Ice Racing set-up and driving tips?

[Jean]

Wide tries in snow ?!

Have you never seen rally, you need Skinny tires, not wide tires.

[gry demon325]

Wide tries in snow ?!

Have you never seen rally, you need Skinny tires, not wide tires.

+1...

Never raced on ice before, but I would assume you would want a similar alignment to what you would run at the track...2.5-3.0 degrees of negative camber...

[Fidhle007]

Ok people, the tires are staying. My adjustments available are front camber and ride height all around although I'd rather not mess with the latter as it's pretty much where I want it for the winter. The low pressure thing only has so much truth to it, I run my tires at 30 psi and that's the lowest I will go because the sidewalls are so soft. I think I'm going to have to trust my instincts on this one as it seems the majority of people are from warmer climes on this board. Those of you with track experience I appreciate the insight though! Keep it coming!

[Brew]

Don't worry about setup at all. Maybe bring your ballast along just to try it, but ice racing is 95% tires and throttle control.
And its not really a super-competitive thing- just have fun and stay warm.

[Fidhle007]

Don't worry about setup at all. Maybe bring your ballast along just to try it, but ice racing is 95% tires and throttle control.
And its not really a super-competitive thing- just have fun and stay warm.

Cool deal, that seemed like the case, glad to hear it! Will you be out there at all?

[gearheadE30]

I'd love to come up there, but that is a long way away :( too bad we don't do ice racing in Indy. My suggestions are use a higher tire pressure. I know that other people say lower is better, but it has to be probly 35 or so to keep the tread from deforming. You want to keep the tread blocks as solid as possible so that the edges of the blocks can grip as much as possible. Front camber doesn't matter too much because you arent "steering" per se, you are sliding. Your springs are a little too stiff unless the ice is smooth, but it should be fine. Set the ride height as high as you can; ice racers get traction because of weight transfer. If ou have adjustable swaybars, set them to full soft. It's your first time, so don't get too serious about it ;)

[Brew]

Cool deal, that seemed like the case, glad to hear it! Will you be out there at all?

Nah, my car is down for the winter.

[SchnellerVert]

Drive smoothly and avoid snowbanks.

[1991 318is]

Wide tries in snow ?!

Have you never seen rally, you need Skinny tires, not wide tires.

Snow?
On an E30 ice racing it probably makes little to no difference anyway. Just soften the car up as much as you can. It's not AWD and you're not going to power your way through anything.
I read a little about ice racing and the studded classes dig it up a bit and put a layer of lose stuff on the surface. It sounds similar to dirt track racing in a way.
BLIZZACKS FTW

[e30s52]

it does matter you have more on the ground to slide then. if you have skinny tires then you have less to slide on and can hit those small patches for traction.

[devonjordan]

Is it actually a race, or an autocross. Ur car is effed if its a race. Shame, its so nice too.

[SchnellerVert]

Boston chapter does autoX on the ice, no side by side racing.

[Fidhle007]

Yeah, no way in hell I would go wheel to wheel on ice in this car...

Thanks for the tips guys, I think I've gotten a few ideas for setup now! I think I'm just bring my tools and tweak as needed but I imagine I'll be too busy watching everyone else and shooting the shit with the other drivers to really worry about setup.

[Fidhle007]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1N6z2kpF9w

[Fidhle007]

http://www.trunkmonkey.com/Scrapbook...CA_Ice_Racing/