There’s a new world record for fastest car on ice, and the holder is Nokian Tyres, the manufacturer who also set the previous record in 2012, beating Bentley’s record with a 331.61 km/h (206.05 mph) top speed.
The company that invented winter tyres used its test driver Janne Laitinen who reached 335.713 km/h (208.6 mph) on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia in freezing winter weather. The car chosen for the job was a previous-generation Audi RS6 owned by Nokian, that provides the necessary power and grip, thanks to its 580PS 5.0-liter V10 engine and the quattro all-wheel drive system.
Basically, Nokian used the same driver and car as last year, changing only the tyre with a newer winter model. The rubber that took the RS6 to more than 335 km/h on a frozen gulf were Nokian’s Hakkapeliitta 8 studded tyres, size 255/35/R20 97 T XL. Just to give you an idea about the forces that act on the tyre at 335 km/h, Nokian says the car travels over 93 meters (305 feet) per second, with each stud hitting the ice 43 times.
Setting a Guinness world speed record on ice is not as easy as it looks, however. The time for the one-kilometer (0.62 miles) distance is measured in both directions, with the world record being an average of these two measurements.
Once the vehicle takes off, it has only one hour to achieve the record. Additionally, the tyres must be commercially available and approved for road use in the country where the record is made. In addition, the ice must be natural and not roughened or treated with chemicals. You can see how the record was set in the video below.
By Dan Mihalascu
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