The Wisconsin Auto Group (WAG) runs a couple of ice trials on a frozen lake here in Wisconsin. Last year I ran the 991 in a snow cross in the paddock at Road America. The car was terrific so I thought I would try an ice trail this year.

It was pretty cool to watch. A really wide range of drivers and cars. Some young guys with 500 hp M3 on snow tires, vintage VW bugs with studs to some full blown rally prepped Subaru cars with full studs. 60 cars in all.

Some of the cars with studs were flying. As the packed snow was cleared off, the "track" got really slippery for those of use driving snow tires.

The 991 attracts a lot of attention. Everyone likes to see that I drive it all winter and not just to Starbucks in the summer.

I would post some videos but they are not very exciting. They look like they are in slow motion.

Marc

 

Very "cool" that you get out there on the ice with the 991, Marc. Cudos. I bought a 997.2 4S cab recently and got a set of snow tires/wheels from Tirerack, but alas we are having a drought here in the Sierras so I haven't been able to try them out.

 

That looks like it would be a lot of fun, and a good way to get rid of the winter track itch.

 

Agreed.

Marc, post at least the best video, would love to see it. How much ice was out there?

 

ice was 15" thick. They run the studded cars quite a bit to break on the top layer and get the rest of us a little better traction.

I will see when I can get the video up.

M

 

^ +1

Yes, looks like a ton of fun!

 

So did you actually have any grip or were you steering with your right foot mostly??

 

Grip was so variable. Which made it very interesting. You could pick up some pretty good speed where the traction was good then slide through the place where it wasn’t. By the end of the day, there were a lot of non-studded cars sliding off. There was one corner in particular where I can to a crawl.
I saw a mix of some pretty good drivers and some not so. Many thought the car needed to be sideways all the time. A lesson I learned from a rally guy. The car is sideways into the corner (Scandinavian Flick) to use the sidewall digging into the snow to slow it and aid with direction change. Once you get to the apex and pointed in the correct direction, you apply power but try to limit the amount of yaw. I really struggled with the Scandinavian Flick. Mine was more trailing the brake until I induced a slide then pointed, squeezed and held on.

I need to find a snow covered parking lot to practice some more. Or put studs on the car


Marc

 

@998M: It is awesome that you are doing that. Must be tons of fun ! And a great learning experience too ! I'm so envious !

 

Gotta love it!

Nice one OP, at least you don't have to worry about the SUV on "all season" tires behind you.

 

Yeah, that dumbass in the "no season" tires would be me. Here is what I did to the family truckster. I crashed it at 5mph in my own driveway.

Needless to say my family is having a field day with it.

Marc