No business like snow business!
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As the south of England's winter so far has amounted to one day (243 December, in case you missed it) we were pleased to accept Iveco's invitation to join its winter testing programme in Lapland and get some arctic driving practice...
• by Colin Barnett
It's official: Sod's Law even applies above the Arctic Circle. Temperatures in northern Lapland during early February normally range between -10°C and -30°C, but the lowest figure we saw was around -5°C; more often it was just around freezing point.
The temperature meant we were foiled in our intention to participate in Iveco's tests of different types of engine and cab heating devices. However, thanks to a few months of normal arctic weather conditions, with a general snow covering around a metre deep, the driving aspects of the exercise were still valid, To gain an insight into the challenges of driving in such an inhospitable environment, we took to the wheel for a 50km drive north, away from the metropolis of Nato (population 4,000). Although the weather was comparatively mild, road conditions can be at their most treacherous around freezing point. In northern Finland salt is not used for road clearance, mainly because temperatures are consistently too low for it tc melt the ice, but also because it tends to attract reindeer, which roam free in the forests in their thousands. Hitting one in the average car is not to be mcom. mended.
However, one welcome side effect of the lack of salt is the absence of rust, evidenced by a tidy but unrestored Mkt Cortina Seen in daily use.