Racing to the Finnish Line: The Ultimate Audi Club Ice Driving Experience

Original article written by Chris May.

The first thing you notice isn’t the cold—it’s the silence. A vast, frozen lake stretches out towards the horizon; its glassy surface exposed as winding ribbons of plowed snow and ice. Then, the silence breaks. A throttle blip, a surge of revs, and suddenly you’re going sideways in an Audi S5 Avant, carving arcs across the Arctic Circle.

In Muonio, Finland, winter is long, unforgiving, and the perfect environment to put both driver and machine to the test. And for a handful of Audi Club members, it became the ultimate proving ground where precision, power, and pure exhilaration collide on ice.

“Why on earth are you going to Finland in the winter?” It was a question frequently asked by friends and family upon learning about the Club’s driving experience plans. To fully answer that question, we’d have to rewind over a year back to January 2025. Looking at the Q2 2025 issue of quattro, you’ll find a piece covering the Club’s return to the Seefeld Winter Driving Experience in Austria. I was fortunate to share that experience with nine Club members, all of whom had previously clocked High Performance Driving Education(HPDE)seat time. While that is by no means a prerequisite, it was a surprising coincidence and a point that likely influenced the Finland excursion.

Much like the Club’s own driving education programs State-side, getting to know fellow Club members during our international driving experiences is as enjoyable as the training itself. Given the shared experience, it’s no surprise that a strong bond was established by the end of our Seefeld trip. During the final group dinner, we discussed how the Finland Driving Experience could offer more advanced instruction and seat time. Audi Club had never organized a group trip for Finland, and it was decided that our cohort would eagerly serve as the pilot for 2026.

At 67.95 degrees north latitude, Muonio is located well within the Arctic Circle. Historically, the Lapland area serves as a Finnish holiday destination for cross country skiing, dog sledding or snowmobiling in the winter months. While lesser known, Audi Driving Experience (ADE), has been conducting ice driving training in this area for over 20 years. For this trip, Audi Club worked directly with them to tailor a program that maximized instruction over a more traditional tourist experience.

The excitement was palpable meeting our Audi Club group at the Helsinki airport to catch the evening Finnair flight to the Arctic. As our flight descended into our destination, the lights of various ski slopes came into focus through the airplane window. A red digital marquee on one of the slopes read, “Home of quattro.” A serendipitous welcome sign and an omen for what was yet to come.

Our first day of our training included an introductory briefing. We reviewed the specs of the Audi S5 Avants we would drive, and our instructor, Harald Büttner, discussed the lesson plan. We’d begin with smaller, technical courses and then work our way up to higher speed tracks. We were given our welcome kits which included Audi Driving Experience branded jackets, along with a lanyard affixed to a “tractor punch card.”

As the training courses are carved out of deep snow which sits atop a frozen lake, there are snowbanks flanking the tracks which are to be avoided at all costs. Too much speed or not enough braking prior to a turn could quickly send you off course, immobilizing your Audi. Should this happen, we were told to radio for a tractor tow. We were to present our card to the tractor driver who would punch it to memorialize our off-track shame. We discovered it was an effective deterrent for most of us.

Upon arrival at the frozen lake, initial instructions were given outside of the cars for each exercise, and then almost entirely through in-car radio communication for the duration of the training. True to Harald’s word, we began practicing drifting on a slower course and worked our way up to more complicated tracks, with much-needed coffee and bathroom breaks at the nearby facilities.

Each lesson built on the previous, and by the end of the second day, we were driving a faster course with sweeping turns offering us the chance to clock between 90-100 kph on the ice. It was certainly one of the group’s favorites. We also briefly drove the RS e-tron GT for one of our timed runs.

During a coffee break, as some of us were into Audi’s Group B rally history, we asked Harald if he’d ever seen some of the greats like Mikkola, Röhrl, or Mouton in his racing days. He obliged us by sharing some of his memories, recounting his respect for all of those drivers. He fondly spoke about Walter Röhrl, sharing that he often looked slower, but in reality, that he was a smoother and often faster driver. Harald recounted meeting Röhrl at the ‘79 Rallye Montecarlo who offered him the following advice, “Brake ten times too soon rather than one time too late.” Effectively, Harald was telling us that in stage rally, consistency was the key to being fast. Driving always at ten tenths puts you at a greater risk of making bigger mistakes.

It’s likely no coincidence that Harald was conveying something similar to our Seefeld instructor (“Slow in, fast out”). Consistency and control can play a greater part in being fast than speed itself. And after several days on the Arctic ice, I think our entire group would probably agree.  

Before our airport departure, we were given the morning to drive a more technical ice course. As we all practiced, the unmistakable exhaust note of a turbocharged 5-cylinder echoed across the lake. A menacing RS 3 clad in a unique black and orange livery sped around the perimeter of the lake, kicking up a large cloud of snow and ice. It was Harald! As a parting gift, he offered us all a surprise ride-along in a highly modified RS 3.  It was both a special and humbling experience to witness a professional rally driver attack the frozen course in such a capable car. After hearing him talk about his rally days, you couldn’t help but feel like you got a glimpse into what it might’ve been like to co-pilot an Audi in a stage rally.

On the bus back to Kittilä, we reminisced about the incredible experience we shared, and many of us were already talking about coming back next year for more seat time.