As soon as you arrive at Oslo Gardermoen Airport, you’ll be met by our tour managers who will look after you. From there, you’ll be driven to the Kjølen Hotel, where you’ll be staying during your trip.
But that’s just the beginning. For 2024, Classic Grand Touring is offering a brand new ice karting experience that’s sure to get your adrenaline pumping. You’ll get behind the wheel of a kart for a taster session around a track on the frozen lake.
There will also be new cars to drive, a dedicated instructor for your group and we will have the very popular King of the Ice Challenge in evenly matched cars to test the skills that you have honed over the two days.
Also, for 2024 we have two premium driving experiences, where you will get to drive a Porsche Cayman and Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Rally car with a driving instructor on hand giving you tuition.
With Classic Grand Touring taking care of every detail, you can focus on having the time of your life in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
The lake we drive on is called Södra Lötsjön, situated in the region of Darlana in Sweden and has been used for Ice Driving in the winter months since the 1960s when it was an official testing facility for Volvo. The lake and the access road to it, has been used as a stage of the WRC Rally Sweden several times. The Darlana region is one of the most breathtaking areas of Sweden, and is a short drive away from the ski resort of Salen.
The top layer of snow and ice is brushed and carved daily to produce two large circuits, the outer circuit measuring in excess of 3.5km. There are also slalom and doughnut circuits, giving you a fantastic variety of driving options to master your car control skills, and all set in the most beautiful environment.
Ice driving is open to drivers of all abilities. There are no requirements for previous driving experience and staff are on hand at all times to offer support and tuition. You should expect to spin many times and inevitably require digging out (or even being towed out) of snow-banks, but that’s okay, it’s all part of the fun and learning! Before jumping into the cars, there is a short but informative driver briefing on the first day. The purpose of this briefing is to prepare you for your two days of driving and share some techniques which will enable you to get the most our of your time with us.
You are then handed the keys to an array of cars which you’ll get to drive over the next two days. they are a combination of front, rear and all-wheel drive – allowing you to not only experience the difference in handling but master the driving technique for each car.
Driving is split into one-hour sessions before swapping to the next car, and you will share each car with your co driver taking it in turns to drive giving fair and equal time behind the wheel of each car. Your total driving time per day is an average of 4- 5 hours.
We stop for a coffee break mid-morning and a lunch both days giving you a couple of short breaks to take on some energy and also ask the driving instructors for advice or compare notes with your fellow drivers.
For 2025 we are upgrading our fleet to premium cars only. These will include, a variety of cars from BMW’s 1 and 3 Series as well as the immensely capable Z4 coupe. We have dropped the BMW Compacts in favour of new Subaru WRX, Mazda MX5 and upgraded Ford Fiesta ST’s to the fleet. These are in addition to our premium experience track-prepared Porsche Cayman and rally-prepared Subaru or Mitsubishi both on lappi studded race tyres.
You will often find that the same models of cars are fitted with varying standards of tyres, from mid-range winter tyres, through to top-of-the-range studded ice and snow tyres giving fantastic levels of grip. Each car will offer different handling characteristics that will naturally teach you about under-steer, over-steer, throttle control and braking.
We can assure you that you will end your experience a better driver with a more comprehensive understanding of car control but above all, you are pretty much guaranteed to go home with a huge smile on your face.
We will have a dedicated instructor on hand to give you guidance to help you improve your skills.
Who is Ice Driving for?
Ice driving is open to everyone who wants to try it. There is absolutely no pre-requisite for any advanced driving ability or previous experience to partake. Ice driving is often used as a pre-season activity for racing drivers as it offers the perfect skill sharpening training for car control. Once you’ve mastered driving on ice, you can pretty much master driving on any surface. We can guarantee that regardless of your existing driving ability, you will go home from this experience a better driver.
I am nervous of taking part, is this for me?
We have a number of people call us each year saying they want to book their partner in, but don’t want to drive themselves as they don’t think its for them. We have had a number of partners who take part and absolutely love the experience after taking the first step. We can assure you of the following –
– No one else is watching (they’re too busy trying to keep themselves out of trouble)
– It is a safe and controlled low-risk environment
– There is no competitive element. No timing, no competition unless you want to take part in the optional time trial at the end. So nobody has any idea how fast or slow you are going.
– You will come away from the experience with an entirely new level of driving skill, far more competent in car control than you were previously and having had a huge amount of fun.
– The perfect example of this is one of our staff who is a notoriously conservative driver, and hates going fast, came on the experience being very nervous indeed. And after the first morning session came in to tell us, it is the best thing she’s ever done!
How cold will it be?
Typically on the lake temperatures are around -10c, however, this can be very changeable. The coldest we’ve experienced is close to -30c and some days we’ve seen temperatures of +3c. We offer plenty of advice on what to pack for the trip well ahead of time, but it is largely the same as if you were going on a skiing trip. It’s worth noting that due to extremely low humidity even at it’s coldest temperatures, the environment is surprisingly pleasant. It is not the same type of cold we experience in the UK.
Can I do this on my own?
Yes, you can. We welcome single drivers, however, as our trips are priced on the basis of two people sharing a hotel room, there is an additional single supplement if you’re taking a room on your own. On the lake, you will be paired up with another single driver, as far as possible, but we’ll do our best to make sure you’re well-matched and we’ll give you a good chance to get to know each other first.
What is the cost for me if I don’t want to drive and only spectate?
There is no change in price as the price is based on 2 people sharing a car. As the lake is remote to the hotel, there isn’t much else for a spectator to do as the vast scale of the lake does not make viewing easy.
How many people are put in a car?
All cars are driven in pairs and all drivers take turns in driving each car.
Your expedition begins as you board your morning flight to Oslo Gardermoen Airport. Upon arrival in Oslo, you will be greeted by our Classic GT Tour Managers who will be on hand to assist throughout the trip.
You will be driven in comfort to the Hotel Kjolen in Trysil, our base for the next three nights.
This evening’s dinner will be at the hotel where your Tour Managers will brief you on what to expect over the next two days on the lake.
Once you’ve had breakfast, our minibuses will take you to the lake where you will embark on your first day of driving on ice.
Before you begin your initial laps on the magnificent frozen lake, there will be a briefing and orientation laps.
We will be driving throughout the day, stopping for coffee and lunch.
Following an exhilarating day on the lake, we’ll head back to the hotel in time for dinner.
After breakfast, our minibuses will again take you back to the lake where you will embark on your final day of driving on ice.
There will be a short briefing on this day prior to driving onto the lake.
We will again be driving throughout the day, stopping for coffee and lunch.
Depending on the weather conditions, we will end the day by either participating in a time trial and/or completing hot laps in a secret car.
Following another exhilarating day on the lake, we’ll head back to the hotel in time for dinner and prize-giving with prizes not just for the fastest times!
After breakfast, the minibuses will be warm and ready to take you on one last scenic drive to Oslo Gardermoen in time to catch your flight back to the UK.
We have a minimum number of participants required for all of our events enabling them to be viable for us to run – this is usually 10 cars unless stated otherwise. In the event that we don’t reach the minimum numbers, the tour may be cancelled at which point your booking deposit will be refunded to you, or if preferred, allocated to another event of your choice.
As with all of our tours and events, this tour is protected by ATOL.
Click here for more information.
To secure your place – £1,000 deposit per person.
Unfortunately this tour is fully booked. Have a look through all of our tours to see if there is an upcoming tour. If there is no upcoming tour of this type you can still register your interest by filling in the below form.
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