A Song of Ice and Fire
— Frozen in Motorsport —
With the opening of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, ice and snow sports have become the hottest topic of the moment. Athletes are placed on the ice and snow, or speeding, or graceful dancing, or fierce confrontation, ice and snow sports have the beauty of ice and fire intertwined.
Although the Olympic Games and motorsport still seem to be some distance away, in the world of racing, there is no lack of ice and snow elements. The encounter between ice and snow and racing has always been talked about...
Different tracks, the same speed to win
Racing is one of the most important forms of snow sports. Alpine skiing, short track speed skating, speed skating, snowmobiles, steel frame snowmobiles, bobsleighs and other Winter Olympic sports are all competitions of speed. Like racing, the tracks in these events include straight lines and corners, and runners also have to delve into the track's tracking, cornering skills and straight sprints.
In these events, the closest thing to track racing is short track speed skating. This project is also competed by multiple teams, and the players must also compete for a favorable position at the start of the race like a driver, and complete the overtake or reverse overtaking in the race, both the competition of the corners and the sprint of the straight line.
Snowmobiles, steel-framed snowmobiles and bobsleighs are close to the qualifying of the car, and the players are in the process of surpassing themselves and refreshing the speed every time they play, and have the same concepts of braking, steering and routing as the racing car. A little different from motor qualifying, these events are based on the total time accumulated in several rounds, so the players have to give their all every time they play.
Whether it is ice and snow sports or racing, racing is a human instinct, acceleration, steering, transcendence, is a skill engraved in human DNA...
Some car races are famous for snow and ice
The Dakar Rally is famous for its desert, the Monaco Grand Prix features streets, and some are known for snow and ice.
The Monte Carlo Rally, which began in 1911 and is held every January, is the traditional WRC (World Rally Championship) opener. The Monte Carlo Rally is essentially an asphalt rally through the mountains, but the low temperatures at the beginning of the year often freeze or cover the track, which has become a classic element of monte Carlo rally.
The Swedish Rally is a traditional WRC ice and snow event. At WRC Sweden, the car needs to be replaced with nail tires, cross the snowfields at high speed, or travel through the track with snow walls on both sides. Splashing snowflakes when the car is cornering is a famous scene in the Swedish rally, and Corinpo, which competes in the racing jump distance, is another major feature of the Swedish rally.
It is worth mentioning that the ice and snow in Northern Europe have also created the famous "Scandinavian pendulum" technology. This steering technique is to use the vehicle's tracking and changes in center of gravity to make the rear of the car slide to complete the corner, which was once famous for "Flying Life".
Ice and snow racing, China is not absent
The continent is vast and there is no shortage of soil for ice and snow racing. At present, the mainland has well-known ice and snow events such as the Changbai Mountain Ice and Snow Rally and the Mohe International Ice and Snow Car Race.
Changbai Mountain Ice and Snow Rally is one of the sub-stations of the CRC China Rally Championship, the race route is located in the beautiful Changbai Mountain, including the beautiful Tianchi Scenic Area, high-speed, multi-bend track let a group of drivers praise the style of the WRC Sweden Station here.
Mohe is the northernmost county-level administrative region in China, and the Mohe International Ice and Snow Car Race has also become the northernmost car race in China. The race is held on a frozen river, and the extremely cold weather and the natural ice and snow track are the characteristics of the race.
CTCC's classic "chill"
As a track race car, CTCC does not have many opportunities to encounter ice and snow in theory, but in the history of CTCC, there have been several classic "cold wars".
In 2015, CTCC landed on the Beijing China Automobile League to stage the annual finale. In November, Beijing ushered in the first snow since the beginning of winter, and ctccists will face the test. The low temperatures and slippery tracks made that race weekend unexpected.
In fact, the second half of the season's events are relatively vulnerable to cold waves. In the 2021 season, the zhuzhou race was affected by the cold air moving south, adding variables to the game with rain and cooling. The race at Songjiang Sheshan Station was also hit by a cold wave, accompanied by cold winds, and the outside temperature was close to freezing. But none of this affected the atmosphere in the paddock.
Faster, taller, stronger
Like all competitive sports, racing is constantly pursuing "faster, higher and stronger" in fierce competition, and ice and snow racing is a challenge for human beings to extreme weather.
In order to cope with the race on the low-temperature track, the team will use professional equipment to keep the tires warm and confirm that the tires can quickly enter the working state after the car is on the track; in order to walk like a fly on the low-adhesion ice and snow road, people use the nail tires to help the car "bite" the track forward; in order to run faster on the ice and snow, the engineers will move the four-wheel drive system originally used only for off-road vehicles to the car, and the four-wheel drive pull beast will appear from here; in order to drive in the extremely cold and harsh conditions, Human beings have developed engine lubricating oil and antifreeze suitable for low temperatures...
As for the corner of the race on the edge of loss of control, the skill of letting the car be controlled while skiding makes the ice and snow racing an art that dances at the boundary of the limit. Driving and racing under the snow and ice is a process in which human beings constantly overcome difficulties and challenge limits.
Ice and snow as a medium, go to the Winter Olympics covenant. Whether it's ice and snow or the track, whether it's a driver or our Winter Olympic athletes, sports are practicing the Olympic motto of "faster, higher, stronger – more united". At the end of the article, let us remember the significance of sports competition with the famous words of Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games! "The most important thing in life is not victory, but struggle, not conquest, but hard work".
*Some of the pictures are from the Internet