RX-7 Ice Racing
RX-7 Ice Racing
This event, is almost exactly like it sounds. Take one frozen lake, with at least 10 inches of ice on top of it, lay out a course on it, and then cut some speed-crazed nuts loose on the surface to turn hot laps.
Needless to say, the event was REALLY cold. So cold, in fact, that the digital camera had problems squeezing enough juice out of the batteries to work properly, so many of the best photo opportunities were left un-photographed.
Originally, I had braved the 130 mile drive (each way) from Boston to Pittsfield to spectate, and see what it was all about, but I got a really late start on the day, and ended up arriving on site at around 1:30 pm (The event started at 10 or 11 am). I sat and watched the goings on for a while, and had a few conversations with a few of the participants.
The event looked like it was wads of
fun, and I decided that I'd like to participate, but because I'd arrived so late,
I wasn't certain if the staff would be all that keen on having me enter. Fortunately, the event
chairman (Brad Martin) was really accomodating.
I gave him my entry fee, he assigned me a number, and I was off and running (or at least
on the ice. 
)
At this point, I'd decided
that I was just going to go out, and have some fun messing around on the ice, having already
given up on being competitive.
The format of the event was that only one car was on any one part of the course at
a time. Starts were staged so that there was enough space between the cars that
there was no danger of contact during the event. A timer was set up, measuring
time down to hundredth of a second accuracy.
Cars were classed on their engine location (Front or rear), drivetrain (All Wheel Drive, Front Wheel Drive, or Rear Wheel Drive), and whether the tires were studded (Unstudded, Street-Studs, and Super-Studs). In addition, one of the club members (Mark Formel) brings along the GREEN MACHINE, which is a Chevelle, equipped with monster-studded tires. The GREEN MACHINE is available for rental to drive on the course, for a nominal fee. A lot of participants enjoy racing the car, since it's a zero-handicap proposition, i.e., you can really see how your driving skill stacks up against your competitors.
I was classed in the FRU class, meaning Front-Engined, Rear-wheel Drive, and Unstudded
tires. (My car in this case is a 1987 Mazda RX-7, shod (during the winters) with Pirelli Winter
Performance S tires). This class later came to be known (in my mind, anyway) as the
"What the heck are you doing on the ice??" class, as we consistently turned in times
well above the fastest times. I was seeing indicated speeds of around 45-50 mph on
the ice (but keep in mind, that there was no guarantee that this was actual speed,
since I was getting tons of wheelspin, strangely enough ).
Some of the faster guys (people with either front-wheel-drive super-studs, or AWD super-studs)
must have been seeing speeds of at least 70 or 80 mph along the straights.
It seems that tires make a lot of difference for these events. There were many
people there who had some very serious studs in their tires (bolt heads sticking
out, sheet metal screws, who knows what else), and their hard work in preparation really showed, as they
were actually able to go somewhere on the ice, which was more than I could say. )
As an added bonus, these highly-modified cars were able to throw up absolutely immense
roostertails of crushed ice as they cut their way across the ice. On the other hand, the
only time I threw up significant amounts of ice, was when I spun...which was fairly
often. I figure that
some of the organizers may have started to get tired of me spinning on the last curve, as
I had this tendency to go into it a bit too fast, and the rear end of the car would
then send its strong reproach to me...usually in the form of going before the front
of the car.
As an interesting data point, there was a fellow who brought his Nissan Sentra SE, and ran it with both Super-studs, and unstudded tires. The difference was an amazing 23 seconds per lap!
I had a great time on Saturday. In fact, I had such a great time, that I drove all
the way back to Boston (130 miles!) on Saturday, and all the way back out on Sunday to
attend the second half of the event. (I was considering staying in Pittsfield over
Saturday night, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to commit to racing again on Sunday).
Sunday was pretty much a repeat of Saturday, and predictably, I had a blast. After the event was torn down, a few of the more speed-crazed individuals were doing some amazing hotlaps around the 'course,' and a few more were doing some really impressive donuts in their AWD-equipped Subarus (we later estimated that Jeff Denmeade was doing about 20 rpm or so in his Suburu 2.5RS. I was sure that I would've gotten motion sickness, had I been in the car.)
...And, how'd I do? Well, I guess I did OK, given that it was my first time out and all. On Saturday, I came in 38th overall, out of 42 entrants. (Heh). The Fastest Time of Day was set by Alex Erisoty driving an Audi 4000 Quattro, equipped with Super-studded tires, of 49.63 seconds. My best time of the day was 1:27.98. I came in 3rd in my (undersubscribed) class of 7 entrants, trailing behind the leader of the class by over 5 seconds.
On Sunday, with a slightly longer course, the FTD was set by the same Audi, at 51.55 seconds. I came in 34th, out of a field of 40 with a best time of 1:29.66. There were only 3 people in my class on this day, and I was fortunate enough to be the fastest of the three.
I'd like to thank Brad Martin, Kevin Gale, and his talented staff for making this event possible, and so much fun.
Guys, it was really cold out there, and I really appreciate so many of you guys
hanging out in the cold weather, starting me, timing me, and generally making it
possible for me to do my uncontrolled spins out there on the lake.
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