Bentley icecapades stir up snow and tempers in Kuusamo

Learning how to handle a supercar on ice

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By Hanna Eriksson in Kuusamo
     
      A track on the ice of Kurkijärvi, a wilderness lake to the west of the popular ski-resort of Kuusamo, is currently playing host to around three million euros' worth of steel, tinted glass, hide upholstery, and walnut trim.
      The drivers of eleven luxury coupes and sedans are kicking up the snow on the track in turns. They are not testing the performance or acceleration of these thoroughbred vehicles, but trying to practice "safe winter driving".
     
There are dents in the snow walls surrounding the track, here and there the marks of tyres, and even one or two decent-sized holes.
      These would not be interesting were it not for the fact that the object that made them - presumably when its driver lost control of his charge and careered headlong into the snow - was a Bentley Continental or Arnage with a price tag in excess of a quarter of a million euros.
     
This winter fun is definitely for the well-heeled.
      Those behind the wheel are the sort of people with the wherewithal to buy their own Bentley and not worry about the cost of a few optional extras.
      The customers have flown up here - some in their own private aircraft, others on scheduled flights - from around the world. They have left their own car safely in the garage back home.
     
Bentley trainer Peter Barnes starts up one of the cars and accelerates out onto the ice.
      Barnes's task is to teach his customers how the big machine, propelled by upwards of 550 brake horsespower and with a claimed top speed close to 200 mph (for the Continental GT), can get out of shape on an icy road, and how it can be brought back under control again.
      Few of the hundred or so customers who have arrived in Kuusamo have ever driven on ice before, and few will ever do so again after this.
      "We teach them how to drive safely on ice and snow. I don't honestly think they would do this sort of stuff in their own car", laughs Bentley's marketing coordinator Reiko Käske as he stands on the lakeshore watching the cars and drivers going through their paces.
      This is not an exercise leading to a required proficiency certificate - the practice sessions stop immediately if the customers announce they are getting bored.
     
The Bentleys are here in Kuusamo because nowhere else in Europe has been able to offer up a decent winter.
      The ice on Kurkijärvi is nice and thick, more than enough to take the weight of a 2.4-tonne car, and the temperature is well enough below freezing to make your ears tingle.
      The drivers are learning at a school run by former rally world champion Juha Kankkunen . Kankkunen, for his part, is in collaboration with a local motorsports entrepreneur Sauli Pätsi.
     
Not everyone around Kuusamo is so enthusiastic about the roar of the luxury cars on the Kurkijärvi ice.
      Those who live on the eastern shore of the lake have been at loggerheads with Pätsi ever since the Bentleys arived here at the end of January - illegally, in the view of the Kurkijärvi locals.
      The relevant body of the Kuusamo Council decided unanimously in mid-January that there would be no permit issued for ice-track driving on Kurkijärvi. However, when the fleet of Bentleys turned up and started their engines, the committee was recalled and they voted to grant a licence until the middle of February.
      Sauli Pätsi says that no permit would have been required in any case, under the terms of the Off-Road Traffic Act of 1995, and that he has the necessary permission from the local fishing association.
     
Two of those who have been disturbed by the noise of the cars on the lake are Jaana Voutilainen and Arto Viitala, who lives just 200 metres from the track.
      They ask why the cars could not have used the Torankijärvi ice circuit on a lake in the middle of Kuusamo, or on the other track - on dry land - in Kurkijärvi, where there are decent barrier-walls to reduce the noise.
      "We've all built houses out here in the country in order that we can enjoy the peace and quiet. If the sounds of cars did not disturb us, then we'd be living in the town", says Voutilainen.
     
Sauli Pätsi counters that the Bentley customers specifically want to be out in the wilds and not in town.
      "The Torankijärvi track has views of the built-up area of Kuusamo. The other track here, on the other hand, is not the same thing at all as real ice: there is no water under the surface, and you cannot go ice-fishing", argues Pätsi.
      Right now there seems to be an armistice of sorts in force. The permit granted by the Kuusamo authorities runs until February 16th. Voutilainen says that there will not be any more driving on Kurkijärvi after that.
      Pätsi is not so sure about the matter.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 14.2.2007

More on this subject:
 FACTFILE: Only ten Bentleys in Finland

Links:
  Bentley Ice Driving
  Juha Kankkunen Driving Academy

HANNA ERIKSSON / Helsingin Sanomat
hanna.eriksson@hs.fi