As winter weather arrives, preparations are underway for that most Canadian of motorsports; ice racing. In the town of Minden, about 200 km north of Toronto, the ice racing track is being laid out. Like a hockey rink, it’ll be repeatedly flooded with water until a thick layer of ice is built up, and the snow that’s shoveled from the surface will be packed into snowbanks that mark the edges of the course.
Ice racing events were originally held on frozen lakes and rivers, but by the late 1970’s the races moved to permanent facilities at the Minden Fairgrounds in the interests of safety.
Organized series, like CASC Ice Racing, began in Ontario more than 50 years ago, and it continues today as a cheap and fun form of motorsports, especially during the winter season when the only other option to gearheads are snowmobiles. The ice racing season is scheduled to begin in late January running weekly through February until it slides into March for the conclusion of the six week run of two-day events.
CASC Ice Racing is the cheapest wheel-to-wheel racing series in the country, and it helps drivers improve car control and enhance skills by navigating a slick racetrack. The existence of the series hopefully discourages people from engaging in street racing, especially during the dangerous winter months.
The ice racing cars are often older models taken off the road due to age, but which are still mechanically sound. Family sedans, station wagons, small pickup trucks and even some sports cars with standard or automatic transmissions. are eligible. There are three racing classes that nearly every type of vehicle will fit into.
- Rear Wheel Drive (Volvo 240, Toyota MR2)
- Front Wheel Drive (Honda Civic, Ford Focus)
- All Wheel Drive (Subaru Impreza, Audi A4)
Car preparation includes removal of headlights, tail lights and any exterior plastic parts that break during collisions. Sometimes bumpers have to be modified to prevent them from ‘hooking’ other cars. But really… that’s it. Ready to race!
Canadian Automobile Sport Clubs Ontario Region will be hosting a webinar on Monday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m.
Demaras Racing has been in touch with Buss Bond, a veteran ice racer and competitor in CASC GT racing each summer. With his three ‘rent-a-rrace-car‘ opportunities available for the winter, and the Demaras team is ready to join a new racing discipline in 2025.
Way too cold for my driving taste. It looks like it would be a blast to watch.
Not sure if this is going to turn out to be a good idea or not.
Those people in northern Ontario are built differently. We’re city slickers! The cold might kill us.
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But theres no other racing for 6 months… so we’ll try it!
Six months is a long time to go through race withdrawals.
Exactly. So maybe ice racing will do the trick. I have a big GMC piclup thats like a living room on wheels to hang out jn between races.
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I hear it hets down to minus 50!
When I was racing bicycles we would do our last race of the year in Arizona at the end of November. We would then go back to Arizona in January for the first race of the season. only 6 to 8 weeks off racing. But we still trained through December.
Gosh, life is so different south of the 49th parallel. Maybe we start spring training in April, first race in May. Then by Ocrober it gets so cold the season ends.
Oh you crazy canadiennes! It actually sounds fun to me, which surprises me a little. I sure don’t enjoy driving in winter weather but that winter weather driving scene sounds like it would be rather joyful.
When I watched videos of ice racing, I noticed the cars really dont go that fast. So it might not be too scary.
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But they do a lot of that ‘turn left to go right’ stuff that Lightning McQueen learned.
i had some instruction during the last century of how to handle driving in icy conditions. but should probably rewatch Cars in order to get a good refresher.
Well, I found a team to race with… all Toyota cars! Imagine that.
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They have rear wheel dtive OR all wheel drive Lexus is300’s which look like the nicest Toyotas Ive ever seen.
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I think it would be fun to learn to drive on icy road conditions in a rear wheel dtive car. So any advice you remember… feel free to share.