From Fashion Week to Formula One, Mercedes-Benz knows how to put on a good show. On a recent chilly day in Gimli, Manitoba, there were no runway collections or champagne showers, but there was plenty of excitement nonetheless as a fleet of high-powered AMG vehicles sped around an icy race track.

This winter, Mercedes-Benz transformed a 250-acre patch of frozen Lake Winnipeg into one of the continent’s largest ice-driving race tracks for the Mercedes-Benz Winter Experience. Designed to allow media and influencers to experience winter driving at its most extreme, the event is also an ideal venue for the German luxury car brand to show off the all-weather capability of its vehicles. Among the fleet on hand for the day were the powerful AMG E 63 S 4MATIC+ Wagon, as well as the C-Class and E-Class AMG sedans, all of which proved just as capable on the ice as they are on the road.

Following a day of four-wheeled ice-capades, attendees were welcomed to the Mercedes-Benz Ice Garage, a castle built on the frozen lake from over 300 large blocks of ice. Here, with custom cocktails by Crown Royal and plush throws to keep out the chill, guests enjoyed a command performance by Juno-winning Canadian musicians Said the Whale and The Arkells. It was a uniquely Canadian experience, and an equally unique opportunity to experience winter driving at its most thrilling.