Ice Racing set-up and driving tips?

[e34john]

I wish we can have that here. I've only driven in freezing temps a few times so not much experience. I take out the 4x4 F150 if theres an 8th inch of rain.

You should get some video of your run, its always awesome to see cars on ice.

[wookiefarmer]

I drove my 325i 4dr on the packed snow last week, @ a large parking lot. My car has HR sport springs and BLIZZACKS (no studs) otherwise stock. We set up a course and the car was amazingly fun, and easy to controll. my advise is to be very smooth with your imputs, nad you can correct with the throttle and the steering wheel equally.. Most of all have fun you'll be in a safe area.... good luck! I'm jelous!

[Emre]

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.

Well, I lived in Canada for many years and I used to run in the Boston Chapter Ice Racing series years back. So I guess I can help you out.

First of all, I should say that I used to run an E30 325iX and then a Lancer Evolution VIII. I've never run a RWD E30 on ice. So take this with a grain of salt.

Generally, you want the suspension as soft as possible. Disconnect your swaybars of you can (especially at the rear). Run narrow tires on 14" rims. Screw tires will obviously give you the best traction by far. However, screws will put you into a very competitive class.

Your next best bet would be studded snows. Be aware that the guys running studded snows generally do NOT drive around on them on the street. They keep them for ice racing only. That way the studs stay nice and sharp.

Personally, I would not bother running the car with regular (non-studded) snows. There is practically ZERO grip out on the ice. Even with one of my AWD cars there was hardly ant traction at all with regular snows. Keep in mind you'll be running on sheer ice that's got a light dusting of snow on the surface. Before long that turns into sheer ice with a thin layer of water on top. In other words, slicker than grease. RWD without studded tires would be kind of frustrating.

[Fidhle007]

Yeah, my ideal would be an IX with fresh studded snows but I'm running what I have and at least I'll be in class C with other RWD studless snow-tired cars. I took out my rear sway today, the bushing mounts were toast and it wasn't doing much anyway. I also added a little bit of negative camber (a degree or so I think, IE mounts don't have marks) and on the icy drive home the car felt great. I figure my goal is to have fun and plan ahead for next year when I will hopefully have something AWD....

[kishg]

damn i wish i could take my ix out on the ice... have fun and let us know how you do.

[nando]

don't even worry about it - it's not going to matter very much what you drive, or even what tires you have as long as they are snows. I recently went to an ice "race" with my blizzaks on, and it was so slick nobody was really moving very fast (not even the '08 wrx on snows).

the e30 that showed up on RS2s was pretty hilarious to watch though. :p

here's a really boring video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpX769yGwwQ

I really could have pushed harder, but I was fighting my urge to keep the car under control.. how often do you get to legally drive on an skid pad covered in 1" of ice?

[kishg]

don't even worry about it - it's not going to matter very much what you drive, or even what tires you have as long as they are snows. I recently went to an ice "race" with my blizzaks on, and it was so slick nobody was really moving very fast (not even the '08 wrx on snows).

the e30 that showed up on RS2s was pretty hilarious to watch though. :p

here's a really boring video of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpX769yGwwQ

I really could have pushed harder, but I was fighting my urge to keep the car under control.. how often do you get to legally drive on an skid pad covered in 1" of ice?

hmm looks more boring than i thought. im sure it's more engaging in real life..

[Fidhle007]

I imagine there's a lot of waiting for the car to respond to your inputs, and hoping it will before you hit the cone...

[nando]

take it as a learning experience - you're not moving very fast, so you have lots of time to play with steering and throttle inputs. and don't bother with your brakes, you'll just keep sliding in the direction you were moving when you hit them. lol.

[Fidhle007]

take it as a learning experience - you're not moving very fast, so you have lots of time to play with steering and throttle inputs. and don't bother with your brakes, you'll just keep sliding in the direction you were moving when you hit them. lol.

So it IS like my daily commute! :D

[gearheadE30]

Iceracing is actually pretty fun at lower speeds (faster than that vid, though), and it really teaches how to control the car. Which is probably why I sucked so badly the first time I did it. Unfortunately, I've only done it once since, and I still suck ;)

[nando]

Iceracing is actually pretty fun at lower speeds (faster than that vid, though), and it really teaches how to control the car. Which is probably why I sucked so badly the first time I did it. Unfortunately, I've only done it once since, and I still suck ;)

I really couldn't have gone much faster - seriously. I've driven on lots of slick surfaces, but nothing like that. it rained overnight - then froze quickly, and snowed and rained on top. driving on plain old snow is like a dry sunny day in comparison. it's not like I didn't have decent snow tires on or anything either.

[gearheadE30]

oh, I thought you were just snow drifting or whatever. In that case, that was a pretty decent run or being on real ice.

[joelmahoney]

Forget about negative camber, your tires won't generate enough lateral force for the body to roll. Zero camber will keep the tread flat on the ice at 0.001 lateral G's.

[Fidhle007]

Forget about negative camber, your tires won't generate enough lateral force for the body to roll. Zero camber will keep the tread flat on the ice at 0.001 lateral G's.

That's what I was thinking too but my experiences with my current setup have been quite positive. Today was very slick and the steering response seems way better with the added camber...