FAR off, in the frozen Norwegian countryside is an experience like few others. Where temperatures regularly drop to minus ten and below, and the snows lie deep, can be found two lakes.

Their surfaces feet deep in ice, you will struggle to stand up on them. So why, you might ask, are a classic Porsche 911, a rally-focused Subaru, a fire-spitting BMW M3 and a track-prepared Ford Focus RS, plus lots more, heading this way?

The Northern Echo:

Well, this is Scandinavia and it’s the winter playground of North Yorkshire businessman and professional racing driver Andy McKenna. To some, Andy might seem a little crazy, but to those in the know he is the go-to guy when it comes to taking the driving experience beyond the norm.

The self-proclaimed Ice Driver, Andy, along with his wife Alison, aims to offer a bespoke break for those who have at least a little petrol flowing through their veins.

“For more than 25 years I have been involved in motorsport,” says Andy. “I wanted to set up my own business, but I was keen for it to be something a bit different.”

Some of the world’s greatest drivers hail from Scandinavia, so Andy started to research ice as a driving surface. Having previously worked in Norway to see whether he could turn his dream into a reality, he found a location with the kind of hotel seen on picture postcards and set about buying some cars ahead of his first season in 2006.

“The lake is very close to the hotel and the hotel is near the airport, so it’s easy to get to,” says Andy. “It’s all aimed at getting guests the maximum time in the car possible, because, after all, that’s why they are there.”

Intentionally driving a car onto ice might seem counter-intuitive, but there’s really no chance of the car plunging into the icy depths below. “We work on a thickness of 40cm for the cars to be able to operate safely,” says Andy. “Once it freezes sufficiently and the weather starts to get colder, as long as you take the snow off it, the ice will grow in thickness.”

To make it even safer, the cars are never in the same place at one time, further minimising the risk of the ice fracturing.

“We work on having a metre of ice,” says Andy. “We test it constantly. Every single day, it is drilled and measured. It can vary in thickness from area to area – it’s a living thing.”

Ice driving provides people with different experiences, depending on what they want to achieve. “It can improve your confidence, it can improve car control or it can simply hone existing skills,” says Andy.

“For others, it can just be a fun experience. Something they have never done before and that they want to try. They might have seen James Bond do it and they say ‘I want to do that’. You can be a complete novice or a world champion. It doesn’t matter. Ice driving can be enjoyed by everyone.”

Many of Andy’s guests are repeat visitors. “We have people who come back year after year,” he says. “They are not racing drivers, they are not rally drivers. One guy is a real petrol-head and his fiancée bought him the trip as a Christmas present. He was over the moon. He has been back for several years. He absolutely loves it. It can be become addictive.”

Ice driving can also be for the young and the young at heart. “We have junior driver days for children from 14 years of age, for which we offer a chaperone service, and we also have people in their 70s coming along,” says Andy. “We have visitors from across the world.”

Some famous faces have also got behind the wheel in recent years. “We have had the three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx and, recently, Sir Chris Hoy,” says Andy. “Chris is a great driver and a proper petrol-head. We invited him through Twitter after becoming huge fans of his in the 2012 Olympics.

“On the day he retired, we suggested he swapped two wheels for four on ice and he said he would love to. Alison almost fell off her chair.”

Sir Chris, pictured above with Andy, came out for the weekend and really threw himself into it. “When he came, he wanted to learn. He listened intently and got a lot from the experience,” says Andy.

Like everyone else, Sir Chris got to experience all the machinery at Andy’s disposal. “They are all very different,” he says. “Every car has different handling characteristics, some front wheel drive, some rear wheel drive. While it’s a fun experience, because of the way we apply it, ice driving teaches people to read the conditions they are in, in the car they are in and how to anticipate situations before they actually happen. They come away with a better understanding of vehicle dynamics.”

For Andy and Alison, the best thing is seeing the look on their guests’ faces afterwards.

“People are almost overwhelmed by the experience. They are completely blown away by the scenery, the lake and how the cars move underneath them.

“They can’t believe how, with a little help from our top class instructors, they are able to control them,” he says. “It’s a fantastic experience, a real sensory overload, and something we believe they will never forget.”

For more information, visit icedriver.com or follow them on Twitter @icedriver or Facebook Ice Driver Ltd.