around an obstacle and driving into an obstacle. It’s a fundamental skill.
And speaking of distractions, journalists were treated to a “hot lap” night drive with program instructors at the wheel. At speeds up to 160 km/h, you would think that driving in the pitch black (except for the headlights) would be more dangerous and challenging than runs during the day (it was certainly exciting!).
 2012 Volkswagen Golf R. Click image to enlarge |
However, Mr. Wechselberger pointed out that the fastest lap times at Le Mans, for instance, are typically made at night. The reason? No distractions. No trees, no clouds, no stands and spectators, no extraneous information to pull your focus from driving. The lights illuminate what you need and nothing more, enabling the driver to focus 100 percent of his or her attention on the task at hand. So our “hot” laps on the lake at night were fun for sure, but not as risky as it might have appeared.
The Volkswagen Golf R is one of the cars of choice in the range of Volkswagen Driving Experience programs. Learn more about them at VW.com.
