Those are hardcore. I did ice racing in Alaska for years. I've driven on a set of super studs made with self-tapping sheet metal screws. Those things stuck to the ice great!
Photography Courtesy Hilary Anderson
Wisconsin racer and car builder Hilary Anderson—who we most recently shared a seat with at the SCCA Solo Nationals back in September—got an unexpected boost to her latest project when a casual documentation of a routine process went viral on the internet.
“It’s hard to even wrap my head around the number,” Anderson said of the short clip of her installing sharpened metal studs into the tires she’ll be ice racing on this winter crossed 100 million views as a Facebook Reel. “I’m getting lots of comments in languages I don’t recognize, so that’s pretty cool.” Anderson added.
Those tires she spent nearly eight hours studding will be installed on her 2001 BMW 325ci that she’ll be ice racing this year in the northern Midwest. “It needs to cool down a little bit more for a little bit longer, because we need 14-inches of ice on the lakes before we can go racing.” Anderson says. “But for now it’s nice knowing people are following along with our build progress. We’ve got support from JXB Performance, Bimmerworld and Hawk Brakes, and it’s exciting knowing we can provide some return for the folks helping us.”
The E46 BMW will be competing in the Spec Stud RWD class for ice racing, using those sharpened bolts pierced through the tire and sealed with butyl windshield sealent to grip the frozen lake surface. Once the lakes thaw, Anderson will be competing in #GRIDLIFE’s Club TR class, but on more appropriate 200tw rubber. Look for a magazine feature on the car in an upcoming issue.
Asked about her secret to producing content that’s doing numbers to rival major movie studios and world-famous performers, Anderson is philosophical. “It’s the internet. You’re competing with cats pushing cups off of tables and people falling down stairs, so I can’t really say any planning or intent went into making this viral. The algorithm just picked it up and we’re thankful for the chance to share.”
You can check out her viral Reel here, and see a more in-depth video of what goes into building studded ice racing tires on her YouTube channel here.
Those are hardcore. I did ice racing in Alaska for years. I've driven on a set of super studs made with self-tapping sheet metal screws. Those things stuck to the ice great!
This brings up a question, perhaps a dumb one.
Why use normal tires? The rubber will almost never touch the ice, and if it does it won't add any traction. Why take a balloon and punch 300 holes in it when you could use something non-pneumatic?
In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Curtis. Ice isn't smooth. Especially after studs get to it. It's very very bumpy. You need pneumatic tires to conform to the roughness of packed snow, and chopped up ice.
frenchyd said:In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :
Curtis. Ice isn't smooth. Especially after studs get to it. It's very very bumpy. You need pneumatic tires to conform to the roughness of packed snow, and chopped up ice.
I'm thinking something like a Tweel/Uptis would be ideal?
Sharp studs look nasty but•••••. What happens is torque causes the studs to fold over. Then the stud becomes a round rod sliding along the ice.
Much better than sharpened spikes is flat washers with little tits. The tits cause the washers to fold over and the flat edge digs into the ice.
In reply to GameboyRMH :
Narrow and tall tires are called for. Unlike asphalt ice demands different tires.
It's a subject where I'd only trust people from above the 50th parallel to know what they're talking about. I lived a year in the north woods of Minnesota. I leaned lots of cold and snow tricks that people from further south would never think of or think impossible. I like what Frenchy said about spikes "looking" the part but not really being ideal. That's Northland thinking.
frenchyd said:In reply to GameboyRMH :
Narrow and tall tires are called for. Unlike asphalt ice demands different tires.
that would be better for a snowy ice battle but if its sheet ice with all the snow blown away, you want to think of it more like track racing where wider is better as you can get more mechanical grip from studs than you can on sticky 200tw tires on hot pavement. You want the tall narrow to cut through the deep snow to get to the ice which is why you see the WRC car tires setup this way.
In reply to frenchyd :
I'm not saying using something hard and solid like steel or wood, I'm just not sure why someone hasn't come up with something other than air to provide that compliance. Putting 300 screws in a pneumatic tire and then abusing the snot out of it seems like a recipe for flats.
Maybe I'm missing something, just wondering how it works IRL
fidelity101 said:frenchyd said:In reply to GameboyRMH :
Narrow and tall tires are called for. Unlike asphalt ice demands different tires.
that would be better for a snowy ice battle but if its sheet ice with all the snow blown away, you want to think of it more like track racing where wider is better as you can get more mechanical grip from studs than you can on sticky 200tw tires on hot pavement. You want the tall narrow to cut through the deep snow to get to the ice which is why you see the WRC car tires setup this way.
Typically clubs limit the numbers of studs. Especially they like to outlaw through studs.
The advantage of that is studs spun into pockets formed in the tread can be pulled out with excess power. This rather than ripping deep gouges in the race track ( 14-18" deep isn't uncommon).
It requires a sensitive throttle foot to know when too much is happening.
plus rip out all your studs early in the race and you're sliding along with the unstudded tires until it's time to refuel. No NASCAR style tire changes. It's brutal cold and the teams aren't trained. Changing 4 tires can take 2 or 3 laps.
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