When John Cole emailed me with news of an ice trial in just two days at Gingerman Raceway I was immediately interested. I had run that track a couple of times before, once in the dry, once in the rain, so the unique opportunity to experience the course under the worst possible conditions was irresistable. With such
short notice of the event I didn't have much time to set up my Corvair for the ice, so all I did was take off the fragile front spoiler, block the oil cooler, and disconnect the secondary carbs to help make the race motor less balky. Then there was the issue of tires. I dug up two rather scruffy GM 14" rally rims and bought some big new snow tires for the rear. For the front, I convinced myself that those two 13" snow tires I have been saving for no good reason since the 80s would be just fine. So there I was, as ready as time, money, and ambition would permit.

Dan Konkle's car ready to race.

This event was being staged by Autoklub Polski-Chicago, who usually run on Wisconsin lakes, and if you need to brush up on your Polish these are the folks to hang with. They usually run studded tires, but to prevent damage to the track this event would be for rubber only. There were 72 entries in all, highlighted by
an armada of potent Subarus, two of which were fully prepared rally cars that arrived in a semi trailer. Another 65 Corsa was entered by Rick Loving of Illinois, and for some reason they classed Rick with
the front wheel drives and me with other rear drive cars, the cream of which looked to be a 95 Volvo wagon with trick tires and equally trick driver, a Fiero, and a delightfully hors de combat Plymouth Fire Arrow ex-rally car.

 Rick Loving on the track (click picture to see larger image).

In an attempt to keep speeds down the two straights at Gingerman were chicaned with pylons, but they didn't really slow things down much. The snow that had covered the track quickly wore down to a layer of ice, and I was struck by how different an experience this was from lapping in the summer. On a dry track you try to find the one best thing to do in each corner and then repeat it precisely on each lap. On the ice each corner will be different each time you see it, because between your runs about two dozen other cars have polished away the snow you used before or kicked new snow on the track somewhere else, and you
find yourself avoiding the center of the track and going from shoulder to shoulder to try to find some fresh
snow or grass, anything to stay off the glare ice in the normal racing line.

Dan Konkle on the track (click picture to see larger image).

It had been about twenty years since I raced a Corvair on ice, and then it was usually in a 95 Powerglide. What a difference in this strong Corsa! Power is a wonderful thing, even if it does get you going way too fast for the next corner. Rick said he had his Corvair up to 80mph. I'll take his word for it; I didn't think to check my speedometer. My new rear tires performed nicely, but I had trouble with the front end, both with turning and with the brakes locking up. Newer tires would have helped, but what can you do? Aside from that the car worked better than I expected. With the four speed instead of the PG the rear end could be more easily brought around in corners by downshifting, and the chokeless, cammed-up motor ran fine in the cold once it warmed up enough to idle. I had worried about the lack of a heater, but the inside of the windows probably stayed more frost-free in the 18 degree temperature than they would have if I had had a real Corvair "heater". Rick also had no heater in his car, so apparently this is the hot setup, so to speak. How did we do? Against a fast time of about 2:39, Rick and I were just on the wrong side of three minutes. For comparison,  my dry time would be about 1:42.

Rick Loving and Dan Konkle's Corvairs in the pits (click picture for larger image).

It was great to be back out on the ice one more time. This was the fastest ice trial I had ever run, far more challenging and thrilling than the tight and slow events of years past. And although the Corvair is clearly outclassed by modern cars (and many old ones as well) it was nice to be able to have a respectable showing in a large field of experienced racers.

John Cole drove his Monza and Steve Ridderman drove his Greenbrier to the event, but they remained spectators
(click pictures for larger image).