ICE ACADEMY “It was
ICE ACADEMY “It was such a buzz, although it seems much easier from the sidelines than it is behind the wheel,” says Tamara Kajah after her first taste of ice driving in the F-TYPE SVR Tamara Kajah and Mirko Lahti look exhausted. It’s 7am on a freezing February morning in Swedish Lapland and the sun is yet to appear. After a hard weekend of racing in Marseilles, the two ice cross downhill skaters spent the previous day taking numerous flights to reach the small town of Arjeplog. Now, after just a few hours’ sleep, they’re on their way to the Jaguar Land Rover Ice Academy. So at home on the thrilling, high-speed tracks of the Red Bull Crashed Ice world championship, how will the young athletes handle the challenge of driving the latest Jaguar cars across a frozen lake? At the Ice Academy lodge, they step out into the -15 °C cold. Tamara and Mirko walk past a fleet of F-TYPEs and F-PACEs and look out across the vast snow-covered expanse of Lake Hornavan, which is covered by 70 cm of ice. In the distance, a Jaguar engineer speeds around one of the specially prepared tracks that crisscross the lake’s surface, throwing up clouds of snow as he drifts around the sweeping corners. The two skaters glance at each other with a grin. Their tiredness vanishes and Mirko claps his hands. “This is going to be fun!” The 21-year-old Finn is a rising star in ice cross downhill, already a two-time junior world champion, while 26-year-old Canadian Tamara is one of the sport’s top female competitors. “The fastest sport on skates” sees athletes race to the bottom of an ice track dotted with tight turns, jumps and vertical drops at up to 80km/h. Its popularity has soared in recent years, with thousands attending the actionpacked world championship races at a range of dramatic locations, from ski resorts to city centres. It’s a far cry from the serenity of the Arjeplog wilderness. Home to Jaguar Land Rover’s cold-weather testing facilities for a number of years, the Academy was set up in 2016 to enable visitors to experience the thrill of ice driving under the guidance of expert instructors. Ready to put Tamara and Mirko’s ice skills to an entirely new test on a range of specially prepared tracks are Andre D’Cruze, motorsport racing veteran and movie stunt driver, and Jan Wouters, race team owner and expert drifter. On the ice, a red F-TYPE SVR and white F-PACE Portfolio await, each fitted with studded snow tyres. The instructors offer a quick rundown of what to expect from the two cars: short and muscular, the all-wheel drive F-TYPE is lightning fast and highly responsive; its larger cousin, the F-PACE, combines sports car DNA with comfort and optimum handling on every road. 50 THE JAGUAR
TAMARA KAJAH BORN: 14 OCTOBER 1991, CANADA A self-confessed speed junkie, Tamara started skiing when she was three. She honed her skills playing ice hockey before discovering the thrill of downhill ice cross. After her first race in 2014, she was hooked and has been a regular podium finisher ever since THE SKATERS MIRKO LAHTI BORN: 11 OCTOBER 1996, FINLAND Mirko got his first motocross bike at just four years old and, like many Finns, he was a keen skier and ice hockey player as a child: the ideal foundations for ice cross downhill. A two-time junior world champion, he now has his sights set on dominating the men’s competition F-TYPE SVR Jaguar’s most powerful F-TYPE boasts of a formidable 5.0 litre V8 engine that propels it from 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds. Agile and dynamic, the All Wheel Drive technology ensures maximum traction and confident handling, even on snow and ice THE CARS F-PACE PORTFOLIO An SUV with true sporting character, the F-PACE Portfolio 3.0 litre V6 twin turbocharged diesel goes from 0-60mph in 6.2 seconds. Innovative handling technologies provide the optimum balance between performance and comfort, whatever the surface THE JAGUAR 51