Ever since the motor was invented, people have wanted to race each other. In majority of the world it was on ash felt roads, but in places like Sweden it was on the stony paths which make up a lot of their roads. The professional automobile racing like rallying and F1 owe their origins to these pioneers of ash felt and gravel motor racing. In places like Canada and the Alpine areas of France the automobile racings were not possible because of the cold weather which covered any road in ice, so they started racing on the icy lakes and rivers and the motor sport of ice racing was born. The reason why, in these areas of the world, why they did not start racing on the roads was because they were too hazardous, as racing on ice is extremely tricky. When you get it wrong you are going to hit something and when that something is a solid tree it’s going to hurt a lot. So by moving their racing onto icy lakes, where the wind tends to sweep the snow off the lake and pile it up round the edges, this means that when a mistake is made, the motors tend to slide off and hit a pile of snow which is a lot softer than a tree.
Ice racing has mainly remained an nonprofessional motor sport, but there is a warm professional championship called the Andros Trophy in France. In this professional championship they use custom built ice racing motorcars, but in the world of nonprofessional racing this luxury can rarely be afforded. There are some rules of the motor sport to try and make sure everyone is competing on an level playing field. They are four type of automobiles, and they are all limited to a maximum engine size of 3000cc. Class1 is for all rear wheel drive and short wheelbase automobiles, class2 is for front engine automobiles with front wheel drive and short wheelbase, class3 is for front engine automobiles with front wheel drive and a long wheelbase, and class4 is for four-wheel-drive automobiles. There are two types of races that these catalogues of vehicles can run in. There are rubber to ice races and metal to ice races. Rubber to ice tyres are standard road tyres with no stance, and metal to ice tyres are rubber tyres with tungsten steel studs in them that seriously improve grip on the ice.
Any type of automobile from saloon to small 4×4′s are allowed to race in these ice races, they can have a manual transmission or an automatic. They do need a little modification for safety reasons and for the rubber to ice races all that needs to be done is any plastic fittings around the outside of the automobile need to be removed, and the bumpers adapted so they will not hook together. Also, the back of the automobile is painted with patches of high visibility paint, as visibility can be low when ice racing. With the exception of a race helmet, these are the only modifications required to race in rubber to ice races. To race in the metal to ice races your automobile must be fitted with a roll cage and a 4 point seat belt, this is because the studded tyres produce a lot more grip and therefore the cars go much faster.
Although not a requirement, it is urged that you fit a high quality wiper blade. There are many types of replacement wiper blades on the market that would meet this requirement. The best replacement wiper blades to use are flat wiper blades made from silicone, and this is because silicon wiper blades will work quite happily in temperatures as low as -60° C, whilst normal rubber wiper blades will be unusable at that temperature when ice racing takes place. The flat wiper blades are urgedbecause of their frameless design; this means that ice and snow cannot build up on the frame stopping it from working.
- The Andros Trophy Is An Ice Racing Series That Uses Special Racing Machines In Europe they are many forms of motorsport, racing from...
- Will Life Like Slot Cars Really Provide Fast Racing Excitement For All The Family? Slot Cars, who can forget about them? Fans, beginners and...
- Maybe You’ve Checked Out AFX Cars For Your Racing Enjoyment? AFX cars have pleased adults and youngsters alike for almost...
- Can Life Like Slot Cars Truly Deliver On The Assurance Of Fast Racing Action For All Your Family? It’s important to understand when you’re buying a Life Like...
- NASCAR Racing Testosterone has driven men with their passion on automobiles, speed,...