V8 Fiero ice-race car *Updated with vid of racing action!*
 

So we've been working hard on my buddies Fiero ice race car for the past several months.

We swapped in a 4.9L V8 from a Cadillac, which fits like a glove and only weighs a few pounds more than the pathetic iron-block 4 cylinder we pulled out of it. It will be competing in the ice races in minded in the street-stud class this season (that is... if we get enough snow and cold weather...).

The rules call for no restrictions when it comes to aerodynamics. So we fitted it with a GIANT wing last year and ran the rubber to ice class. Needless to say, the speeds were nowhere near high enough to make the wing function properly. So this year we're running the street-stud class where the speeds will be much higher and thus, the wing will be much more functional.

But that's not all... We were inspired by the McLaren SLR and Veyron and decided to take the giant wig to the next level! A friend of ours is a hydraulics wizard and used the existing power steering pump to make the wing adjustable. Thus, we now have an air-brake and adjustable down force!!!

Here's the link:
Enjoy. :)

ahaha mpr that looks amazing. a wizard is an understatement hes more like a freaking WARLOCK!
i would never even thought that was possible. how fast do these races get?
where are these races?
and can i get more info??

Like that adjustable wing...moves so smoothly.
Nice work by you and your friends, Mike.

As Ignazty asked, please post up more info when it's available, or at least some video of the race. :smile:

Nice job! Thats how Sprintcar wings move also. That car should be a rocket with a V8!

Glad to see some interest in ice racing! It's the least expensive and maybe the most fun way to compete in wheel to wheel racing. All you need is a solid car that runs with working heat, a basic racing licence ($60) from CASC and with a little bit of work to the car, your ready to race!

The Magnum ice race series is run every winter for 6 weeks straight (weather dependant) from the middle of January through February. They are held at the Minden fairgrounds in Minden (about 2.5 hours north east of toronto).

The track is a small kidney-bean shaped oval. On Saturdays, they run counter-clock wise and Sundays they run clock-wise to keep it interesting and challenging.

There are 3 main classes: Rubber, street stud and full stud.

Rubber - Means rubber to ice. No studs. For added traction, most use blizzacks which are "tractionized". To do this, they run the tires on a spiked roller system which shreads the tread blocks on the tires to create thousands of tiny 'fingers' which drastically helps increase grip on ice. I've seen cars try to race without doing this and they might as well have road-race slicks on...lol. The rubber class is the slowest, though depending on the conditions, the speeds can reach ~60kph+ on the straights. Doesn't sound high, but if you see the size of the track, it's a good clip for running straight rubber on pure ice...lol. You can typically get 2 or so seasons per set of tires in the rubber class. Power is not an issue in the rubber classes as too much will only be wasted away in tire-spinning furry! :P

Street Stud - The street-stud class is a big step up from rubber. The speeds are much higher and power/handling setup becomes more of a factor. All cars use a spec tire from hankook which is a street snow tire, pre-fitted with basic studs. When the season is over, they will buy your street-stud tires back from you for half what you paid, remove the studs and sell the tires to the public (since they are still brand new snow tires). This is the cheapest class to run in since you sell your tires back. In this class it's not uncommon for cars to easily hit speeds of 80-100kph+.

Both the rubber and street stud classes are broken up and run depending on the vehicle type. RWD and AWD are run together in one class separate from FWD. There is also a separate class for cars under a certain length (small car class).

Full Stud - This is the crazy fast class. Cars use these skinny, full-stud menard tires giving them rediculous grip on ice. Cars must have roll-cages, race seats, 5 point harnesses etc. Power and handling setup is a major factor just like a road race car. They can hit speeds up around 140kph+ at times. I had a chance to ride with one driver in an older subaru XT-6 with a flat 6 turbo and AWD... With incredible speed and skill, he lapped the entire field in a 10 lap race! At the time there were no other awd cars in the class and he had no competition. This class runs FWD, RWD and AWD all together. To compete in this class, your vehicle must comply with very strict safety regulations and you must have competed in at least two seasons of rubber or street stud previously. It's not uncommon to see retired pro-rally cars running in these races...

If you want more info check out this website: http://www.casc.on.ca/iceRacing.php
Rules, regulations and entry forms etc are on the right-hand side.


I'll be posting more pics and vids throughout the season.

Cheers! :)

Here's a short video of the fiero spitting fire the other night.


We have a new tuning program for the megasquirt. Running like a dream now.

nice work so far Mike. I wanna see footage of it at the track!

When you said it has a giant wing I was thinking something....well 5 times smaller then that LMAO.

Car looks insane man. Like always keep up the great work :yeah:

Here's another vid. Tuning with a PLX-SM AFR wide band O2 unit with DM-100 Multigauge (LCD), and the laptop running "Tunerstudio" tuning program interfaced with the megasquirt standalone ECU. Literally THE ecu we had in the MR2, and when ice racing is over, we'll re-burn it and plug it back in to the MR2 (megasquirt FTW!). What you're watching is real-time data being displayed. The auto-tune feature and capability of tunerstudio with megaquirt is absolutely incredible. You basically set your target AFR and run the engine. It adjusts everything instantly and tunes on the fly, safely and accurately.

Here's a vid of some good ice racing action. View is from inside my friend's MR2 following my other firend's V8 fiero... until he passes him...hehe.


Enjoy! :)

nice to see it up and running! here's a vid I came across today on redpepper, think you'll like it Mark!

:thumb:awesome video!! looks hella fun, but very hard..always counter steering the whole race. id like to give it a shot one day,build myself a little swift turbo and get out rallying and ice racing.