Six Star Magazine Six Star Magazine Fall/Winter 2019 | Page 37

everything from supercar tours of Italian wine regions to test
days for top rally teams in remote parts of Scandinavia.
What they’ve done in their first major venture on this side of
the Atlantic is an experience like no other. First, they journey
to a lake in Northern Wisconsin. Then, they wait for the lake
to ice over. Once the ice is thick enough, they fly in a Swedish
chef, set up facilities to stay warm and dry, gather together
the fastest Subaru vehicles in the lineup—the WRX, STI and
BRZ—and fit them with special Swedish studded tires.
Once the track has been designed and plowed to the
perfect snow-depth-to-ice ratio, the driving instructors
from DirtFish ride shotgun to teach you the techniques
and methods to maximize speed (and fun) on the ice. From
time to time, special guest instructors make the occasional
appearance, including the Subaru Motorsports USA team
drivers. One of those drivers is Patrik Sandell.
In fact, when he’s not catching serious airtime and
spoiling the paintwork of a modified Subaru WRX STI in
the ARX Rallycross Championship, he runs FlatOut Sweden
alongside his partner, Linnea Sivertsson. We caught up with
Patrik to find out about the Subaru Winter Experience.
“As I grew up in Northern Sweden and I learned how to
drive on frozen lakes, I wanted more people to get the chance
to drive flat-out sideways on an ice track,” he says. “So we
created FlatOut Sweden, an event company that focuses on
winter driving experiences all over the world. In 2018, it was
the first year for the Subaru Winter Experience in North
America and it’s been a success so far!”
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