Ok, I did some "ice Solo 1" in Ottawa... it was like... a track plowed into an unused parking lot, no cones, so it wasn't autocross, but it wasn't fast enough to be Solo 1, but close.
I did it 3 years, came in second FWD Race class in my 2nd year, and outright won in my third year, FWD Street. (fastest times OVERALL, not just in class, or points)
All 3 years, I was using Blizzaks, nothing else could compete. Well, the Toyo Observes, and Alpins (not the Arctic Alpins) were close, but all top cars were on Blizzaks.
The first two years I was in a borrowed 85ish Civic hatchback. Slightly gutted, with Blizzaks of course. It was a race only car, just parked and left there. Some ice racing people say the best thing is fresh Blizzaks that have NEVER seen pavement. They say they get "dulled" on pavement. I was using the car with like, 3-4 other guys. The first year I was mid pack, 2nd year I was beating the others. The car was very light, probably 2000-2200lbs.
3rd year, I was in my VW Fox. Probably 2300lbs, 70/30 weight distribution due to the Audi longitudinal FWD powertrain (the engine was cantilevered out over the front axle a good ways).
I had Blizzaks on it again, but these were driven regularly on pavement. I couldn't tell any difference.
On some events with the Fox, I beat AWD cars with snow tires. I attribute a lot of it's success with the 70/30 weight distribution.
Tips?
Well, lightness is absolutely the most important thing. No question. It's more important on ice than it is on a racetrack.
In our case, it was a semi-permanent course, with banks that changed hardness with the weather. It was partially snow, partially ice, and partially gravel in bare spots. Speed was mostly dependent on "looking for traction". If there was gravel, you'd do whatever it took to get on it. Barring that, you'd try to find snow. If you were stuck with ice, and you don't mind the cosmetics of your car... use the banks. Sometimes you'd hook an inside tire on the inside bank. Sometimes you'd ride the outside bank around like a Nascar. Sometimes you'd just bounce off.
The big risk was, the bank would "suck" you in, and you'd be screwed. We had a rule, if you needed help getting extricated, you were disqualified. It just took too much time.
But you had to figure if the line was faster.... like, if the outside snowbank line was a long way around, it could actually be slower. So you'd maybe stay on track, but try to take the corner so you weren't trying to turn on ice.
Sometimes there was no choice. There was one offcamber, glare ice corner, with unusable banks. It was basically "do whatever you can" to get around. It was basically a "walking pace" corner. Extremely slow.
Err... Just some random thoughts.
I did it 3 years, came in second FWD Race class in my 2nd year, and outright won in my third year, FWD Street. (fastest times OVERALL, not just in class, or points)
All 3 years, I was using Blizzaks, nothing else could compete. Well, the Toyo Observes, and Alpins (not the Arctic Alpins) were close, but all top cars were on Blizzaks.
The first two years I was in a borrowed 85ish Civic hatchback. Slightly gutted, with Blizzaks of course. It was a race only car, just parked and left there. Some ice racing people say the best thing is fresh Blizzaks that have NEVER seen pavement. They say they get "dulled" on pavement. I was using the car with like, 3-4 other guys. The first year I was mid pack, 2nd year I was beating the others. The car was very light, probably 2000-2200lbs.
3rd year, I was in my VW Fox. Probably 2300lbs, 70/30 weight distribution due to the Audi longitudinal FWD powertrain (the engine was cantilevered out over the front axle a good ways).
I had Blizzaks on it again, but these were driven regularly on pavement. I couldn't tell any difference.
On some events with the Fox, I beat AWD cars with snow tires. I attribute a lot of it's success with the 70/30 weight distribution.
Tips?
Well, lightness is absolutely the most important thing. No question. It's more important on ice than it is on a racetrack.
In our case, it was a semi-permanent course, with banks that changed hardness with the weather. It was partially snow, partially ice, and partially gravel in bare spots. Speed was mostly dependent on "looking for traction". If there was gravel, you'd do whatever it took to get on it. Barring that, you'd try to find snow. If you were stuck with ice, and you don't mind the cosmetics of your car... use the banks. Sometimes you'd hook an inside tire on the inside bank. Sometimes you'd ride the outside bank around like a Nascar. Sometimes you'd just bounce off.
The big risk was, the bank would "suck" you in, and you'd be screwed. We had a rule, if you needed help getting extricated, you were disqualified. It just took too much time.
But you had to figure if the line was faster.... like, if the outside snowbank line was a long way around, it could actually be slower. So you'd maybe stay on track, but try to take the corner so you weren't trying to turn on ice.
Sometimes there was no choice. There was one offcamber, glare ice corner, with unusable banks. It was basically "do whatever you can" to get around. It was basically a "walking pace" corner. Extremely slow.
Err... Just some random thoughts.
