Welcome to the NASCC Ice Racing and Winter Driving School 2024.
As you scroll down, you will find the links to the various videos that make up the classroom material, plus some guidance as to how to proceed through it.
- Ice Racing 101
- Course notes are posted here .
This page is complete for 2024
The NASCC Ice Racing and Winter Driving School on Friday evening Jan 19 is at Leefield Community Centre, Millwoods, and the on track session is at Cooking Lake, entry near the Cooking Lake Airfield, Saturday Jan 20. Arrive Friday by 6 pm, class starts at 6:30, and Saturday by 8:30 am, on track sessions start at 9 am.
Below you will find the pre-recorded video links for the classroom presentation, listed in the order of presentation. These were mostly recorded during 2021 and are a bit out of date, but cover the same material presented in 2024.
Part 0 – What are you getting into?
What is it going to be like out there on the ice in a race? What do you need to be watching, doing, and thinking? Watch this short video of lap one of a standing start race. https://youtu.be/aMZ-bQDpYDk
Part 1 – The Basics: Seating, Positioning and Vision
P 1: The Basics: This recorded link is on the subject of your positioning within the car. Please watch the video at the link here: https://youtu.be/PyKiZcrm6Uo
Keep the car is in neutral balance when driving past a rescue vehicle or in a yellow flag zone. https://youtu.be/n9NkdH6qmgw
Vision: Looking far ahead to where you want to go is a critical skill in racing and performance driving. But often visibility is poor (well terrible really), so you need to develop tricks and skills to help. Watch for the track markers out the side windows, and the marker lights on the car in front to best judge where the track is when you can not see it, as in this video. https://youtu.be/ofevLdjtMtQ
Part 2 – Driving the Line
P 2: Driving the line: We then move on to a discussion of how to optimize your cornering speeds, assuming equal traction everywhere, https://youtu.be/l5u1IxqnKxc
in ice racing you always have to look for where the grip is, and that may significantly change the best line through a corner.
Part 3&4 – Car Control & why you need it
P 3&4 Car Attitude: Start with this very brief video to set up discussions of car attitude,
Keep the car is in neutral balance when driving past a rescue vehicle or in a yellow flag zone. https://youtu.be/n9NkdH6qmgw
And then, follow that with this Youtube Video on car control: compensating for under and oversteer: (you may have to wait 5 s to skip the ads) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwmDdMzzDjY.
Part 5 – Weight Transfer & Car Control
P 5 Weight Transfer: Watch the next video, part 5, “unpacking” the very dense delivery of information on car control in the Youtube video, as presented by a “wise man”. https://youtu.be/GqmKUgh3WaE
Part 6 – The Traction Circle
Traction Circle: We complete this section on traction with a look at the traction circle, in video part 6, with a specific focus on driving on ice in the second half of the video. CLICK HERE
Part 7 – Braking & Shifting
P 7 Braking: Use of the brakes is critical to maximizing our speed around the track, In this linked video below, part 7, we discuss threshold, trail and left foot braking. https://youtu.be/WfnLrLwfFFM
Braking is done on the grippiest sections of an ice track, or we can avoid braking, slide the car sideways (pitch it sideways) and use sliding friction to slow the car, as shown in this video for ice racing on bolted tires. Watch the brake lights to see how short the braking time is, it is mainly used for weight transfer for turn in, and then the sliding car slows from the bolts scrubbing the ice. https://youtu.be/KrSE9jB2fY8
Heel & Toe shifting: One of the skills you will need to develop to be smooth on track, and keep the car balanced is the “heel and toe” technique. This video includes capture of the dancing footwork of a driver who is excellent at the technique. https://youtu.be/i-NraW11lLo
Part 8 Flags, Passing and Safety
Flags are critical to racing, they are only way to communicate dangers and issues to you when out on track. You must know them to get your race license and to drive safely on track. The written WCMA flag descriptions can be found at this link. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZG0iEE3mfjNs0YQyccduYW5dJZx4HhGf/view?usp=drive_link
This video takes you through the corner marshal and the driver’s understanding of the flags. It is a must watch, It will be on the test! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZG0iEE3mfjNs0YQyccduYW5dJZx4HhGf/view?usp=drive_link
Passing requires care and skill. Some of the basic rules and expectations are discussed in this video. https://youtu.be/CbkwEVacV7c
Racing room, examples of two drivers respecting each other and providing racing room https://youtu.be/csU-NUTNoAo
Races are controlled by the officials, you need to know who they are, and what the organization is that links us to the FIA, as discussed briefly in this video. https://youtu.be/1MwQ8ULDkBE
Part 9 – Your Driving Sessions
These videos discuss the skidpad and slalom exercises and what you should learn from them, what the goals are. (If you are taking the video school only, not the real time on track school, then you do not need to watch this video) The actual exercises may differ a little bit from year to year, depending on ice and track conditions. https://youtu.be/keT3m4B3coA?si=ZNK3DmbzJN6lqngk and https://youtu.be/zqcn3eECHd4?si=r8IFOwh8coNe-YiD
Wrap Up & Written Exam
WRITE the FLAG EXAM of Flags of the WCMA. You must arrange a time to do so by writing nascc.events@gmail.com . You can study the flags and refer to them using this pdf file. here