New to ice racing

[Benwhaa]

I'm looking to get into ice racing this winter. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that they could share? I have a 1993 festival, 12 rims. My first step is removing most is the interior to put in a roll cage. Next will be to find Bigger tires. Right now it doesn't look like I would have clearance for anything bigger. Would upgrading shocks help with this? I plan on running no studded to start but I'm unsure what size I should get. Thanks to anyone that can help!

[firebush357]

You can run slightly larger tires on the stock suspension but will quickly have problems with the rear spring perch. You can run the rear coilover setup from Advance Suspension upgrade to help with that as well as add a lot of stability to the rear for only about $200. Try to remember that the larger tires will rob some of the power though. A really good upgrade is swapping the Front Strut Mounts for the 2001-2002 Kia Rio Strut Mounts. Keep in mind that if you keep the stock struts you will have to make a bushing for the strut to fit in the Rio Strut mount tightly. (I just ground down some old nuts with the same thread pitch)

If there is anything else that we can help with let us know.

[ryanprins13]

I'm looking to get into ice racing this winter. Does anyone have any tips or tricks that they could share? I have a 1993 festival, 12 rims. My first step is removing most is the interior to put in a roll cage. Next will be to find Bigger tires. Right now it doesn't look like I would have clearance for anything bigger. Would upgrading shocks help with this? I plan on running no studded to start but I'm unsure what size I should get. Thanks to anyone that can help!

Welcome to the forum! Ice racing is a lot of fun. I would suggest for your first year just get the roll cage in, keep the stock motor, buy some studless tires and have fun! For the next year do some upgrades to the motor and suspension.
For tires you dont want really wide or really tall for ice racing. For studless class you want good quality studless winter tire. Not a studdable winter tire without studs. Probably 155/80 r13 is as big as you want to go. You will have better traction with a narrower tire, more useable power with a tire closer to stock diameter. Taller tires are heavier and take more power to get going with. There is lots of room for any reasonable sized tires on stock suspension.
Any questions just ask!
Here is a video of a b6t festiva ice racing on bolted tires kicking some butt

https://youtu.be/XNAEo4hGHvU

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[Benwhaa]

Thanks for the replies! I'm I'll probably just hold off on any major upgrades untill I get into it this winter. The roll cage will be a big enough project. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go. Thanks for the help. Sweet vid!

[Icedawg]

Hey Benwhaa, great to hear you are planning to take up ice racing. It is fun and addictive. But a bit of a steep learning curve.
Get the best quality snow tires you can get, in order to race on rubber. Bridgestone Blizzaks were the best for years, but they no longer make a 13 inch. I run 13 inch rims with the Blizzaks, but have a stock of old Blizzaks.

The car is lowered about an inch by cutting the springs. Shocks are Aspire shocks, but Festi shocks do just fine. I did use Aspire front springs in the front, and Festi front springs in the rear, with a bit of strut support adjustment using a hammer. This stopped the uncontrolled bouncing on the rutted ice surface. when using Festi stock springs. The rear spring mount on the strut might need a bit of clearancing with files or hammers with the 13 inch rims, but nothing very significant.
:
This website provides a calculator to let you see larger sizes of tires and rims that will still have a similar diameter in total.
www.wheel-size.com

You need one of the original stock sizes to enter to get new suggestions: 165/70SR12, 4 inch x 12 inch rim (not sure on offset, but any number like 30 or 40 will work in the calculator). The see what you can get for snows in sizes that are within 1-2 % or so of the original sizes.

Here is a link to my third Icetiva build, Thricetiva
Fordfestiva.com/forums/Icetiva-3-race-car-build

And a Festi of the month win for the first Icetiva.
https://fordfestiva.com/forums/showt...hlight=icedawg

[Icedawg]

Hey I meant to also give you the 13 inch Blizzak size that fit well, but did not have the number with me. Here it is:
155/80R13 with a 22.8 inch diameter. That worked with no wheel rub to speak of. You might be able to get a 14 inch with a similar total diameter.
I could not find 13 or even 14 inch snows on Tirerack, and Blizzacks WS80 smallest are now 15 inch. Best of luck in the winter tire hunt. The quality really matters, so look for a good name brand