'Sorry, I can't reply to your email right now, I'm drifting a McLaren in Finland'
Charlie Thomas learns how to go sideways in a McLaren. Because how else are you going to spend an afternoon?
You know the weather means business when people start to gear up before the plane lands. After a few hours heading north, flying above increasingly white and frozen landscapes, every passenger is adding layers, beanies and gloves before the plane touches the ground. This is what happens when you land in Ivalo — Finland’s, and the European Union’s, northernmost airport, which sits 250km above the Arctic Circle. It’s currently -28ºC and I am underdressed.
I’m not here to see the Northern Lights or go skiing. Rather, the nearby Saariselka is home to McLaren’s Arctic proving ground, where every year it sets up camp to put its latest supercars to the test on a sprawling, 25km frozen lake. It is here where I’ll try my hand at the McLaren Arctic Experience, drifting a £200,000 Artura through a series of technical courses carved into the ice, from simple circular tracks designed to perfect the art of holding a slide, through to handling courses that combine longer bends with sharp hairpins.
This isn’t the Artura’s natural home. McLaren’s first hybrid V6 car, it sits in the middle of its range, and is billed as the ultimate everyday sports car. It has a huge breadth of ability, and can be driven through cities comfortably in pure electric silence, or thrashed around a race track, with its 690bhp and intuitive handling making it as exciting as anything on four wheels. It’s also, unlike many new performance cars, not huge, making it enjoyable for dissecting the UK’s technical B-roads like the best British sports cars of yesteryear.
Drift your worries away on a frozen lake in Finland.
These are all good reasons to test it on the ice though. As part of the McLaren Arctic package, clients can explore the car’s limits at the firm’s Finland ice track, appraising both the handling capabilities and their own skills. Previously, McLaren had a fleet of GTs based here in the winter, but now the Artura is the weapon of choice. It’s a decision made for the car’s performance, but also for its ease and intuitive handling. Since it was released in 2021, the Artura has been widely praised for its accessibility, as well as its outright pace.
‘It’s been designed with super lightweight engineering in mind, a core McLaren attribute,’ says Max Hunt, product manager at McLaren. ‘It's class leading in this respect at 1395kg dry. It's a very important part of what makes it such a fantastic handling car and why it performs so well on the ice. It's got a massive bandwidth, from touring to urban driving, to the Artura Trophy race car, built on the same platform, or indeed, drifting around a frozen lake in Finland.’
The Artura is the first McLaren since the MP4-12C to be built entirely from the ground up. It didn’t borrow the twin-turbo V8 found in every subsequent car, but rather a brand new 3.0-litre hybrid V6. It was also built around a completely new carbon fibre monocoque known catchily as McLaren Carbon Lightweight Architecture. This helps keep weight as low as possible, while also providing the stiffness and rigidity expected of a McLaren.
While its hybrid system is technologically complex, it is a simpler car in other ways. The suspension is a conventional set up of adaptive dampers and springs, used instead of the hydraulic system found on the 750S, and the steering remains hydraulic, offering more feel over the electric systems used by its competitors. This, on the ice, makes a big difference. The natural steering feel provides constant feedback, giving you confidence when the back end starts to move. Hydraulic steering is ‘a hill we've died on for a long time now,’ says Max.
Outside it is freezing, but behind the wheel the Artura is the place to be. The steering wheel is free of any buttons or unnecessary controls, and while you are sat low, the view out is expansive thanks to McLaren’s characteristically low dash. ‘We go to great lengths to make sure the visibility around the car — especially if you're going sideways and you're looking out of the passenger window — is absolutely fantastic. You've got a helicopter view of everything around you, so it’s not an intimidating place to be.’
In practice the Artura is incredibly predictable. The low grip surface of the ice slows things down, allowing you to anticipate and balance the limit of the car. With ESC turned off, the car’s systems don’t interrupt the accelerator pedal, so you can explore beyond the edge of grip unassisted. With the only barriers to speak of being soft snow verges, the worst that can happen is you get beached with your tail between your legs. It makes for a freeing way to practice drifts in one of the world’s more extreme environments.
The Artura is also remarkably easy to learn with. Stick with 2nd gear on the handling course and moderately accelerate into a corner. The back end begins to move slowly and predictably; counter steer and apply consistent throttle and you’ll hold the slide through the exit, before dabbing the brake on turn in for the next bend. Link the slide with the back drifting out again, hold the throttle and opposite lock again while power sliding out. The car’s light weight and intuitive steering feel make it far easier than it should be.
As part of the Arctic Experience, guests stay in the family owned Javri Lodge in Saariselka, a cosy 13 room Lappish hotel replete with sauna, swimming pool and floor-to-ceiling windows to admire the great frozen landscape outside. There is also dog sledding, ice karting and possible Aurora Borealis sightings. But the highlight is exploring the depths of the Artura on ice. It’s brilliant on regular tarmac roads, but get it on a frozen lake, ESC off and drift into a soft Finnish sunset. You won’t have more fun than that.
