ICE RACING - Minden Ontario

[7thgear]

Every winter, in Minden Ontario, they flood the fairgrounds and build a huge 5 turn track made of ice.

then they race cars on it.

cars used are beaters (for obvious reasons) but deliberate contact is prohibited.

classes are

FWD, RWD, AWD

adjusted by tyre

RUBBER = any commercially available, stud-less tire!

STREET STUD = spec winter tire with studs, I believe the current is some sort of hankook with the studs inserted by Crappy Tire

RACE = special rally sudded ice tire (if you run these your car requires a roll bar)


all you need is a car with a working engine and working cooling system. (cuz you'll be revving for 12-15 laps at a time, so it needs to be somewhat reliable)

in the Rubber and Street Stud class, brake and suspension upgrades are for the most part unecessary. Some people are on their 3th or 4th season on the same parts that they found the car with. Leaky shocks and OEM springs usually play well into the track's requirements.

power mods are only needed if you move into the RACE category, but if you're a novice i wouldn't suggest you go there anyway (they have 300hp race prepped MR2's runnin there)

So basically all you need to find is a working beater!

entry fees are cheap

you can leave the car at the track for the duration of the season (6 event weekens or 12 race days over the course of 2-3 months)

then you can either tow it back home or pay a local guy some cheap money to store it for the summer


please post any questions in this thread and i'll be glad to answer them

[7thgear]

this is street stud i think..


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEetVxoBjWc"]Minden Ice Racing - Race to the Checker! - YouTube[/ame]

[7thgear]

here is a RACE stud class

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOK2YJrpp2g"]Minden Ice Racing on 2013-03-03. Racing Studs (Menards) class S1 Race 3. Car #03 Toyota MR2 - YouTube[/ame]

[automatic]

@7thgear do you do ice racing?

I'm seriously considering it this year.

Probably buying a civic beater or something. I'll be at the Ice Racing workshop in Nov.

[7thgear]

if my father retires our old family VW (which survived 3 beginner drivers and 4 years of track racing and countless road trips during its 330,000km life..) then i might come out, if not then not yet.

as cheap as ice racing is, a certain budget is required, and as cheap as a beater can be had, if there are problems with it then it would suck to find out about them in the dead of winter in -20 weather.



but i've been out to the track a few times and rode shotgun. there are a couple of people i know that race so they give me rides.

[brzr]

this is so crazy cool

would love to try it.........but don't have a beater

[7thgear]

bump for more awareness!

Season starts in January/February

[Dipstik-sportech]

It sucks that you guys are so far of a drive. We do ice racing up here too but it's just rubber and what you would call race tire studded.

[Spicer66]

I used to be part of the Thunder Bay ice racing club, good times. Do they still run the events out on the reserve area?

[Hamza7]

This sounds Awesome!

[Dipstik-sportech]

Originally Posted by Spicer66

I used to be part of the Thunder Bay ice racing club, good times. Do they still run the events out on the reserve area?

Yeah that's settling pond they call mission bay. It's a good time u less you're flagging when it's -45 lol

[Frost]

From what I hear, the organizers are great at what they do. Heard plenty of stories from people at the Maple Leaf Rally Club who have gone and done this but I've personally never been.

Would be a blast but yes, it does suck to work on a car in -20 C weather and find out your beater was beaten even more than you thought.

[automatic]

Sooo, who's participating this year?

I bought a $500 sunfire...gonna be there in Minden in a few weeks!!

[wparsons]

I didn't realize you could store a car up there for the season, I'll have to seriously consider this next year!