Guest blog: How Seat led me up a slippery slope

SEAT is a young brand. When we were invited to the Winterdriving X-Perience, it was clear to us that someone young had to go! Guest blogger Carla Welti reports virtually live from Ambri TI for AutoSprintCH. Skidding! Blocked tires! Hot brakes! A nightmare for any driver with as little experience as me. What luck that I went to the Winterdriving [...]

Editorial - February 4, 2017

Highlight of the event: Gian Simmen is pulled to the jump by Ronny Jost in a Seat racing car and performs a great jump!

Skidding! Blocked tires! Hot brakes! A nightmare for any driver with as little experience as me. How lucky I was to be invited to Seat's Winterdriving X-Perience. Double luck: I drive a Seat myself!

Together with the Seelisberg Event Center, the brand put together a day full of adrenaline and new experiences for us. Not only journalists and bloggers took part, but also Seat customers with their own cars. In the morning, we started with a short theory lesson, cooler than at university: physics, etiquette and procedure.

The models available to us included the new Leon ST Cupra, an Alhambra, three different versions of the Ateca, a Leon ST X-Perience and a Leon ST 4 Drive. "Like Christmas!", I thought to myself and tried out one model after the other. We got to experience everything from slalom driving to braking maneuvers and driving in circles. The aim was to compare how the car behaves with and without the electronic stabilization program (ESP). My conclusion: you are safer on the road when the ESP is switched on. No matter how much speed I threw myself into the individual exercises, the vehicles reacted, adjusted speeds and wheel functions automatically and always brought me safely to the end of the exercise.

The author in the Seat Ateca. Her verdict: "a great car!"

Olympic Jöring
At lunchtime, we were treated to a unique performance. The Olympic champion and two-time world champion in the snowboard halfpipe, Gian Simmen, got on his board and let ADAC TCR Germany driver Ronny Jost pull him around the track in his own Seat racing car. A bit like skijoring, only with more horsepower and a snowboard. They set off, took a run-up and at the last moment Gian Simmen let go of the conveyor belt, glided with momentum towards a snow jump and showed what he can do with his board. Great cinema! (By the way, you can watch Carla's video on the AutoSprintCH Facebook page! If you haven't subscribed to us yet, you should definitely like us now! Or directly on our Youtube channel.)

Beauty and the Beast: A selfie with Ronny Jost's racing car is of course a must!

In the afternoon, I grabbed the Seat Leon ST Cupra because I had already liked it so much in the morning with its sporty style. I almost beat Gian Simmen in his own Seat in a little race. Almost! Of course, a cab ride with Ronny Jost in his racing car was a must. Sitting low to the ground, he chased the power machine over the slippery slalom course and even made some of the male guests squeal and scream. After that, it was full driving experience, personal responsibility and real thrills! Because we were allowed to put everything we had learned in the morning into practice in a big exercise. After an almost endless number of laps, we gathered for the last time in the theory room, where we reviewed the knowledge we had accumulated during the day.

After a day in which I had definitely learned new limits on snow and ice, I got back into my Seat Ibiza with a diploma from the Seelisberg event center in my pocket and drove home through snowy Switzerland with more confidence.