This Sunday was my first time at an ice racing event. Yes, you can race on ice :lol: The location was a lake in upstate NY, with the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club (icerace.com (http://www.icerace.com). Figured I would share some pics and vids...

http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~lechtd/ice_race/amec12708099_s.jpg

http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~lechtd/ice_race/2224692000_841c64be5c_b_s.jpg

The main attraction, though, were these guys... Studded tires, light little cars and powerful engines = VERY FAST!

http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~lechtd/ice_race/100_2280_s.jpg

Here are a couple of videos as well... Unfortunately no RX8 footage (I can't film and race at the same time ;) )

Menards classes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyyvFVPyxVU)

Street Legal 4WD class (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYzpksiM5pY)

Enjoy,
-D

ive attended a few motorcycle icetrack races... interesting to say the least.. 2 wheels on a track of ice :Eyecrazy:

Holy shit u guys get way more snow then we do!!

Well if u go further north I guess I'd see that...

Holy shit u guys get way more snow then we do!!

Well if u go further north I guess I'd see that...

That would be the lake effect...

Oh so now your blaming it on the great lakes!!! Joking...

so did you drift it

how many hours north?

4 hours north

i was being very careful to figure out the limits of grip and how it handled so it was mostly grip driving for me (though the rear steps out alot anyway), but towards the end i experimented with some entry-oriented drift lines.. lots of fun

is it more under or over steer on the ice?

understeer for me, but i have 225 front / 235 rear.. it's easy enough to rotate the car with the throttle, so i prefer it setup for understeer by default

Looks pretty fun. I always wanted to try this. Thanks for sharing.

That seems like an accident waiting to happen.

That seems like an accident waiting to happen.

Haha... You're one of those glass-half-empty people, right? :spank:

you are using the stock rims?

tell me you are not using the stock tires. :lol:

you are using the stock rims?

tell me you are not using the stock tires. :lol:

Haha.. That would be quite an adventure.. They would also not allow me on the track... I'm using Bridgestone Blizzak LM-22s (although people running WS-50s seem to get better results)...

WOW, that looks like fun! I would just be scared shitless to hit a chunk of snow and tear off the front lip. :eek:

Actually I did end up in a snow bank on the first heat... It was a very soft stop :) Much much softer than, say, a tire wall :lol: As the race goes on the cars passing over the ice polish the surface so about 2/3 of the way through the same entry speed didn't work anymore and I drifter right into the snow :lol:

What you really gotta be scared of is hitting another car, or vice versa... It gets really interesting once you have two cars drifting alongside in a tight corner..

Your car's ruinedddd!!! Hahaha, Dim you described the course as racing on an iced-over lake. That track has so much loose snow, it's like that ice stage on Gran Turismo 4. If I couldn't drive on it with a Subaru world rally car on snow tires for a lap without scraping the snow on the sides (I had the logitech pro steering wheel, BTW), the RX-8 must be crazy. The cars next to you in those pics are beaters! True there are new scoobies, but those are rally-based 4WDs. I congratulate you on surviving it and having fun :p:

Thats pretty sweet!

looks like a blast...this winter is lame so far in this area.

Your car's ruinedddd!!! Hahaha, Dim you described the course as racing on an iced-over lake. That track has so much loose snow, it's like that ice stage on Gran Turismo 4. If I couldn't drive on it with a Subaru world rally car on snow tires for a lap without scraping the snow on the sides (I had the logitech pro steering wheel, BTW), the RX-8 must be crazy. The cars next to you in those pics are beaters! True there are new scoobies, but those are rally-based 4WDs. I congratulate you on surviving it and having fun :p:

Thanks!

Yeah there was a small layer of snow at points, mostly towards the outside of the turns (as you see in the pic).. The inside was mostly polished ice. And no, they were not all beater cars :lol: True the scoobies ran in their own class, but there were some nice ones in the 2wd class as well...

looks like a blast...this winter is lame so far in this area.

I know there was at least one guy from PA at the race ;)

Wow, very interesting. And to think I have been leaving work early at the first sign of snow in order to get the 8 home in one piece. Now I really feel like a puss.

I need to do that!! Looks like fun!

wow you got some balls to take your car on a course like that

one mistake from someone and everyone could be in for some damage

not safe in my oppinion

It's fun until you run into an ice bank or another car.

Keep in mind the cars are only moving 20-25 in the corners and maybe 40-50 down the straights... Even if you have contact it's going to be minimal damage. After I got my own driving under control, I felt alot safer on the course than I do driving around Jersey City or NYC...

People tend to latch on way too much on this illusion of "safety". There is no such thing.

Ever hit a snow bank at 20mph?

It's a solid concrete wall.

Ever hit a snow bank at 20mph?

It's a solid concrete wall.

Ice, yes. Packed snow, maybe. This was unpacked powder. If you read the thread you will see that yes, I went into the snowbank. Got pulled out and went on my merry way after cleaning out my rad and oil cooler grills.

Haha... You're one of those glass-half-empty people, right? :spank:

Haha, nope. I'm one of those people that wouldn't trust people as far as I could throw their cars when driving on a huge sheet of ice and snow. At least not with my rx8...