Ice races
The so-called Trophée Andros ice races, which are extremely popular in France, have their roots in rallying . As early as the early 1970s , ice races were contested in the winter sports centers of Chamonix and Serre Chevalier in the French Maritime Alps with rally cars that were still relatively tame at the time. Later the participants developed far more efficient vehicles for this; for the Andros trophy, almost exclusively very potent prototypes with all-wheel drive and synchronized steering of the front and rear wheels.
24h de Chamonix, IRSI and Andros series
The 24 Heures sur Glace de Chamonix (24 hours on ice from Chamonix), first held in 1970 on the 1350 meter long Circuit de Grépon in Chamonix as the 1ère Ronde Hivernale , was an independent event for a long time, with mostly only six Races of 40 minutes each within 24 hours. While it surprisingly disappeared from the motorsport calendar in January 2004 , together with the unsuccessful FIA "World Championship" called Ice Race Series International (IRSI) , the Andros series has been in excellent shape since its debut in 1990. It was initiated by ex-rallycrosser Max Mamers (French rallycross champion 1982 and 1983 on Talbot Matra Murena ), in cooperation with the permanent sponsor Andros (a compote and jam maker), and has delighted thousands of spectators every winter since then Ice slopes in France and Andorra as well as hundreds of thousands of television viewers all over the world. The Andros trophy was won ten times between 1996 and 2006 by Yvan Muller , in 2007 and 2008 the ex-F1 driver Alain Prost was able to conquer it.
The IRSI series, initiated by the former French rally driver Franz Hummel (organizer of the 24h de Chamonix ) and recognized by the FIA, was organized for the first time in 2001 and should have five races in its debut year. The races in Chamonix, Sherbrooke (Canada) and Kuopio (Finland) actually took place, but the races in Oschersleben (Germany) and Kiev (Ukraine) were canceled at relatively short notice due to mild weather conditions. In 2002 there were new scheduling problems; while Chamonix and Sherbrooke carried out two of the four races, Oschersleben and the run of Saint Rhémy-en-Bosses (Italy) were canceled. Only three races were planned for 2003, Chamonix and Saint Rhémy-en-Bosses took place, the race in Saint Petersburg (Russia) did not. At the beginning of 2004 came the final end. After the race in Livigno (Italy), both Chamonix and Saint-Eustache (Canada) had to be canceled - and the FIA ice racing series had become an interlude in motor racing history.
Ice races in Northern Europe
In Norway , Sweden and Finland , ice races are mostly organized with rallycross and rally cars in particularly severe winters on frozen lakes . The racers use special studded tires with nails up to 25 mm long ( Swedish: Långnabb ). This enables extremely high cornering speeds to be achieved without any drifts , as the spikes cling to the ice and thus prevent the wheels from slipping. The limits of traction are then set solely by gravity ; the racing cars usually drive through bends on two wheels - and if the driver only slightly exaggerates, a single or multiple rollover of his vehicle is inevitable.
Ice races in the Alps
In the Alpine region , besides the Maritime Alps runs to the Andros ice cream series , there are also a few individual competitions. For several years was Dolomites - winter Piancavallo in Friuli Italian Eisrennfahrer the Mecca.
In 2005 and 2006, the Austrian rallycross driver Edy Schuster held an ice race for various motorcycle and car classes in Reuthe near Bezau in the Bregenzerwald . a. so-called skijoring was also demonstrated. In January 2006 there was a largely identical event in nearby Krumbach . The events planned for January 2007 in Krumbach and Reuthe as well as the ice races in Reuthe, Krumbach and Langen near Bregenz , which were scheduled for January 2008 and January 2009, had to be postponed and ultimately canceled because of the mild winters, but they were again in the eye for 2010 collected.
Web links
- Trophée Andros website (French)
- Reuthe ice race website (German)
- Ice race in Tyrol ( Memento from February 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive )