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This is a bit off the topic, but this winter we...ehh...tested the waters ... with Ice Racing in Georgetown. We showed up in a Subaru Outback wagon, set up with a roof rack, kids seat and... WRC winter Ice racing studded tires!
This vid is my buddy Jon driving on our first day out:


This vid is me racing after I finally got my own set of conti Ice racing tires (these aren't quite as intense as the WRC tires)



And this is us racing each other. Jon on the WRC tires and me on the Canadian Spec Ice racing tires.



The Jeeps that typically run up there are pretty crazy, custom built for running on the ice. They are 400-600hp monsters running with v8's on custom built studs or bolts (aka cheaters) we were able to be fairly competitive with them on the WRC tires, not as much with the conti tires.

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I laughed pretty hard seeing that wagon with the roof rack pod sideways with ice dust flying everywhere, sweet videos. I'm wondering what kind of comments you guys got bringing those to the races.

The regulars up there were pretty excited about it. The first day we were the talk of the ice, they were used to subies up there on bare rubber going 8mph. You saw how short the course was, I topped out at about 36mph and the jeeps were getting just a bit better than that.

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::MY WEBSITE::MACH 5 SOAPBOX CAR::

“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.” -Jeremy Clarkson

Ice is always fun,well unless your on a street bike or something.

Thats not really ice racing,I've been ice racing here in Ontario for 14 years now.Here's a vid from this winter where I run a civic in the street studded tire class(class and overall street stud tire champion for 2010 btw)

I'm the red civic out front,btw at the end of the vid it looks like he passes for the lead but I smoked him around the outside and took off after that.Would liked to have seen it though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPs34_DVTQ

I like the camera angles you had in the first 2 videos. I'm jealous that you got to go ice racing. I wish I was able to do it. The closet place from my house that does ice racing is a 3 hour drive on way (in the summer). You'd think that us Canadian's would be a little more into it, eh?

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It is good fun and thanks on the video compliments. It is ice racing, it just isn't wheel to wheel ice racing. Because of the size of the lakes here and the permitting, ice racing here is an elimination style, one lap head to head race around various shaped courses. Some of them are very complex with lots of corners and some are basic "peanuts" or an oval that dips in a bit in the middle.

The races are bare rubber, studs or cheaters. The cheaters are basically 2inch bolts that stick out of the tires and give them all the grip in the world!

Here is a quick ride along on a Cheaters Jeep. This thing is LOUD and when you are racing one of these in a subaru (with normal studs) you can't hear anything from your own engine at all.

_________________
::MY WEBSITE::MACH 5 SOAPBOX CAR::

“A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.” -Jeremy Clarkson