This was in my local news tonight - about 800yards from one of my practices! A Ferrari worth at least £170,000 has crashed into a wall in Cardiff after hitting ice - Wales Online Image Unavailable, Please Login
The tires don't work well below 40 degrees F. If it's wet out, your taking your chances...even before freezing.
Sport Cup tires/tyres do not grip very well as ambient temps approach 40F. Sorry that this guy found out the hard way, although if it was ice, it probably didn't matter what he was driving on. Hope no one was hurt. Michelin warns specifically about not letting your Sport Cup tires get below 14F, or otherwise freezing. I'm told if they do and you move the car, you risk cracking the tires, which cracks may not be very evident until they fail in a bad way. Modern Ferrari electronics do a great job at providing a safety net, but don't re-write the laws of physics. It's so easy to get into a sense of comfort and forget that the awesome grip you get in warmer temps can go away quickly and non-linearly when it gets cold.
I drive my car on wet mode first when its cold out. After I get a feeling of the road conditions and the tires have gotten warmer then I switch to race. I definitely don't do anything hasty on turns or floor the throttle.
The insurance company will have a field day when someone is driving on ice and snow with performance tires and then something happens. They'll point to various disclaimers in the operating manuals for the cars and tires and the weather report and then good luck submitting the claim. Just some food for thought..
