Got the results of the timed laps. Twelve cars were registered in my class (non-Porsche, non-studded, 2wd). One was a no-show, three ran the course once, and eight ran twice. That’s 19 runs. Mine were 11th and 12th fastest, so mediocre would be an improvement. The video is from the untimed course, my only run with any drama.
I only shot about a dozen pictures on Saturday. Only managed on of Doug, but the lighting was bad. So it’s just white Porsches and an FF.
Last year I said I’d skip Eiskhana for a year. I changed my mind. I figured I didn’t have anything better to do on a Saturday in January than deal with ski traffic to stand around on a frozen lake for five or six hours so I could drive around on ice with bald tires.
I picked up Jerry at the park and ride at I-70 and Morrison road at 6:30. From there to Georgetown Lake in normal traffic it’s about a forty minute drive. It took us an hour and a half. That was about the same as last year, except this time there was actually some snow and ice on the road adding to the degree of difficulty. As we went farther west, the cloud cover increased, and when we arrived the wind was gusting fiercely, throwing a brilliant white cloud of snow off the lake and over the highway.
Unlike last year, we anticipated the traffic and managed to arrive on time. We were followed in by a Ferrari FF. Ferrari of Denver had a trailer there, with two more FF’s and a 458 parked next to it. They also had a Bentley, but I didn’t see that until later.
With the Ferrari trailer in the parking lot, they had to park the registration trailer on the ice. They had a big space heater running and were setting out pastries and doughnuts on tables. I registered, grabbed a tasty treat and we retreated to the car to get out of the wind. They had the drivers meeting at nine. We’d be broken into two groups. One would start with two runs on the timed course and the other would be on a second, untimed course. After the meeting, we all lined up and drove the course slowly. First time they’ve done that.
They put us on the timed course first. I managed both runs without spinning, but I wasn’t particularly fast. The course wasn’t very interesting. The one two years ago was best, but they used the entire area. This way, people got more time on the ice, so I guess it’s a fair trade-off. I ran the untimed course twice. We could do it as often as we liked, but two was enough for me.
Getting off the lake was entertaining. I was a bit concerned when driving on to the lake, which is downhill. There was quite a bit of snow there, deep enough I plowed it with the nose of my car. When driving it out, I couldn’t get enough space to make a run at it. About half way up, I was beached. How hard is it to push a car out of a snowbank when everybody is standing on a frozen lake? It must not have been too bad, it only took three or four guys.
Once off the lake, we parked and then ogled the Ferraris. “Want a ride? You guys are next, back in a few minutes.”
To me, the FF looks a lot like the BMW M Coupe. Sort of like a shoe. A “stupid money” car, made of unobtanium. They weigh about two tons, crank out 650 or so horses, and have steering wheels worthy of an F1 car. The one we were in could be yours, for a bit over 300 large but you can have one made for 230 or so. Evidently, you now get an unlimited mileage seven year service plan in the bargain. A very nice car, certainly. And fast. Even where it was slippery. On dry pavement he had us up to 107 in a heartbeat.
Then we sat and had lunch and watched the cars going sideways and backwards and spinning round. Jerry’s mom made the sandwiches. Made me feel like a little kid for a minute. The weather had cleared up nicely. The sky was a deep cloudless blue unmarred by jetliner vapor trails – the trails disappeared only a short distance behind the planes. The wind had died down and it was quite pleasant sitting on a rock in the sun.
It was a fun time.
I took a few pictures with the long lens, haven’t looked at them yet. I’ll see if any are worth sharing and post them when I get the video done.
Georgetown was founded in 1859, during the silver boom. At one time, the population was near 10,000 and there was a local movement to relocate the state capital here from Denver but the bust soon followed. It is now not much more than a small tourist town, where skiers stop on their way home. Interstate 70 runs along the slope on the west side of the deep valley on the eastern approach to the Eisenhower tunnel and the old Loveland pass. Drivers there overlook the town and the reservoir just north of it. Today, many of them stopped to watch people drive their cars through a course laid out with traffic cones on the ice.
I picked Jerry up a few minutes before 6 and we headed up I-70. We got there quite early; were the first to arrive at the designated meeting point, in fact. There was some miscommunication on the schedule. After visiting with some of the other participants, getting registered and signing the usual waivers, we headed off to the lake. It looked to be a fine day, cloudless and crisp. The valley there runs north-south with high mountains on each side, so the sun doesn’t hit the lake this time of year until 9:30 or so. It was quite chilly until then, but by noon was in the mid-40’s. We neglected to bring sun screen and even the brims of our hats didn’t help as the sun reflected off what snow was on the surface of the ice. We all stood on the western shore or the ice along it, so I managed to sunburn the right side of my face.
Thick ice
The email I received about the event said the ice was 12-15 inches thick. It is hard to tell standing on it, but I’d venture it was more like two feet where we were. The ice is criss-crossed with cracks, most of them quite small and not even going all the way from top to bottom. There are also lots of bubbles, often stacked up in columns. Some places the ice was quite smooth and the men, being boys at heart, often ran and slid to see who could slide the farthest. Here and there fishing holes had been drilled, but today all the fishermen were congregated at the southern end of the lake. (Movies and TV show these holes being big enough to drop a body through, but these were only about six inches across.) When we arrived a pickup truck towing a small trailer was navigating the course of traffic cones and many of us found that amusing.
I quickly found out that the battery for my camera was dead. When I checked it last night, it indicated a full charge but such is my luck lately with camera batteries. I took a few with the cell phone, but I find them unsatisfying. I did strike up a conversation with a guy who brought his 600mm lens and tripod. I hope to get copies of any shots he took during my runs. When I get them, I’ll share them in a subsequent post.
We were divided into four groups – two wheel drive Porsche, four wheel drive Porsche, 2wd other, and 4wd other. Did I mention this was a Porsche club event? The first group moved onto the ice and lined up for their runs. Cars were released a bit over a minute apart, depending on how fast the car ahead was going. The faster drivers were managing the course in a bit over two minutes. The slower ones took quite a bit longer, many spinning at the north east corner where the ice was particularly smooth and there was no snow.
I asked one of the event stewards how many cars had registered. He didn’t have the number and said he thought it was about 50, but I think it was more like 75. Chatting with other folks it seems most were, like me, doing this for the first time. Only a few people had studded snow tires. Some had snow or ice tires, most had all-season. I have “ultra high performance summer tires”, meaning I’d have very little traction. A few folks pointed at my tires and laughed. Good naturedly, of course.
So most of the day was spent standing around, waiting our turn. Prestige Imports brought a trailer with propane heaters so we could get warm. I took advantage early in the morning but it wasn’t necessary once the sun climbed over Saxon Mtn. Also in the trailer were free t-shirts, granola bars, and glove warmers.
Other 2WD staged up
At 11:30 the “other 2wd” group staged on the ice. This group was further split and we were in the second half, so more waiting around. The photo shows most of my group, including all three Lotuses. I didn’t know any of the Porsche folks but was acquainted with quite a few of my group, so while the first half was making their runs I was chatting with those in line and milling around with the rest of my group.The Porsche folks had made their runs in a fairly serious fashion, perhaps actually trying to get good times. Our group was a bit more free spirited. John managed to put his Miata though one gate sideways and the next gate backwards to hearty applause.
Finally, at 1:30, we got to make our first run. I was joking with Jerry, asking what he thought the chances were I’d be able to get through the course on the first run without spinning. He said “Zero!” I surprised everyone by putting together a perfect run, no spins, finishing in 2:30 according to Jerry’s stopwatch. Now, of course, I had to see how much time I could carve off that. I should be able to do better, now that I had some experience, right? On the second run I tried a hand-brake turn where we had all seen everybody have the most difficulty. I learned not to attempt hand-brake turns. I spun twice on that run and once on the third run.
It was a lot of fun, even though we were there something like seven hours and were only actually driving on the ice eight minutes. I’ll gladly try it again next year.