"Porsche for sale, low mileage, never used in winter". If you ever chance on an ad like this, go ahead and indulge yourself, because they might become extremely rare.
At least judging from the wishes of the good people over at Porsche, who just launched a series of driving lessons on ice.
The goal? Make sure that Porsche owners are never again afraid of taking out their sacred machine, even in winter, even in bad conditions. To do so, Porsche Canada joined the national movement and created, at the Mecaglisse complex in the Laurentians, north of Montreal, the Camp4 program .
According to Joe Lawrence, president of Porsche Canada, "only 20% of owners dare to take their cars out in the winter. But a whole range of winter products exists, so why not use them?"
Porsche's Camp4 program is offered in only three locations on the planet: Finland, Austria and now Canada. It didn't take long for Porsche to discover the site offering the ideal mix of snow and terrain. After a brief tour in November, they decided on the Mecaglisse facilities.
And who can blame them? We ourselves at Auto123.com used Mecaglisse to compare the performance of a Porsche Boxster and Porsche Cayman on ice last year!
Driving 101
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I know a thing or two about performance on ice. With three editions of the Sherbrooke Challenge on Ice behind me, where I was pitted against the legendary Alain Prost, I would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to have taken away any techniques.
Despite my relative experience, the teachings of the Porsche crew surprised me. Many of my fellow journalists from across the country got the chance to substantially improve their driving skills, and their progress was distinctly noticeable throughout the day.
If journalists who actually drive cars for a living manage to improve their technique, imagine what the average driver could take away from Camp4. Come to think of it, though, some of my colleagues needed those tips, as driving on ice is as hard as it sounds.
The day started with a description and technical presentation of the cars. We cut our teeth on Porsche Carreras shod in studded tires over an iced-over slalom course.
At least judging from the wishes of the good people over at Porsche, who just launched a series of driving lessons on ice.
| |
| Porsche's Camp4 program is offered in only three locations on the planet: Finland, Austria and now Canada. (Photo: Matthieu Lambert/Auto123.com) |
The goal? Make sure that Porsche owners are never again afraid of taking out their sacred machine, even in winter, even in bad conditions. To do so, Porsche Canada joined the national movement and created, at the Mecaglisse complex in the Laurentians, north of Montreal, the Camp4 program .
According to Joe Lawrence, president of Porsche Canada, "only 20% of owners dare to take their cars out in the winter. But a whole range of winter products exists, so why not use them?"
Porsche's Camp4 program is offered in only three locations on the planet: Finland, Austria and now Canada. It didn't take long for Porsche to discover the site offering the ideal mix of snow and terrain. After a brief tour in November, they decided on the Mecaglisse facilities.
And who can blame them? We ourselves at Auto123.com used Mecaglisse to compare the performance of a Porsche Boxster and Porsche Cayman on ice last year!
Driving 101
At the risk of sounding pretentious, I know a thing or two about performance on ice. With three editions of the Sherbrooke Challenge on Ice behind me, where I was pitted against the legendary Alain Prost, I would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to have taken away any techniques.
Despite my relative experience, the teachings of the Porsche crew surprised me. Many of my fellow journalists from across the country got the chance to substantially improve their driving skills, and their progress was distinctly noticeable throughout the day.
If journalists who actually drive cars for a living manage to improve their technique, imagine what the average driver could take away from Camp4. Come to think of it, though, some of my colleagues needed those tips, as driving on ice is as hard as it sounds.
The day started with a description and technical presentation of the cars. We cut our teeth on Porsche Carreras shod in studded tires over an iced-over slalom course.