Ice Racing

[SCRubicon]

Starts in 34 days :drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kni5xnOvnRM&fmt=18

[Brody]

We ought to get a bunch of us out there and enter the bare rubber class. I have done it a few times and have had a blast.

BTW, the closest I ever got to 'winning' was I managed to finish two heats, but totally ate in on the third one. A grill goes a long way towards a good time....ditto with stove for hot drinks...

Let's do it!

[SCRubicon]

Heck yeah! FR4x4 day on the ice. There's talk of a studded street class this year. I had a set of studded ag tires at one time, but the studs were too big for the class I wanted to run.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c174/SteveChabala/In%20the%20garage/DSCN0999.jpg

[Patrolman]

I have studded snows on my truck, so a studded street class would be cool. Otherwise I had to compete with the guys running the paddles and the studs like in the pic. Not even close! 22r vs 5.0 and special ice tires? It is still a fun time, but obviously there is a lot of luck that goes along with skill and a good vehicle!

[Chris]

I'd like a bald street tire class!

I drove 25 Minnesota winters pretty much in that class and I would kick *ss. :lol:

[Brody]

I think that there is a stock and modified class in both bare rubber and studded, but I could be wrong. I know that the rigs that I have driven could hardly be considered stock and I raced against basically stock rigs, but only in bare rubber class. Maybe things have changed-probably many more rules-maybe they haven't. Hopefully no one has taken the fun out of it...

I told LaDawn that she would do better than I would so she is interested in giving it a go. I had her out spinning donuts and drifting in some snow/ice covered parking lots last year which was a first...

[SCRubicon]

Maybe I can con the wife into taking her Honda up there too??? Here's the link to Our Gang Ice Racing. You can find all of the race info. http://www.ourgangiceracing.com/Index.html

[Funrover]

HMMMMMM.....

[Patrolman]

What are considered advantages in the vehicle besides say not being lifted and on big MT's? :D

There are advantages based on the track layout. Sometimes they run a "dog-bone" and sometimes they run more of an oval track. On the dog-bone, short-mid wheel base and open diffs will get you through those corners. On the oval, mid wheelbase with a rear locker will get the rear end to slide nicely while still maintaining control.

Typically, narrower tires do better, but not always. Depends on the conditions as sometimes it is as smooth as an ice rink and other times it is chewed up some. Also, airing down some helps. 14-20psi usually.

Obviously the guys with the WRX will kick butt with no mods. Nice wheel-base, AWD, little to no body roll, and more than adequate power! It is almost like cheating having driven one of them for an afternoon.

[Brody]

One of the reasons the WRX essentially placed 1-3 in most of the rally races except for the last couple of years...

Big rigs like yours and mine, Dave, really suck, but it doesn't make it any less fun...

[Brody]

Even an AWD mini van would drive better than ours, but half the fun is to try to stay on the course..

LaDawn is going to do way better than I am.

Since Steve brough this up, why don't you post a trail run for this and we just make it a date?

Another thought for winter-why don't we plan a day out at the Bennet CORE thing? LaDawn and I can put up some folks coming up from the Springs, too.

And yet another one-Una at ORS told me about an off road course a guy has off of Parker Road. He opens it up on and off and it isn't easy. Might be another winter option....

[SCRubicon]

Here's the low down skinny... I talked with the President of Our Gang Ice Racing - Jean Denny. She mentioned if we generate enough interest within our group, and get a good number of participants they will set up a track just for the Front Range members. Like 8-10+ vehicles. Or, we can race on the same track with everybody else in the Street Stock Bare Rubber class. She also handed me 30 passes for 1 Free Fun Day - 2009 season. The "Fun Days" are for practice. I checked the race schedule and the Fun Days are Friday, January 2nd and Friday, February 27th. If you want a pass shoot me a pm.

[Funrover]

Here's the low down skinny... I talked with the President of Our Gang Ice Racing - Jean Denny. She mentioned if we generate enough interest within our group, and get a good number of participants they will set up a track just for the Front Range members. Like 8-10+ vehicles. Or, we can race on the same track with everybody else in the Street Stock Bare Rubber class. She also handed me 30 passes for 1 Free Fun Day - 2009 season. The "Fun Days" are for practice. I checked the race schedule and the Fun Days are Friday, January 2nd and Friday, February 27th. If you want a pass shoot me a pm.

PM ON THE WAY!!!! or.. I will just call you!

[Patrolman]

PM! I will take a fun pass! Those are some of the best days to go!

[Chris]

Street Stock Bare Rubber class
<snip>
Free Fun Day - Friday, January 2nd and Friday, February 27th

Cool, I thought I was joking about a Bare Rubber Class - what is it? :o

Fun Day - play on the ice day? Probably be cool to pick one date for everyone.

[SCRubicon]

Cool, I thought I was joking about a Bare Rubber Class - what is it? :o

This is from their rule book. It explains the class we'd be competing in.

A. Bare Rubber Class (This class is divided into three divisions: Street Stock, Pro Street and Competition).


Street Stock Bare Rubber

a. Tire changing of any kind is not allowed, except for flats during the event.

b. All vehicles must be completely street legal including license plates and required emission and/or inspection stickers. Valid registration and driver's license must be shown to the Tech. Committee and/or Registration at Tech-In. Street Stock vehicles must remain stock.

c. There may be four (4) drivers in this division, consisting of two (2) men and two (2) women per vehicle. Drivers must register together.

d. Vehicle must be raced in street legal form with mufflers, windshields or eye protection, applicable state inspections, etc.

e. Because of the amount of tires available and their differing make-ups and abilities, OUR GANG 4 WHEELERS, INC. reserves the right to inspect and judge all tires on an individual basis. We can allow or disallow the use of the tires or bump the competitor up to a more advanced class based on these judgements:


i. NO specialty ice tires (soft compound, Blizzak, etc...)

ii. NO tread modifiers (studs, walnut shells, bottle caps, bleach or any other foreign material).

iii. Siping is allowed.

iv. Tires that came studded and have been de-studded are permitted. The very soft rubber we disallow does not hold a stud in place.


f. Any tire that indicates it is or is deemed to be "Studless" by referees MUST move up to the Pro Street Division. Buffing and grooving of tires will not be allowed. Minimum air pressure allowed is 10 lbs per tire. Minimum tread width allowed is 4".

g. Brakes must be of factory type; no alterations or modifications of any kind are allowed. All brake controls must be declared and rendered inoperative to the satisfaction of the Tech. Committee and the referees. The tightening of brakes on one side of the vehicle is considered brake control.

h. NO ONE that drives in any other class is eligible to drive in this class on the same weekend.

i. Points will be awarded to the first through fifth place finishers.

j. The intent of this class is for non-experienced drivers to compete against each other without competing against more experienced drivers that compete in other classes.

[Pathrat]

So SCRubicon, from what I can interpret, the people I know here from trail rides, whose vehicles I have seen, would meet the requirements you posted. It sounds fun. I have no idea how you do this. :)

[Chris]

I have no idea how you do this. :)

Me neither, the only ice racing I've ever seen was in Minnesota where everyone had nasty long nails on their tires or just drove off the boat launch ramp and on to the ice. :smokin:

[Pathrat]

Me neither, the only ice racing I've ever seen was in Minnesota where everyone had nasty long nails on their tires or just drove off the boat launch ramp and on to the ice. :smokin:

Sounds kind of like some mutant ski jump game. :)

[Chris]

Minnesota is the home of a lot of mutant winter play!

[Pathrat]

Minnesota is the home of a lot of mutant winter play!

hijack- that's because it is so dang cold and full of snow and if you stayed inside you would have a Jack Nicholson in The Shining moment or two. My brother built a sled run in his backyard last winter that started on his roof. There were several in his neighborhood.

[SCRubicon]

To bump it back up, ice racing starts this week. Friday is a "Fun Day" and I still have a small stack of free passes. Saturday is Studs and Cheaters.(Competition & Pro Street) Sunday is Bare Rubber.(Competition, Pro Street & Street Stock) If you don't race, it's still fun to watch.

Studs ~

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c174/SteveChabala/IceRaces2008/DSCN2899.jpg

Cheaters~

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c174/SteveChabala/Jeep%20Creations/ice13.jpg

Bare Rubber~

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c174/SteveChabala/Jeep%20Creations/ice10.jpg

[Brody]

Any 4wheel drive rig can compete in the bare rubber class. I have done this half a dozen times in a bunch of different rigs and it was fun. Open diffs actually work better and are more controllable in the bare rubber class, too.

[Chris]

It occurred to me that an auto locker is probably a very bad thing to have

[SCRubicon]

Only up front. Some of the competitive racers run mini spools in the rear.