On land, Bentley's Continental Supersport can hit 100km/h in 3.9 seconds – but not on the frozen Baltic Sea. ALISTAIR WEAVERjoins former world rally champion Juha Kankkunen in the Bentley as he attempts to top 330km/h
‘NOW I WILL be the most scared I have been since we started the project,” says Juha Kankkunen, only half joking. The four-time World Rally Champion clambers into the Bentley’s passenger seat in the middle of the frozen Baltic Sea. Kankkunen is here for an attempt on the Guinness world speed record on ice, and I’m about to sample his charge.
The Continental Supersport convertible is the world’s fastest ice skate. It develops around 650bhp, which is 600 more than you need when it’s minus 35 degrees. Even with four-wheel drive, the traction is comically bad. You have to cajole the throttle like you might a reluctant child. In the real world this car will do 0-100km/h in just 3.9 seconds, but not here.
The track is bordered by snow banks. Hit them and we’ll risk being pitched into a terrifying barrel roll. I once set a world record for driving blindfold at 250km/h, but that was different. I might not have been able to see, but at least I had grip.
The Bentley’s moving around on the bumpy surface and I am making tiny corrections to the wheel. The speedometer needle swings past 160km/h and then to 200km/h as I grab fourth gear. Now the adrenaline is flowing and I am starting to feel the rhythm of the ice. We are skating together, the Bentley and I, across a frozen sea at more than two miles a minute.
I hit 240 km/h before my bottle runs out and I ease off the throttle. “You only really use the brakes below about 200km/h,” says my famous co-driver. As I press the middle pedal, it’s not hard to see why. The rear-end squirms and I have to apply a correction. It takes an age to stop.
We swap seats and Kankkunen shows me how it should be done. “I have been driving on ice since I was seven years old,” he says. “This is what I know.”
This is Kankkunen’s second record attempt. Back in 2006 his friend Kari Makela concocted a plan to break the existing record of 296km/h, set by a Bugatti EB110 in 1995. To succeed, they’d have to complete a flying kilometre in opposite directions. “It was a crazy idea,” says Kankkunen, “so of course I said I’d do it.”
The duo borrowed a Continental GT from Bentley and set a new record of 321.43km/h (199.86mph) in March 2007. “It was a huge achievement, but we knew Juha wanted to average 200mph,” says Ash Mason, Bentley’s special project engineer. “There was unfinished business.”
Four years later and with a new model to push, Bentley is back on the ice. The car is a tuned version of the Continental Supersport. The 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 is powered by special bio-fuel, there is a roll cage and safety harnesses, front and rear aerodynamic spoilers, special wheel covers and a parachute for emergency use.
A luxury convertible might seem an odd choice for a record car, but there’s method at work. “The ice is rough so air suspension is very important,” says Kankkunen. “The weight of the car stops it moving around too much and of course, you need four-wheel drive.”
The original record car used studded tyres that cut into the ice. This time, though, Kankkunen must make do with normal winter tyres. “Studs might have offered more grip, but there’s also more rolling resistance and that effects the top speed,” reckons Makela.
With less ultimate grip, the team must rely on Kankkunen’s otherworldly car control. In a practice run, he held a constant slide for more than 3km at 305km/h. “The control is not a problem,” says the coolest driver on the planet. “But every slide costs momentum and a few mph.” In practice, Kankkunen has already raised the record to 330.68km/h, but now he’s trying to go even faster. The team reckons 334km/h is possible.
It’s about working the margins. Even the temperature makes a difference. If it warms up a few degrees, the air density will diminish, the car’s aerodynamics will improve and the humidity of the ice will change, providing more grip. The difference could be crucial.
The track is about 30 metres wide and was carved into the frozen wasteland normally known as the Baltic Sea. Finland is to the east and Sweden to the west.
Using snowploughs, the team constructed a 16.5km track only for it to be destroyed in a freak snowstorm. They built another but it’s not quite straight. A subtle kink means the driver must change direction at 305km/h. “I think maybe they had one Vodka too many,” says Kankkunen.
My drive has thrown the rally star’s efforts into sharper focus. The difference between 240km/h and 320km/h in these conditions is huge.
“At 200mph (320km/h) you are travelling almost 90 metres a second so you have to look ahead, read the ice and then decide how you’re going to react,” says Kankkunen. The Finn might now be the high side of 50, but he hasn’t lost his mojo.
I clamber out and stand on the sidelines as Kankkunen completes more practice runs. A digital display showing the average speed across the kilometre flashes up 321km/h. At these speeds, the Bentley produces what sounds like a sonic boom, followed by a huge rooster tail of misty snow. He completes another run then returns to the pits.
He’s not happy. The temperature is too low, the ice is too hard and the track is deteriorating – there is no hope of bettering the 330km/h average achieved earlier in the week. There is a sense of anticlimax, but it’s still mission accomplished. Kankkunen has topped 320km/h on ice and Bentley celebrated by launching its “most powerful model ever” at the Geneva motor show.
The ice record is undeniably silly, but it would be wrong to underestimate the skill, commitment and sheer bravery of those involved. The most famous “Flying Finn” is now an honorary “Bentley Boy”.
Since Kankkunen’s record-breaking attempt in February, a new world record for the fastest car on ice was set by Nokian Tyres test driver Janne Laitinen who drove 331.610 km/h (206.05 mph) in an Audi on the Gulf of Bothnia in Oulu, Finland. The record was broken on Saturday last on a 14-kilometre ice track in freezing conditions.
