Anyone Ever Start an Ice Racing Club? | FerrariChat

Anyone Ever Start an Ice Racing Club?

Discussion in 'Other Racing' started by Blue@Heart, Oct 10, 2008.

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  1. Blue@Heart

    Blue@Heart F1 Rookie

    Jun 20, 2006
    3,889
    Yellowknife, NWT
    Full Name:
    David
    Just throwing this out there.....

    As some of you guys know I live in Yellowknife (yes 'ice road truckers and all that jazz). Anyways a buddy and I were lamenting over lunch one day (amidst the usual gear head chatter) about the complete lack of legal motor sports opportunities up here (duh it's Yellowknife?).

    Anyways we got the idea that we should start an ice racing club. Nothing fancy just bare rubber on ice, relatively slow, relatively cheap, a race event and a time trial event so that people could even participate in a daily driver without too much fear of wrecking the car, and the most important: BOTH LEGAL AND SAFE.

    Yellowknife would be the perfect place for this, I can throw a rock and hit dozens of lakes....and with the cold weather up here the ice is definitely thick enough.

    We've put out feelers and it seems that there would be some interest......the only problem is that I have no idea where to start....

    Obviously we need the following:
    -Rules
    -Safety rules (snell rated helmet, and a well maintained car is a nobrainer......just don't know much beyond this)
    -A venue, (I have no clue who I'd talk to about securing legal permission to clear some snow off a lake....or how to ensure that the enviromental requirements are met....)
    -Insurance (I'm scared to even ask about price......and I have no idea who I'd talk too)
    -And I'M SURE that there's dozens of other little things that I'm not thinking about

    I'm not wanting to run a big event or even a series (at least until theres a few years of momentum....assuming we get past the idea stage) just a one time event where people can bring out their vehicles and have a good time.....and hopefully a club forms out of it....

    So I guess I'm asking for advice.....ANY advice....I know that this forum is deep with experience and hopefully some one out there has organized an event like this either in europe or ontario.

    Thanks in advance...
    -David
     
  2. AustinMartin

    AustinMartin F1 Veteran

    Mar 1, 2008
    5,445
    Los Angeles/Idaho
  3. 2006vancoillie

    2006vancoillie Karting

    Feb 24, 2008
    93
    Norway
    Full Name:
    vancoillie alexander
    I live in Norway and we do race here on the lake when its frozen but you need ad least 45 cm to be safe.
    after we reach 45 cm we clear the snow like we want our track to be and race on it.
    in 2005 Top Gear was here to shoot the winter Olympics event you can find it back on you tube there are even shots of our hotel in them.
    I have post you the links

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq5uyrD5gCY

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE0E87DDhpc

    friendly greetings,

    Alex
     
  4. gsjohnson

    gsjohnson Formula 3

    Feb 25, 2008
    2,291
    Woodland Hills, CA
    Full Name:
    GS Johnson
    Isn't Ice Racing how JV started racing up in Canada? And wasn't he a National Champion at it?
     
  5. Artvonne

    Artvonne F1 Veteran

    Oct 29, 2004
    5,379
    NWA
    Full Name:
    Paul
    You really need studded tires to make it fun. And safe. Bare tires on bare ice and no one goes anywhere. They cant stop or turn either.
     
  6. solofast

    solofast Formula 3

    Oct 8, 2007
    1,773
    Indianapolis
    #6 solofast, Oct 11, 2008
    Last edited: Oct 11, 2008
    You are absolutely wrong on that point. Modern ice tires like Blizzaks give you pretty good grip on the ice.

    I raced the MIRA series years ago, it ran rubber to ice only and it was a hoot. Probably the most fun that you could have in a car with your clothes on... They now have studded classes in addition to rubber to ice, but those are actually less fun than a class without studs.. The trick is to understand that it is all about car control and placement. You can't do anything on most bare ice, but you will find there are patches of snow, or rough areas of ice that the car will grip on and if you hit it right you can move quite quickly. Just plan on being ballistic on the shiny parts of the track...

    Take a look here for a set of rules regs. Feel free to contact the folks at MIRA for advice, they are a great group of folks and can tell you why they put something into the rules.

    http://www.michiganiceracingassociation.com/html/index.php
     
  7. Blue@Heart

    Blue@Heart F1 Rookie

    Jun 20, 2006
    3,889
    Yellowknife, NWT
    Full Name:
    David
    Thanks for the comments guys.

    I must apologize for the late return to the thread but the cpu crashed and I've spend the last couple of days doing data recovery and sorting it all out. FUN FUN! [/sarcasm]

    Anyways yes, we're trying to get something similar to what solofast posted a link to. The problem is is that there is NOTHING happening here currently other then snowmobiling in the way of motorsports.

    What we want to do is get the ball rolling, take a bit of a gamble (there seems to be interest) and put in the work to get the ball rolling to make it legal, SAFE, and fun.

    What we're looking for right now is someone with experience organizing these types of events whom we could pose a few questions too. Me and the friend that are looking to do this unfortunatly really have no motorsports experience other then an intense passion to do it right....

    -David
     

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