It’s a rare opportunity to learn from Porsche factory driver Romain Dumas. Normally, the slim Frenchman can be found tucked in the cockpit of Porsche’s Le Mans–winning 919 hybrid, scorching through the esses as dawn breaks over France’s most-famous endurance race.
But he can also be found at Quebec’s Mécaglisse, an ice palace of speed. Here, throughout January and February, Porsche holds the Canadian leg of its Camp4 winter performance driving tour, and while there’s lots of fun to be had, of the sort Monsieur Dumas craves, it’s also the kind of place where you learn how to keep yourself out of the snow bank.
You don’t need a Porsche, you don’t need all-wheel drive and you don’t need to be a championship-winning driver. Here are five lessons taken from the ice-racing track that you can use on the street this winter.
For the love of Pete, put some proper tires on your car
The Cayman is one of the vehicles at the Porsche Camp4 Winter Driving Experience
Brendan McAleer, Driving
Camp4 usually offers several different types of Porsches to try out, and as you’d expect, Mr. Dumas’ chariot is a 911 Carrera4. Porsche’s all-wheel drive system is among the best available, certainly where sports cars are concerned, with the ability to shunt nearly all of its power either fore or aft, depending on traction. In conditions like these, it is both very helpful, and potentially borderline irrelevant.
A small squadron of Caymans is fitted with dedicated snow tires. Despite being mid-engined – the 911 has its engine over the back wheels, which gives great traction – and rear-wheel-drive only, the Caymans are just as easy to handle because they have proper footwear.
RELATED
Winter Tires: Here's how to save money and stay on the road
Now obviously, for driving in snow, you want to have snow tires, but the tendency is to rely on “all seasons” to maybe get us through a few slushy days. Many general-purpose all-season tires carry M+S designation, meaning they’re supposedly rated for mud and snow.
Oh, if only manufacturers were forced to call them “three season” tires instead. A proper winter tire, made to operate in colder temperatures without hardening up, is the best friend any car or driver can have.
Trust your car
Porsche is a big advocate of putting winter tires on its cars, even if they are four-wheel drive
Handout, Porsche
Once you’ve got your winter boots on, it’s important to understand the capabilities of your car. For some reason, many people pick out a machine in the showroom that has the computing power of the space shuttle, and then treat the thing like it was a 1984 Dodge Aries. First of all, don’t pump your brakes! Modern stability and anti-lock braking systems require constant, firm output, so in an emergency situation, it’s anchors aweigh and let the car figure it out. You don’t need to stop braking if you want to steer, either, as most ABS systems are complex enough to handle multiple inputs.
Most drivers don’t utilize the full capabilities of what their cars can do. It can be hard to overcome old habits gained driving machines that were a lot harder to handle, but don’t handicap the systems by trying to second-guess them.
Look where you want to go
The Porsche Camp4 Winter Driving Experience provides the ideal situations to learn safe (and hilariously fun) winter driving skills
Brendan McAleer, Driving
Mécaglisse’s longest track is cut into the snow to the slippery surface below. As a result, most of the corners are ringed by big soft snowbanks. They look huge. They look hungry. And, if you look at them too much, you’re going to end up waiting for a tow vehicle to come dig you out.
This is one of the oldest driving lessons in the book, but in winter, when time seems to slow down as you keep sliding, it’s never more apt. If you look at the car you’re skidding towards, you’re pretty much guaranteed to hit it. If you keep your eyes fixed on a clear space to the left or right, that’s where your hands will naturally guide the car.
Weight management
Porsche Camp4 Winter Driving Experience lets participants learn safe winter driving techniques
Brendan McAleer, Driving
On a racetrack, any performance school instructor will tell you that getting a car around a circuit quickly is about managing weight transfer. When conditions get poor, navigating the slippery streets safely uses the exact same idea.
It’s just like walking on ice – you want to be careful about how you shift your weight from foot to foot so you don’t end up flat on your back. Start relying on all-wheel drive to handle aggressive throttle inputs and you’re going to lift the nose of your car and reduce the amount of effectiveness your front tires have in steering the car.
Brake as hard as you would in dry conditions, especially when going around corners, and you’re going to let the rear of the car go light and get sideways. The goal here is to aim for a gentle neutrality, as it’s not just the quickest way on the track, but the safest way on the street.
The over-and-under on steering
Porsche Camp4 Winter Driving Experience
Brendan McAleer, Driving
Steering is good, oversteering or understeering is bad. Actually, oversteering isn’t bad – it’s hilarious fun, as evidenced by the roostertails of snow flung by Mr. Dumas’ Carrera. However, on the street, the RCMP would really prefer that you not slide your car around like you were trying to win a figure-skating competition.
Managing oversteer is easy, and is simply a matter of treating your throttle gingerly. The old trick was to imagine an egg between your foot and the accelerator pedal, and try not to break it. You should also try to keep your steering inputs smooth – no Scandinavian flicks please, not unless you’re a Finnish rallying champion.
Taming understeer is a more counterintuitive proposition. When you turn the wheel and the car keeps going straight, the tendency is to simply turn it more. Instead, you need to unwind the wheel so the tires can pick up traction again, and then turn more gently, again remembering to look where you want to head.
We tried this on a frozen lake skidpad, and the way you could recover grip by not overworking the tires was not dissimilar to higher-speed exploits on a tarmac driving circuit. Safe for the track, safe for the street.