Fastest on ice!

The new world record for fastest car on ice was achieved by Nokian Tyres, inventor of the winter tire, when test driver Janne Laitinen drove at a speed of 335.713 kilometres per hour (208.602 mph) on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia in freezing winter weather. Grip and speed like never before were ensured by the new spearhead product for the world’s leading manufacturer of winter tires – the Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 8 studded tire (255/35R20 97 T XL).

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Same place, car and driver as before but now new Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 8

The car driven in this exceptional test by the company’s own “Iceman” Janne Laitinen, who holds multiple world records, was an Audi RS6. The speed of Nokian Tyres’ own test vehicle reached close to 340 kilometres an hour (211.27 mph) during the record. The new world record was achieved on 9 March near the city of Oulu, on an 12-kilometre (7.5 mile) track created on the ice of the Gulf of Bothnia.

Iceman Janne Laitinen

Nokian Tyres talks a lot about the gut feelings of test drivers. They can provide information that not even the most advanced technical instruments or computers can discover. Test driver Janne Laitinen knows the secret behind the world’s best winter tires. He is an irreplaceable part of the product development of tires.

When the new Nokian Tyres Hakkapeliitta 8 from Nokian Tyres proved its might on the ice of the Bothnian Bay, in unforgiving Northern winter weather, it already had thousands of hours of product development behind it. But it still took hundreds of hours of professional work and dedication against the ice, snow, and wind, before the new record for driving on ice was set at 335.713 km/h (208.602 mph).