When you talk about perfect conditions, you talk about this. Rarely has the combination of black, white and blue been so synced.
Black is the DirtFish-liveried Subaru. White is what sits beneath your feet and on top of Dollar Lake. And blue? For the very brightest blue, look up. I guess, this being a story partly about Subarus, we should add the yellow. That’s the sun.
Welcome to Wisconsin and the start of the Ice Driving USA program. The thinking is very simple on this one: wait for winter to move into the deep freeze, bolt a studded tire to the four corners of a WRX, send it across Dollar Lake and don’t stop smiling.
There’s something truly special about driving on a frozen lake. It’s the juxtaposition of blowing your sat-nav’s mind as you turn off the main road, pick your way through the woods, drive onto the beach and onwards, bound for the frozen water.
The frozen Dollar Lake has been the DirtFish playground this week
Give it a minute or two and you’re gone. You’re lost to this other world of eery silence, stunning beauty and nose-freezing cold. Driving on ice overrides your senses, blanks out the creaking ice beneath you (DirtFish chief instructor Nate Tennis: “It’s not creaking, it’s breathing…” Yeah, whatever. That sounded like a creak to me – the word ‘crack’ is banned out here!).
Incredible as this place is, the magic truly comes alive when you get behind the wheel of the WRX and put more than 1000 five-mil studs to good use. Easing the clutch out, there’s nothing new. But build some revs and dial in some steering lock and your barometer of what fun in a car truly means moves into another dimension.
This is second-gear stuff, but sliding the car is simple and controllable. Tease the blower into a bit more boost and there’s immediately more attitude. But you’re not making pizzas here, the inputs are still minimal and precise. Take third and things definitely start to get a bit more interesting.
All your inputs into the car are magnified, exaggerated from what you’re used to on the street
DirtFish’s syllabus for Ice Driving USA is perfectly tailored to delivering you to the next level. First thing in the morning, there’s a slalom and a braking exercise – no better way to understand how studs grip where your Nikes can fall short in spectacular fashion.
The cup of coffee after that first morning session is fascinating. Standing around the wood burner in an igloo on the ice, the group has unearthed a secret. Something special. They’re part of a special society, a fellowship of sideways, frozen fever.
In the afternoon, the further reaches of the lake are explored. This is where Tennis has joined former Junior World Rally champion Patrick Sandell to work their magic. Ice Driving USA is the brainchild of Sandell and his wife Linnea and they share a clean sheet of all-white paper to draw the perfect lap. There’s tight and twisty, fast and flowing and a couple of deceptive ones hiding a second apex. Again, there’s no rush.
Ace DirtFish senior instructors Michelle Miller and Eric Schofhauser are watching on. They’re not in the car with you, but their eyes are everywhere – with encouragement not to see every corner individually. Look through the bend into the next one, anticipate where the car’s going.
In School or standing on Wisconsin’s frozen Dollar Lake, they’re the best at what they do. They give you confidence, encouragement and the self-belief to understand the car will do what you tell it to.
The weather out here in Wisconsin is snow joke...
Weight transfer is a key part of what we teach in Snoqualmie, Washington and ice and studs only serve to accentuate that. Lean into the corner too much and it’s hello lock-stops, that slightly annoying muffled bumper-meets-snowbank kind of noise and into reverse. But you learn. Every time, every lap, you learn more.
All your inputs into the car are magnified, exaggerated from what you’re used to on the street. The speed’s slower, but it’s like the car’s hard-wired to your brain; more than ever, you’re part of the driving experience. Just for today, your initials are WR and X.
With every car linked by radio, the day’s driving moves along seamlessly. Standing outside and watching as the sun slowly starts to dip towards the trees, this automotive winter wonderland is truly enchanting. Almost in complete sync, there are Subarus sliding on all four corners of the lake.
It’s poetry in frozen motion. And it’s not too late for you to join the party.
