Here's What Happened When IWC Invited Us to Drift a Mercedes-AMG Across Ice and Snow in Sweden
Say what you want about Die Another Day, that car chase had everyone and their mother wanting to race a sports car across a frozen lake. So imagine our excitement when Swiss watchmaker IWC Schaffhausen invited us to the AMG Winter Sporting Experience where we’d get to do just that.
The AMG Driving Academy is located in Arjeplog, Sweden which isn’t far from the Arctic Circle. The area is often used as testing grounds by car manufacturers and it's the perfect environment to race Mercedes-AMG's performance vehicles across glistening sheets of snow and ice. After being introduced to the AMG team, we met the modified AMG fleet that would hurtle us across 50-70cm of ice — we’re told this is thick enough to hold the weight of an airliner.
The experienced team gave us two intensive days of training before we battled it out on a course involving a figure 8 drift, a high speed slalom, and an icy track. After revealing who was the fastest, the team captains strapped us into the passenger seat of a race-ready AMG called the "Ice Taxi.” The professional drivers took us around corners at insane speeds for a high octane, adrenaline filled experience.
Reading about the experience is one thing but it’s another to watch it. Our video team didn’t miss a beat and you can see for yourself everything that went down in the video above. Visit the AMG Driving Academy website and IWC Schaffhausen for more info.