Racing fans in Portage, MB were thrilled by the news that the Winnipeg Sports Car Club's Fire on Ice racing tour would be returning to Crescent Lake. Starting February 18, ice racers and fans will flock to Portage la Prairie for a double-header weekend. Twelve total races will scream around the lake in an event, which is sure to be one for the record books.
“We're really excited to be back in Portage, the racers love coming out here. We do race in other areas, but being at the Portage venue and having it around the Portage community, we love it,” said Jordan Sharples, WSCC's Ice Race Director. “That's why we did the double header here in Portage, it's the only time we hold races on both the Saturday and Sunday.” Luckily, the extreme cold southern Manitoba received late last year has thickened the ice, relieving any fears of racers falling through the ice. “We're quite a ways ahead of ice thickness right now than last year, we're almost double what we had,” added Sharples. “It looks like we'll have a lot more ice than we did last year, right now we have more than enough ice to have a competition right away. We can make a bigger track that's a little bit safer too.”
In some of the classes, racing fans will witness cars equipped with studded wheels screaming around the track at up to 100mph. “Studded tires are more of a rally style tire, you need more horsepower and a little bit bigger of an engine whereas rubber-to-ice cars you just run a normal car, you put a roll cage and a belt in it and come racing,” said Sharples.
Starting soon, race officials will begin refining the track to ensure both safety and technical challenges for the racers. While safety is always the primary concern in any race, the WSCC also wants the event to be memorable and challenging.
