Snow and ice as far as the eye can see; the thermometer shows minus 35 degrees. It’s on this bitterly cold morning that the BMW M Magazine editorial team is due to meet Christian Flessa, Head of Driving Dynamics Systems BMW M and Peter Schmid, Head of Driving Dynamics Systems BMW X5 M / X6 M. Here at the BMW Test Centre in Arjeplog, Sweden, BMW M GmbH tests everything that might affect driving dynamics on low friction surfaces – like snow and ice. The frozen lake on which the majority of the test tracks are located offers the best conditions for these extreme test drives.
The site is located just under 60 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, so in order to accompany the engineers' work in daylight, there is only a narrow window of time between ten in the morning and half-past-two in the afternoon during the winter. After that, the sun sets and the sky turns pitch black. Welcome to Lapland.