(QQ, Spring 2003) —  First let me say, "What a blast!" I've been to seven Audi Club Driver's Education and Safety schools and as fun and educational as they were, the Audi AG Winter Driving School is a totally different experience. Thought you could drive in slippery, snowy winter conditions? Learning to drive in the upstate New York winters I thought I did. This program taught me how much more I needed to learn to really master the techniques for winter and ice driving. It was also very well run and a tremendous value for the price (even if you weren't one of the eight lucky winners from the annual membership contest, or lucky like me and receive it as a Christmas gift from my wife!).

The first day of the three-day program started with touring the Audi factory and museum in Ingolstadt followed by two days of the driving school in the picturesque Austrian Alps ski resort town of Seefeld. All the attendees were picked up at 10:00 AM Monday morning at the five star Munich hotel, Bayerischer Hof, for a one and a half hour bus ride north to Ingolstadt. Most of the group had met the night before at the Bayerischer for an engaging evening of cocktails and fine dining.

The factory and museum tour included an outstanding lunch in an executive level dining facility. The l.75 hour guided factory tour provided extensive insight into just what it takes to build those wonderful Audi machines. The robotics and automated quality control checks were particularly impressive. The factory was a fine example of a highly orchestrated production operation with world-class efficiency, all conducted in impeccably clean facilities. The amount of engineering that goes into the process of building an Audi is amazing, never mind engineering the Audi itself.

The guided museum tour presented some of the earliest vehicles in the Audi heritage including Horch, Wanderer, DKW, Auto Union, NSU and Audi. After the museum tour there was an opportunity to browse through the museum store to buy some of those items not available elsewhere.

Monday evening after the factory and museum tour we boarded the bus for the three hour ride south from Ingolstadt to Seefeld Austria. We arrived at the five star hotel Dorint Vital Resort & Spa in time for an exceptional dinner. Besides the overwhelming view of the Alps from the room balcony the heated bathroom floors were a big hit.

The two days of winter driving exercises on ice were comprised of short courses outlined in orange cones that included managing over steer, under steer, avoidance maneuvers with full ABS engaged, steering with the accelerator, power slides, slaloms with and without the Electronic Stability Program and a grand finale of a full course, timed run that combined all the exercises.

The first day of the driving school we were split into groups of eight with two people sharing either an A4 or a new model A8, depending on the exercise. We each had five to six runs in each exercise before changing driving duties with our partners. Against advice from previous attendees, my wife, Karen, and I decided to give it a shot and share a car. We figured we could always change with another pair if it didn't work out. Well, we turned out to be a great team. Karen helped me recognize when I was over driving and I talked her through many maneuvers that she mastered quickly. This was Karen's first driving school of any kind and she did really well.

The instructors did a great job of explaining each exercise and then adding further guidance and encouragement right after each run. They showed great satisfaction when a run was executed correctly by offering generous accolades. An instructor by the name of Christl would actually throw her glove down in jest when a driver missed the mark and when the run was executed correctly she would cheer while jumping up and down pumping her fist in the air. Demonstrating one exercise Christl did the first run using the correct maneuver and then on the second run she intentionally used the incorrect maneuver. As she drove up to rejoin the students the whole group threw down their gloves. She got a big kick out of our humor, laughing as much as the rest of us.

The second day continued with more driving exercises allowing us all to experience both A4s and the new model A8. The first exercise of the day required driving the A8 through a broad slalom course by making the A8 turn using the accelerator after properly positioning the steering wheel pointing where it should go. The back end then swings out and brings the front end around. As the steering wheel is opened up, the A8 is heading between the cones unless of course you had too much accelerator and/or too much steering input then you start going in circles! Imagine doing all this with a +$90K (based on a 88K Euro sticker price at the factory) automobile. I don't think I'd ever get a chance to do that anywhere else. Audi AG is so intent on making the program the best possible experience that they had at least nine of the new model A8s in use for the driving school. I'm sure a few backup spares were being stored nearby. That's close to a million dollars worth of A8s alone-never mind the stock of new A4s on hand.

The grand finale started mid afternoon the second day. We formed groups of four people in an A8 taking turns doing two practice runs and two timed runs through a full course that combined all the exercises. Karen and I shared an A8 with Karen and Joe Chadwick. We provided each other with a lot of encouragement and coaching making it more like a team effort even though we were timed individually. Through the two timed runs we were given the option of using the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) or not. I used it the first time and decided it slowed me down. What I failed to reason was speed wasn't the object but rather control. My second run without ESP was not as a good as my first. To make matters worse, my wife's second run-Karen kept the ESP active-beat my first run! That was going to make it a long flight home back to Washington, D.C. Actually, I was pretty proud of how well Karen did coming in second to Dawn Fisher, an accomplished instructor & driver, in the women's group and she was pretty kind to me not to rub it in. I think Karen may consider some future driving events now that she's had so much fun and done so well with the Audi Driving Experience.

On the final evening of the program we were treated to a horse drawn sleigh ride from the hotel through the streets of Seefeld and into the scenic trails through the woods of tall snow covered pines that led us back to the driving exercise area. There we were given a real special opportunity to ride two at a time with an instructor driving the full course. Karen and I took an incredible ride with the lead instructor, Uwe (pronounced OO-Vay) who demonstrated the amazing ability to make an A4 do exactly what he wanted despite the ice and considerable speed. Uwe showed us how to expertly execute all the techniques that we tried to learn in the last two days. Near the end of the run Uwe put the A4 into a 360 degree spin calmly explaining the procedure as he brought the A4 right back into the direction we were going before the spin and simply continued on to the drop off point. The ride alone was worth the price of admission. The sleigh ride continued on to a restaurant that seemed buried in the forest. The meal and the ambience were authentic Austrian providing a fitting end to a total Audi Driving Experience.