in winter we get lots of snow and ice. If you want to be active all year round, you learn quickly.

SCCA locally had a number of events years ago. I ran a stock Saab 99 with Continental Contacs on it(the old style). It was great.

I have never run this car on ice, those pics were from the previous owner, I got the car around the beginning of March, too late for this past year.

Quite a number of my friends are also into ice racing, if you look at the pics on the AMEC sute, they're generally not a thing of beauty, but they're purpose built.

Alex took the car out, before he sold it to me, for one last fling. It was a time trial, not a wheel to wheel event. But to condition the ice, they have the modified and experimental's go out to tear it up and get it ready for the other classes. Alex started on the pole, and after the flag dropped, he had built up such a lead, as to lose the cars after the first corner. These were the winged V8 modified racers, in the pictures.

To sum it up, you mix 1 part ice with 1 part quattro and stir, and you end up with 1 adrenaline rush, and 1 racing stripe.

On the AMEC site take a glance at the lap times for the car compared to the other classes. This is bascially an AutoX on ice, just faster and without pylons. Alex's times are nearly 10 seconds faster than the nearest competitionin the full race class, and 45 seconds faster than the stock 4wd classes.

• Click on the Studs on ice tab for pics

Squid

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