This is Omar, an amazing driver who showed me how to enjoy driving on ice. That’s quite an achievement because I’d had two car accidents on black ice in the year prior to meeting him, and so was very nervous about this experience.
Ice-driving
When we first arrived at the Madesimo track and saw the car speeding around, veering from side to side on the ice I was a little worried. But once I was harnessed in to the bucket seat for a few circuits of the track as a passenger, it suddenly became fantastic fun. Click on the link below to see a video I took from the passenger seat.
Omar is clearly an experienced and capable ice driver (an Italian lady told me he used to be a test driver for Lotus) and knows exactly what he’s doing. I trusted him and relaxed – I think I laughed most of the way. I even felt confident enough to have a go myself, and it was great.
The same Italian lady told me that there’s no minimum age limit for taking part in ice driving at this track, and that last week a thirteen year old took the wheel.
The family travel lowdown: Madesimo is a charming Italian alpine town near the Swiss border and I was there earlier this week as a guest of the Madesimo tourist office. We spent Tuesday afternoon at the ice-driving track. If you fancy a trip to Madesimo, Momentum Ski offer packages there.
More winter sports posts
You can read more of my winter sports posts here:
I hope it helps next time you are faced with a patch of ice.
It probably will help a bit, but if I had a BMW rally car it would help even more!
I could hear your sharp, intake of breath and imagined you gripping onto your seat – but what fun!
It really was!