It felt like a pretty short night when the alarm went off at 6:15am this morning. We got ourselves organised and down to breakfast by 7:15am.

The hotel put on a very nice breakfast and we ate while chatting with others from Melbourne who are here with us for the Porsche Ice Experience.

At 8:15am we headed into a small lecture room to meet our instructor for the next three days and receive the mandatory safety briefing. Then it was onto the bus for a 30-minute drive to the Porsche driving facility. Once we got there, we were pretty quickly into our cars and heading out for the first exercise of the day.

Getting ready to go out on the ice in the 911.
Getting ready to go out on the ice in the 911.
Andrea braving the elements!
Andrea braving the elements!
Our fleet of cars.
Our fleet of cars.
Flavio (the GM of our local dealership) and Andrea.
Flavio (the GM of our local dealership) and Andrea.

Our first exercise was drifting a 911 Carrera S around two circular ice circuits, one large and one small. Drivers and passengers swapped seats regularly so we both got plenty of driving time. After this initiation we headed inside for a quick morning tea before our next exercise, driving a Panamera on a slalom course. The technique for the Panamera was a bit different because the Panamera is an all-wheel-drive vehicle. It’s a big car but it really didn’t feel that big as we threw it around on the ice. We then headed back in and switched back into another 911 Carrera S for an hour of sliding on a figure-eight course. Buy this stage it was nearly 1:30pm and it was time for lunch. We had an excellent lunch and then relaxed a bit before the afternoon session.

First up after lunch was a higher-speed drifting exercise in the 911 Carrera 4S. This was probably Andrea’s least favourite exercise so Keith had a more extended session on the drift circle. Drifting the all-wheel-drive 911 Carrera 4S required a lot more commitment but was very rewarding.

Keith drifting the 911 4S.
Keith drifting the 911 4S.
Keith drifting the 911 4S.
Keith drifting the 911 4S.
Keith drifting the 911 4S.
Keith drifting the 911 4S.

From there it was back to the main meeting point to swap cars. We jumped from the 911 Carrera 4S into a Cayman GTS, a rear-wheel-drive mid-engined car that has more a neutral behaviour. We headed out in the Cayman GTS for another slalom exercise, which was really good fun.

After a full day of driving we all then hopped on the bus and headed back to the hotel. We relaxed a bit before meeting the rest of our group for dinner and we are now back in our room, ready for bed after a big day.

Bedtime treats from Porsche!
Bedtime treats from Porsche!

Tomorrow we head back again for another full day of driving, followed by some snowmobiling!