Nokian shod Audi breaks world ice speed record

It probably comes as no surprise that the fastest man on ice is a Finn. Nokian Tyres test driver Janne Laitinen set a new world speed record for driving a car on ice on March 6 when he nursed his Audi – shod with size 255/35R20 97 T XL studded Hakkapeliitta 7 tyres – up to 331.61 km/h (206.05 mph) on a 14 kilometre track laid out on the frozen Gulf of Bothnia near the city of Oulu.

“Testing at high speeds in demanding conditions forms an important part of our winter tyre development,” commented Matti Morri, technical customer service manager at Nokian Tyres. “Testing our boundaries can teach us new things, which can then be reflected in all of our products.”

The Guinness World Records organisation outlines detailed rules for ice driving world records. The time for the one-kilometre distance is taken for driving in both directions of the track, and the world record time is the average of these two results. The vehicle takes a flying start. There is a total of one hour to complete the record attempt. The ice has to be natural and it may not be roughed up or treated with any chemicals. The tyres must be commercially available and approved for road traffic in the country in which the record attempt takes place.

The previous world ice speed record stood for less than a month; on February 10, four times world rally champion and fellow Finn Juha Kankkunen attained a top speed of 330.69 km/h (205.48 mph) in a Bentley Continental GT, in the process breaking his own record set in 2007.