Waking up to a thick covering of snow is most racers idea of a nightmare, but for a rare breed of petrol heads there’s nothing they love more than putting their skills to the test in the trickiest of conditions. So in honour of those who refuse to take the sensible option, and race on whatever the weather throws at them here’s a look at five manic motor sports that wouldn’t be the same without a bit of snow and ice.
Ice karting
Kart races are can take place on almost any surface but one of the most unusual and difficult to drive on has to be ice. The karts are specially adapted to excel on the ice and are fitted with studded tyres to improve grip. Most races take place on purpose built tracks, but they can be held on standard ice rinks which means races can even take place here in the UK.
Snocross
OK, so it’s not your standard motor sport but you can’t deny how awesome it looks! Competitors use high performance snow mobiles to race across purpose built tracks packed with tight turns, banked corners and steep jumps. The souped up snowmobiles have a top speed of 70 mph which means when they hit the massive jumps at full speed they can be launched up to 40 meters in the air!
Ice Speedway
A standard speedway race is more than enough excitement for most people to handle so throwing in the added danger of an ice covered track might just blow a few minds. Like ice karts the speedway bikes are adapted to excel on the ice and are fitted with some pretty mean looking spikes to improve grip. Races follow the same format as a standard speedway race which is a flat out race around the oval track to the finish line. What could possibly go wrong?
Rally Driving
The World Rally Championship takes in courses across the globe which means taking on a snow covered course at some point is almost inevitable. Thankfully rally drivers are a special breed and it takes more than a bit of snow to stop them racing. There’s no such thing as a dull race in the world of rally driving but there’s definitely something about seeing the drivers hurtle across the snow covered ground which makes rallying even more exciting.
Snow Buggy Racing
Snow buggies are a crazy cross between a quad bike and a dune buggy and are purpose built to survive in the snow. It’s not the purest for of racing but it is ridiculously fun for everybody involved, even former F1 star David Coulthard has tried his hand at snow buggy racing and he knows a thing or two about racing.