Nokian Tyres, the manufacturer who set the previous record in 2012, makes a new world record for fastest car on ice. The company used Janne Laitinen as their test driver who reached 208.6 mph (335.713 km/h) on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia in freezing winter weather. A previous-generation Audi RS6 was the car that Nokian chose for the job, which provides the necessary power and grip, thanks to its 580PS 5.0 liter V10 engine and the quattro all-wheel drive system.
Actually Nokian used the same driver and car as last year, so they only changed was the tyre with a newer winter model. The rubber that took the RS6 to more than 208 mph on a frozen gulf were Nokian’s Hakkapeliitta 8 studded tyres, size 255/35R20 97 T XL. To give you an idea about the force behind these tyres, Nokian says the car travels over 305 feet per second (93 meters), with each stud hitting the ice 43 times.
However, setting a Guinness world speed record on ice is not as easy as it looks. The time for 0.62 miles or one-kilometer distance is measured in both directions, with the world record being an average of these two measurements. Once the vehicle is in motion, it has only one hour to achieve the record. Secondly, the tyres have to be commercially available and approved for road use in the country where the record is made. And finally, the ice must be natural and not roughened or treated with chemicals. The video below shows how the record was set.