Maserati Snow And Ice At The Chedi Andermatt

Maserati Snow And Ice – At The Chedi

In recent days this year I got asked to attend an event I have been wanting to be part of for so long: The Drifting Experience at Maserati’s “Snow and Ice”.

As you probably know from your own time scheduling, unfortunately I was booked out for the whole week already. To my and Mona’s favour, I could ask her to displace myself. This is why you will experience the journey through her perspective.

Enjoy, Ralph

Maserati Winter

The Maserati’s & The Chedi’s “Snow and Ice” Winter Experience

Driving up the winding road to Andermatt got me highly excited about the fun day ahead with Maserati.

I was mighty impressed by the astonishing Chedi with its well-composed mixture of luxurious materials and the solid wooden design. This architectural masterpiece had a majestic impact on me during the whole stay.

After the arrival I made sure to spend some time relaxing at the beautiful Spa. Besides the always obliging staff, the delicious food and the spacious Deluxe Room I was given, the Spa area was absolutely sensational.

To close that pleasing arrival day, we got spoilt by Nenad Mlinarevic’s exquisite dinner. Nenad combines different ingredients and textures – that you wouldn’t imagine could work together – in an incredibly surprising but agreeable way. For desert, as an example, we tasted the combination of razor-thin salted dark chocolate with a Jerusalem artichoke flavoured ice cream and dried pear flakes. To be honest, tasting the single components wasn’t what I’d call “mouth-watering”, but the flavours and textures combined added to a very delicious whole.

Maserati Snow Video

Ghibli vs Quattroporte and All Wheel Drive vs Rear Wheel Drive – two hard decisions when it comes to selecting your favourite Maserati Model in the snow.

Maserati Ghibli snow drifting
Maserati Ghibli S Q4 snow driftingVerbrauch: kombiniert 9,7 l/100 km; innerorts 14,1 l/100 km; außerorts 7,1 l/100 km // CO2-Emissionen: kombiniert 226 g/km // Effizienzklasse: F //Abgasnorm EURO 6
Posted by Maserati Schweiz on Thursday, 21 January 2016

As a passionate AWD Driver I found the Ghibli Q4 (AWD) the most handy and forgiving vehicle of the four. It is about half a meter shorter than the Quattroporte line and therefore has a wheelbase that is more compact. This shorter distance between the front and back wheels lets you control the Ghibli Q4 quite easily compared to the Quattroporte Q4. Even in Sport Mode and when turning off the Electronic Stability Program the Ghibli Q4 reacts almost immediately to your actions, whereas the Quattroporte Q4 with its nearly two tons, is a lot more inertial.

The Quattroporte Q4 took considerably longer until it swerved, but when it did, it was harder to keep control over the machine due to its weight.

Especially when drifting a slalom it is important that you don’t only concentrate on the curve that you’re in but you actually think about what happens two curves ahead. You need to know how the car is going to react to your stearing, accelerating and slowing down on snow and ice to be able to drift into the following curves flawlessly.

Maserati Ghibli Drift

Whether with the Ghibli or the Quattroporte, driving a rear wheel drive teaches you not to overeccelerate nor to overstear. Especially when you start moving, accelerate subtly otherwise the rear wheels start spinning as the whole power is being transferred over the back axis.

Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra 150m

Equipped with one of the world’s most advanced mechanical movement, the Seamaster Aqua Terra Master Co-Axial is stylish, sporty and prepared for an active lifestyle. This luxurious model features a pearled mother-of-pearl dial with 11 diamond indexes.

When you are about to hit a sharp curve, shift down and turn earlier and less than you would on a normal road. Having turned early, by the time you reach the curve the Maserati rear wheel drive slides nicely into the bend and doesn’t crash into the wall behind. By breaking in the curve – especially with the heavy Quattroporte – you transfer the Quattroporte’s weight from the rear to the front of the car to ensure your steering controls the car. As it is well-known, the performance of a rear wheel drive especially on ice is completely different to an AWD. It swerves a lot more, so you often have to countersteer to keep it on track.

If I can leave you with a piece of advice, always be aware – whether you drive a front, a rear or an all wheel drive – the car’s breaking duration on ice is significantly longer than on asphalt. When you need to slow down immediately while driving straight ahead, slam on the brakes without releasing until you stand still. The car will swerve slightly but it will stay on track. If you need to slow down when you’re in a curve, only tap the break and release it again, otherwise the vehicle will swerve heavily and you might lose control over the car.

Maserati Snow & Ice

Thank you The Chedi Andermatt and Maserati Switzerland for taking us on this exciting adventure. The Snow and Ice training was not only extremely entertaining but also very instructive. Thank you Maserati Team for teaching us how to drive safely whether on asphalt or on ice. I highly recommend this experience with Maserati’s luxurious sports cars to anyone.

Thank you for your time, I hope you enjoyed.

Mona

February 1, 2016/0 Comments/by gentleman

Maserati Snow And Ice At The Chedi Andermatt