Total MX-5 – July 2019

48 | TOTAL MX-5 |^ Summer 2019

[ ROAD TRIP ]

northernmost point on mainland Europe

that has a road to it, even if what we’ve

seen from the air until this point seems to

contradict that fact. Nordkapp is deep

within the Arctic Circle and once we

land there we will be closer to the North

Pole than to London. There are a couple

of reasonably sized islands to the north

of Nordkapp, but to all intents and

purposes we’re about to visit the end of

the earth...

The sky is hardly buzzing with aircraft

this far north, so the pilot is granted

permission to take us on a little

sightseeing tour past the actual

Nordkapp – northern cape – itself with

its weather station and visitor centre. The

cliffs here are quite tall and very dark

rock, and adding to their visual drama

are the snaking streams of wind-driven

snow that plummet off the edge and

cascade down to a brooding sea. And

then the tour is over, the pilot pretty

much nose-dives the plane towards the

snowy runway of Honningsvåg airport,

and then brakes so violently that some of

us nearly head-butt the person in front.

So why are we here? This feature is

entitled Road Trip and so far we’ve spent

all our time in the air. It’s -10ºC outside

and although Honningsvåg is a modestly

large place for this part of the world, not

a patch of Tarmac is visible. Hardly what

you’d consider driving territory for a

magazine that says Total MX-5 on the

front. And yet...

Blame the crazy guys in the Mazda UK

press office. It has long been their

mantra that the MX-5 is there to be

driven, so get out there and drive: ‘road

trips are bloody good fun,’ they add.

Regardless of the location, the weather,

and the apparent unsuitability of a small,

lightweight roadster for the prevailing

conditions. So PR boss Graeme Fudge

and his hardworking team have driven a

small fleet of the latest generation

roadsters from the UK and up to the

northernmost tip of Norway. And they’ve

invited a group of journalists to drive

them back again, at least part of the way.

They’ve devised a route – well, devised

is probably overstating it, as the sparsity

of roads up here means there’s little or

no chance of being picky about which

way you go – that will take us south

through Norway, skim along the edge of

Finland, and finally deposit us in the

Swedish city of Luleå, some 505 miles

almost directly south.

That mileage may not appear too great

a challenge, but it’s the type of miles that

will turn it into an adventure. Pretty much

every inch of the way will be on snow,

which will not only slow things down, but

also involve immense reserves of mental

stamina as you have to stay constantly

focused on not sliding off the road and

into a snowdrift. Or into an oncoming

articulated truck, which has even less to

recommend it.

Despite the extreme conditions, Mazda

UK has done nothing special to our

Arctic chariots, except to fit studded

winter tyres. The studs aren’t huge six-

inch nails protruding from the tread like

some sort of prop from a Mad Max

movie, but rather little pimples of

aluminium that look as though they’ll

have no affect at all. Having earlier

witnessed how unforgiving the

landscape is in every direction, these

teeny-tiny studs aren’t immediate

confidence boosters, but the Mazda crew

made it up here using them, so they must

work. This is how the whole of

Scandinavia stays mobile during the

winter – and it’s a proper winter. Until it

realised just how much money you could

make from the things, Volvo always

claimed it didn’t need to develop four-

wheel drive transmission, much less

monster SUVs, as its cars were happy

enough chugging along on studs and

snow tyres. Let’s hope this consensus of

opinion from those most likely to know

proves true...

Honningsvåg is but a short drive

from Nordkapp, and the plan is that

we head up there in the hope of

seeing the Northern Lights, which

apparently are a common spectacle

locally. But not tonight. The report from

Nordkapp is that snowfall has forced the

closure of the road that goes to the

visitor centre: we’re welcome to nip up

to the nearby car park and wait for a

break in the clouds, but there are no

guarantees. Then one of the hotel staff

suggests that there is actually a

guarantee – that the Northern Lights will

be hidden by cloud all night. We knock

The sparsity of roads up here means

there’s little or no chance of being picky about

which way you go

“
“

Above: A couple of

days before our visit, it

was proper chilly at the

Nordkapp... Those little

silver dots on the tyre

are the studs: they don’t

look like much but are

very effective

Right: Queueing to

use the Honningsvåg

Tunnel. In poor

conditions they use

a convoy system that

can mean a long wait

in the snow