Jeff the Marmot told me in Moab about the Ice Racing that goes on in Georgetown Colorado. This friday Jan 7th is fun day and is open to any 4wheel drive vehicle for only 5 bucks! I am planning on going and was wondering if anyone else wanted to go or is already planning on going. More info http://www.iceracing.homestead.com/

Also, since I have never done it before, do ya'll have any tips? I am running my 33" MT/Rs and I have a rear locker. Thanks

 

you may find it better to leave the locker off.
i need to go up there and check out the hardcore guys with the bolts in their tires. i wanted to run my car in that class but i need to know how deep the channels get in the ice where the tires are tearing it up. anyone know, or race in that class?

just looked at the schedule, ill try to be there saturday

 

I'll be there. They usually get the track setup around 10 or 11am. Arrive anytime. You can keep racing until almost sunset. This Friday fun day is by far the best time for beginners to check it out. They only have one or two of those fun days per year. Take a half day at work and just show up in the afternoon. It's only $5 cash per driver to race as many times as you want. That's a real deal because it's normally $15 per person to race in a single elimination format, plus a $10? vehicle tech-in fee. The single elimination format means beginners are likely to only get one or two laps in on race days. So show up at the fun day to build your driving skills with multiple races.

4 wheel drive (or all wheel drive) vehicles are required. You still have to follow the normal rules. Only 2 vehicles on a track at one time and both are on the opposite sides of the track. The first to complete that lap wins. You have to do idle speed anytime you're not racing.

It's about 30-45 minutes west of Denver on I-70. Go to bighorn sheep look-out platform at Georgetown Lake for the place where you drive onto the lake.

It's actually best on those days if your tires DON'T have studs. Just bare rubber is best for this. They might require you to wear a helmet if you have studs, even though you probably won't do much better with just normal street studs.

Brandon - It depends on which tracks they run the bare rubber races on - sometimes we race on the cheaters track (which is the sharpened bolts). Other times we race on the studs track, which is just roughened up a bit with minor ruts. The cheaters track forms ruts that can be a couple inches deep. You don't need to worry about it though. I've NEVER taken the tire off the rim even with using 12 psi with my MT/R's on 16x8 wheels.

You should plan on rolling if you want to do the cheaters (bolts) class. The studs would be cool for a variety of vehicles. I've considered that myself. It's hard to find the right tires for that type of studs, though. And there's no one who has been racing in studs that has 6-lug wheels (or 16" wheels for that matter), so there's no way to borrow tires to even see if you'll like it. I've considered it.

I won the season points trophy in "bare rubber street stock" in 2001, but now I have a lot of extra weight at the perimeter of the vehicle due to all the off-roading mods, so I can't turn or accelerate nearly as fast, so I don't do nearly as well anymore. That's a trade-off I had to make.

 

Thanks Jeff.... I'll see you there. My friend Tom from Moab is coming also and bringing his WRX. By the way, when you race do are you locked up or do you do anything special I should know about?

 

The axle diffs (lockers) are best run open/open. If you have a center diff, it should be locked so that you have true 4 wheel drive.

The WRX will be very cool out there. There's usually a couple guys that bring AWD cars.

 

I am wrenching this weekend, but I want to make it down for sure after AZ.

Jeff, are you going to compete this year? You guys who are close ought to make a run at the points title.

 

Jeff, thanx for the info.

i want to drive my car in the cheaters class which is why i need to check out the clearance issues first. ill be making my own tires. atleast to start out with, i won't be using as many (or not as long) bolts as what the trucks are using.

im gonna go check it out this saturday and go from there. hopefully ill see ya there.

 

I'll be up there today. I'll be wrenching Saturday. I'll probably only compete one or two times this year. I'm not competitive enough (due to extra weight of off-roading mods) to make a reasonable shot at the "bare rubber" points title again with this truck. Both bumpers, sliders, and winch add a lot of weight and it's all around the perimeter of the truck which increases my angular momentum and slows my turns.

Brandon - it would be great to meet you sometime. I won't be there this Saturday though.

 

sounds good. if i decide this stuff looks feasible then i'm sure ill be up there quite a bit.