Journal 11.4

Be jealous of the test drivers. For them, a typical workday is like a scene from The Fast and the Furious franchise: sitting behind the steering wheel of a Polestar 1 and blasting down tracks, surface roads and highways, seeking to calibrate and optimize the car's systems as they labour to create the best experience possible for future drivers.

Driver Experience

They are deep in the Driver Experience phase of testing now. To be specific, it's the Polestar 1's grip and steering responsiveness that are being tested. The software that controls the torque vectoring is also being calibrated.

Luckily for the test drivers, the best way to perform these tests is to unleash the Polestar 1, channelling their inner James Bond as they rip down the tarmac. From the 45° banked roads of the High Speed Track to the rain-soaked asphalt of the country roads, the Polestar 1 is being driven at speeds in excess of 200 km/h to determine just how responsive and predictable it is.

We're also jealous of the test drivers. We tried to live vicariously through them by filming one of their typical workdays.

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Stig Blomqvist in Polestar 3

The Scandi Flick: How Sweden transformed rally driving

For most people, when they think of rally drivers, they think of Scandinavians. Strong stoic types, sat behind a wheel, tearing through asphalt, gravel and snow at breakneck speeds. But that's not the full picture. These racing drivers fundamentally changed the way cars were actually driven. They did things differently, building faster lap times in new ways. And today, we are lucky enough to talk to one of the greatest of them all: Stig Blomqvist.