ICE TRIALS

[Bill Owen]

I'm sure Chuck, Salah and Ed will be back to improve upon what they learned 2 wks ago.

Just wondering if anyone alse from MAC will be there this Sunday?


I'll be in the "Babies R Us Blitzkrieg" (Forest Green VW Golf 4 dr w/baby seat)

http://www.glacierlakesqclub.org

[SalahK]

Yea Bill, I'll be there in the WRX. I also have a friend with a Jeep Cherokee who will be joining me. We will be driving each other's cars as well. I think the recent snowfall will make the course even more exiting :D

[chuck b]

I want to, need to, but may not be able to join you- have a good time!

[Bill Owen]

If you do Chuck, you can try out the big ol Vdub...

Its 6:35am Sunday morning and I'm off to search for my long underwear.. Yikes, just looked at the temp, I better wear 2 pairs!

FYI: All the photos I took at the last one never got downloaded to my PC. The memory card had a "corrupt file." I wonder if the cold had something to do with it? I'll try again today.

[Bob86ZZ4]

Wow, Salah, you kicked butt at that ice event! Looks like you just barely missed FTD for non-studded tires. And you were way ahead of most of the other cars. Good job.

[Bill Owen]

Today was a good time! I stayed till 4:30pm

The course, slalom and not 1, but 2 skid pads were much better than the last event.

Salah on the oval skid pad

http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/mnautox/ICE%20Trials/WRX2wb.jpg

http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/mnautox/ICE%20Trials/WRXwb.jpg


My Golf in the slalom..
http://prudhoe.codeword.com/mnpctech/mnautox/ICE%20Trials/billwb.jpg

[SalahK]

I was very impressed with Bill's drive at the Ice-Trials, in his "Babies-R-Us Blitzkrieg" Golf. His turn-in is well-timed and very precise and he is able to get the car well positioned toward the corner exit. He showed excellent control of his "mostly sideways" Golf through the slalom section.

In addition to your driving, I was really surprised by the level of grip your Blizzax WS-50 tires had on the ICE. My WRX's Dunlop Winter Sport tires aren't even close on ICE, although they are relatively good on Snow and Dry roads. I think I'll be getting a set of WS-50s as my next set of winter tires.

[chuck b]

how was the traction relative to last event? Did the little bit of snow cause any rutting problems?
I've heard from Adam that the Blizzaks are amazing on ice.
Since the first event, I've enjoyed the available snow- the ebrake is getting a workout. Nothing like executing a perfect slide turn right up into the driveway!

[SalahK]

This time around, the course was 100% ICE. The club had to use a snowplough to create the course, since the lake received about 6 inches of snow in the last two weeks.

At the Jan 26th event, I was able to overcome my tires' weak ICE traction by driving mainly on the snow-covered areas where my tires offered good grip.

This time, there was no choice but to drive on the ICE. Getting off the ICE meant plowing through thick snow where one could easily get stuck, as several people did throughout the day. In order to go really quick yesterday, you had to have tires with square shoulders like most tires in the Blizzax line-up. The "High Performance Winter" tires like my Dunlop Winter Sport" have rounded shoulders, which although pretty good on snow, do not have the ability to bite into the ICE and slow down the car when driving sideways. He only problem with having square edges like on the Blizzax, is that they feel somewhat mushy and vague when driven on dry roads. It's all about compromises.

[73GT]

Blizzaks are amazing on ice but it's not due to there sidewalls it due to the softness of of the rubber compound and the siping. Have you ever felt the tires tread when their new it's much softer than a R compound tire. There's one downfall to the tire, you only get about 6-10k out of them then there just like any other M/S tire if you drive on dry roads. Back when they first came out I drove alot of cars with them (SAAB's) and they did give a squirmy feel while cornering but it is a trade off.



Lee F.

[Bill Owen]

I agree with Salah about the tire's edges making a difference. We visually compared and inspected eachother's tires. His Dunlaps have the same siping in the tread pattern as my Blizzaks. Riding in eachother's cars you could feel the difference the Blizzak's aggresive outter edge made in the slides.

I agree with Lee about the Blizzak's lifespan. I've bought more sets of Blizzaks than all season tires in the last 5 years.

[aansorge]

I've got Blizzak WS-50's on my Protege and they are incredible tires. On mixed snow and ice roads they handle and brake similar to a car being driven on a dirt road; in other words some sliding and slipping is occuring but not anything like regular tires on snow. In terms of acceleration (ith a front wheel drive car with an open diff), they don't hook up as well as they would on a dirt road, but better than regular tires. The main difference is handling and especially braking.

I SOOOO wanted to go to this weekend's event, but a 2 month old screaming child and a jittery wife prevented it from happening. Believe me when I say that I am in desperate need of flogging an automobile on a closed course.

Adam Ansorge

[Bill Owen]

Ohhh, Ive been in your shoes Adam and you don't want to upset the Mrs. I have 1 yr old daughter and stranding Mommy at home so dad can play with family wheels wasn't easy :D

Theres always the Feb 23rd event.. I may not make that one because shes already given me "the look"