Car Ice Racing

Car Ice Racing Male: Okay I have heard of ice fishing but ice helicopters, ice golf? Ice swimming? Why not, because at the Lake George Winter Carnival in Upstate New York, it is all about ice and when there is fun to be heading on a frozen lake, there is bound to be ice racing, the deep north, you got to love them while most of the country is paralyzed at the thought of driving on ice, these guys embrace it head on. For some it is about aerodynamics in friction your friend. For others it’s seeing how close you can get without touching and for some it is oh, yikes, ouch. So chill out Mr. Heatmeister, grab your woolies and hop on in, we are riding through the slick and snowy world of ice racers. Male: Driving on ice in a car like mine is a full body experience. You are going fast, things are coming by and you can’t see. You get hit in the face with ice chips and slush and it is just a full total body experience. On really cold days, your toes are freezing but you don’t think about it until the checkered flags falls. It’s really cool. Male: So now you have met Dave Burnan, president of the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club in Upstate New York. This weekend his club is holding its biggest racing event of the year during the last weekend of the Lake George Winter Carnival. It is one of about eight racing events held on different lakes in the region from January through March. Every week, a new course and pit area are carved onto the ice by plowers who volunteer their time. No two courses are ever the same, they range from a mile to 1.6 and have all the fun Indy styles, straightway, hairpin left, right, chicanes and so on. Keep at all organized is Dave, but Dave does have a day job fixing rare Citroens at his home in Upstate New York. Citroens haven’t really been widely imported into the US since ‘73, so you wouldn’t think it is a growth industry. But hey, not many people know how to fix him and he seems to have a lot on his plate so why not? It is not surprising Dave’s home built ice racer has Citroen’s roots. It is based on the old Citroen SM which was built in collaboration with Maserati back in the 70’s. It’s got a Maserati 3 liter V6 engine that puts out 240 horsepower. Major components like the drive axle, transmission and brakes are all Citroen. Everything else is tubular chassis. Dave drives in the A class the fastest and most modified group on the ice. Dave usually brings out another Citroen for friends to race, an Orange ‘66 that has been chopped and shortened. Dave might be president of the club and he held the championship for a decade and a half. But lately, a young upstart is shaking up the standings. With his powerful V8 modified dirt track car, driver Matt DeLorenzo has been the consistent point leader for the last year and a half. Lately Dave has been running a consistent 2nd place. Matt: I kind of look at myself as being the new guy, he has been the champion for 14 years whatever. I have been winning lately and it is kind of like getting him to think and making him work harder and go faster. Male: Young Matt doesn’t have the look of a weather veteran but don’t be fooled he has been racing dirt track for over a decade. And he is one of the few guys out here who races year round. He knows how to work the sponsors and a lot of the time and money that goes into the summer series is brought onto the ice. While money is always important, air is free and Matt knows how to use that too. Aside from the wing up top, he’s got air foils down the back and a few other aerodynamics secrets up his sleeve. Up in the A Class, it is usually Dave and Matt at front but not far behind is another open wheel speedster, Eric Roscoe. Eric drives a modified Dune Buggy but an old shin worth racing chassis. It’s a rear wheel drive and with a 2.3 liter air-cooled Volkswagen 4 cylinder spitting out about 190 horses. That doesn’t sound like much but it is a pretty good kick on a little 1,200 pound body. Eric doesn’t have the power of Dave’s 6-cylinder or Matt’s big V8 but in the corners he is pretty much unmatched. Just watch him hug this hairpin. It is hard to believe that cars can corner like this on ice. But a closer look at the tires reveals the secret. Male: This is an ice racing tire that we use, it is a tubeless tire, these studs are molded right into the rubber. They got like a washer on the back side of them, this tire has about a season on it and what happens is the studs get loose and if you see here there is where the tires wear, the rubber wears away because you are going around the corner. The tire tends to fold over that way. Male: And Matt’s tires probably fold a little more than the average bear. Rear wheel drive with a 570 horsepower V8 gives those little metal studs a work out. But now if you are starting to think that using metal studded tires is kind of cheating the elements, you will be happy to know that there is a class that doesn’t use them at all. In the street legal class, you just drive your car at the lake and if it is less than 3,200 pounds, all you need is a helmet. In street legal you can get close but no touching, you got to drive this car to work on Monday not to mention getting home tonight so this is a non contact class. Though they are not nearly as fast as the Menard tire cars they are extreme in their own way. They are pushing 90 miles an hour on the straightaway with street legal snow tires on ice but without any real added protection or roll cages. So on track etiquette is key in drivers that don’t have the right temperament are quickly shown the door. Male: You learn a lot about people when you race them because it directly reflects what kind of a person they are. You know if I mean if they are a jerk in real life, they will be probably a jerk on the track. Male: So for the most part the street legal class is pretty much jerk-free. Hitting turns like this in a crowd without touching is a pretty impressive display of driving skill. From a distance the drivers look pretty controlled but sometimes a closer look tells a different story. Male: They do have an open face helmet, because you can read the person’s expression. You know if he is under control or not. Is he got the—look or he got the “Yeah I am right where I want to be looked.” Male: While bumping might be off limits in the street legal event, the Menard tire classes are a different ball game. The class above street legal is the D Class which generally runs anything less than a two liter engine. As you move up the ladder through C and B Classes, the cars get more highly modified and the engines get bigger. One thing they all have in common is a roll cage. They also have something else in common as we look around we notice body panels that are bashed, mashed and otherwise downright wrinkled. Some looked like they're held together with duct tape. As the weekend goes on we begin to realize that ice racing is definitely more of a contact sport than a beauty contest. One of the faster cars in the D Class is an ‘87 Escort GT. The spray painted black 53 car is driven by a teacher from—named Graham Jones. Graham put in a little bit of a motor work, some chassis mods, a roll cage then the old junker has taken on new life. Graham’s Escort is the perfect example of getting a competitive little racer without a lot of cash. Although he is still takes a ribbing for his not so colorful exterior. Graham: Paint doesn’t make you go fast; it is the other stuff underneath that makes it go fast. So it may be ugly but it is fast and that is all that counts. Male: There is no reason to make it pretty if you are likely to have a date with a snow bank. It seems that unless you are in the street legal or up in the open wheel A Class, then you’d better consider your ice racer a beater upper. And today one of the most beat up of the beater uppers also happens to be one of the most unique. A lot of people don’t know this but at one time Volvo actually made a sports car. The body was stamped in England and stuck onto a Volvo station wagon chassis, the result was the 1800. You don’t see it much anymore and you probably didn’t expect to see one on the ice. But Richard Gram brings his out every race. Richard: I am in the pest control business so for me I have nothing to do in the winter. Done the skiing, I love getting in the car and having some kind of competition out there. Male: And why not? At about just a $35.00 entrance fee for the day, it is about the best bang for the buck in all motor sports. And for speed freaks like Richard it is about the biggest thrill you can get on a mid-winter’s weekend or maybe the second biggest thrill. Richard: Most fun I have ever had with my clothes on, can I say that on T.V? Male: We think you can Richard although these days you never know. Anyway we will take your word for it. By the way Richard’s Volvo isn’t the only sweet on the ice. There is a small Saab contingent led by two brothers, Claude and Danah Hutchings. They drive the old Saab 912 Turbos which were exported to the US for only two years in the 80’s. Claude, drives the faster 00 car, Danah’s number 84 car doesn’t have quite the performance but he holds his own. The two Saabs are actually in different classes but it is hard to contain the sibling rivalry so they always manage to race each other anyway. Male: The cars are pretty close horsepower wise. Male: And for some reason I am in front of him and start something, I’ll kind of let him. There’s no sense of holing him up I will let him go by. Male: He is hard to pass. Male: The 912’s inter-cooled turbo likes it cold, so the weather today isn’t exactly working to their advantage, not to mention the softer rise from the late February sun is starting to get them bugged down. Male: We do not have close ratio because most of these cars they just don’t make them so you got to come out on the corner in third gear. And you are getting a lot of slushes like driving in sand on a beach you just die. Male: Saabs used to be the car to drive but over the years their numbers drop as lighter, cheaper Volkswagen Rabbits and Golfs took over the ice. While they no longer seem to dominate the ice racing circuit, they are still the toughest cars on the lake and that can come in handy particularly when those snow banks get hard. Something that this little 1994 Delsole knows all about, the sporty little blue Honda is another car you probably wouldn’t expect to see on the ice. But with a few modifications that doubled overhead Cam VTEC 1.6 gives it some kick. Its driver Pat Stringer is only 2nd year on the ice and already his car is showing some serious wear and tear. Pat: That is the wrinkle effect I have going here. This car was actually almost flawless at the beginning of the last year, the body. That will show you what a rookie year will do in ice racing. Male: And speaking of rookies, on every race weekend there is an opportunity for new drivers to take a shot on the ice. After all of the classes have raced once, there is one race that is open to new drivers. Veteran drivers bring a friend that they approve and trust with their car and then hand over the keys. Right now we are on the backseat of a Rabbit driven by Adam Burrows. Adam has got plenty of summer time racing experience but hasn’t been on ice before, at least not on purpose. Coming down the straightway, Adam shows his racing experience going from last all the way to the middle of the pact. But then he heads into the hairpin a little bit fast, oh yikes, I am pretty sure that was the snow bank although kind of hard to tell. Well Adam you are an ice racing virgin no more. Adam: I think I might have blacked out for a moment actually. It was pretty jarring. And probably I have a pretty sore shoulder in the morning. Male: Left a mark on the car too but by all accounts probably not the first. Male: The good thing about the car this morning is there is I was pretty banged up to start with so you can’t really tell what I did and what was already there so it is kind of a nice rental. Male: Nice rental indeed but I doubt you are going to see Avis or Hertz volunteering their cars here. Not surprisingly, most of the action happens around the spot Adam caught the snow bank at the hairpin that arrives on the hill of the straightway. But it is not the only place. Pay close attention to the rear view mirror at the top of the screen. I guess if a car loses control it is best if it happens behind you. If a car is in trouble then a caution flag comes out until the ploughs can clear the road. Sometimes a car just needs to be pulled off a bank, sometimes it needs a little more help. Dave is definitely going to be working on that Citroen on Monday while contact isn't encouraged by the club it is pretty tough to rule out. Cars are going fast and they are on ice, sometimes it is just unavoidable. I don’t think the camera likes getting hit? Because of their weight, model, engine placement or whether they are front or rear wheel drive, different cars are just going to corner differently on ice and when drivers take corners on different lines like Richard’s old Volvo and a Volkswagen Rabbit, then there is always a chance that at some point they are going to meet up. Just a kiss, no harm, no foul. Occasionally a car or even get in trouble when it is all by itself, case in point? This little D Class yellow and blue Rabbit, hey you forgot your tire. Right here you can really get a feel for what it’s like hitting a corner in a crowd on ice. Now imagine doing this in a total whiteout. By all accounts, today is about as good as it gets in terms of visibility which is pretty hard to believe looking at this footage. During most races, cold and wind mean you are practically driving blind. Male: You put 20 cars, even the street legal with small studs; they kick up so much microscopic shards of ice at -10 degrees and it becomes a white fog, total whiteout conditions. Male: But on a weekend like this when the temperature gets up to the upper 30s, whiteout conditions are replaced by water. It is all right when you are at front but if you are Dave in your open air Citroen and you are stuck behind fast Matt DeLorenzo, then you are going to begin wet. Dave: I have on my glove, like a motorcycle wiper so anytime I get hit I wipe my visor immediately. I also just re-rain next to my helmet so the stuff that hits it comes off that is why at A Class is kind of a full body experience. Male: We decided we wanted to checkout this experience for ourselves, even if not the full body variety. In charge of our little tour the lake was Byron Siegfried in his D Class Honda Civic. Byron: Comfortable? Male: Actually no, barreling down the straightway 80 miles an hour on a sheet on ice is pretty unnerving. Especially with that hairpin turn coming up. Byron: Ah this is nothing. I'm not even going hard yet. You'll get used to it. Just sliding, that’s all. Male: Just sliding huh? Tell that to this guy but we got to admit it is a pretty cool feeling and snow banks are a lot less intimidating than guard rails or jersey walls. In the second street legal race of the day, the snow banks got a little a work out. Maybe because it was one of the last races of the year or maybe the conditions were getting a little sloppy. But for some reason, the street legal drivers seemed a little more zealous the second time around. Even Dave Fazzino who is known for his drive control skills got up close and personal with a snow bank. All wheel drive, no problem. All the enthusiasm of the street legal race seems to carry over to the grand finale, the last race of the day, where all of the Menard class cars A through D Class take to the ice at the same time. Because of the sheer number of cars, the finale is the wildest race of the day. Off the bat the fastest cars leave the rest of the fray behind. Soon the race falls into a familiar order. Matt DeLorenzo gets out in front, Dave is right on his tail followed by Eric Roscoe in the old blue dune buggy. Behind them comes Hatching’s Sub Contingent, the Escort, the Delsole and so on down the line. The grand finale has a got a reputation for getting wild and this one was no disappointment. At the hairpin the action is thick, one of the first casualties is Richard Graham who gets elbowed to the outside and gets up on a bank. His old Volvo has picked up a few more wrinkles today but somehow we get the feeling he will be back. After all what doesn’t kill you make you stronger, right? Male: If you are scared, people don’t come back. You just can do it or you can’t. Male: And Matt and Dave can certainly do it. Like most finale races the open wheel speedsters lap the other cars three times. Like most of the races lately, Matt DeLorenzo holds the lead but his car is not up to his usual performance. And Dave is stick and tight stalking him closely from behind lap after lap. Then in a crowded S-turn, Dave makes his move. Soon the veteran and the yellow Citroen leads the pack and this time he intends to hold it through the checkered flag, Matt’s got more horses but this time Dave got the better car. Just like old times Dave is king of the ice once again. Matt will be out to get him next time but for now the track belongs to Dave and victory is his to savor, even if only for a day. But somehow we get the feeling that all this is less about winning or loosing than it is about squeezing a little fun out of a long hard winter. Male: You're getting the wind and the cold then the water and the slush and everything hit in your face. It’s fun. Male: Racing is a disease, you know it’s just—you want to go faster and faster and faster. You know I started out in a car like this and now I am here you just keep going a little faster and faster. Male: And someday you are going to be old, you are going to pass away, you are not going to be young and fast. So enjoy while you are young and fast.