Globalrocket88

22/03/2025

FINALLY the first run!

After months of organising, thousands of kms of travel to get there, and all the money that was going to save us from eating dog food in our retirement, the first speed run on the ice was…fine.

It was all a bit underwhelming. There’s no flat foot off the line like drag racing (in the video several seconds after the rolling start you can just hear my booot going in over the chopper noise); I had a pre-planned top speed which the Rocket easily reached well before the first timing trap; so the question was how unstable it might be on the ice - but it was just fine- Pretty anticlimactic actually.

Totally psyched to be there doing it, but the drive back to the start was actually more ‘wow’!

20/03/2025

20/03/2025

DISASTER strikes at the last minute!

Fortunately DISASTER was not striking us- for Mary-Anne some day-ending pain & for me some mild frustration.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend had been finding out that all Speed Runs were driver-only. Mary-Anne and I have been partners in crime 👩‍❤️‍👨 on so many great adventures it was a huge disappointment to us both; but as the Rocket crept toward the front of the cars queued to start, she gallantly got out and went to stand on the ice trackside to watch and take photos for the 5 or 10 minutes it would take the Rocket to get up and back.

Then just as the Rocket got to the very front - DISASTER…. (for the car that had launched immediately ahead of me). A plume of smoke a mile up the track and a fleet of safety cars trundling there signalled an explosively blown engine for him.

For many this is serious racing - a new world record was set in one category- and in Motorsport that means taking it to the edge of what the engine can stand…and sometimes over that edge.

It took probably an hour or more to clean up the track, while we waited…and waited. For me it was just frustrating as I sat in a warm comfortable car; but for Mae -standing around on a giant half-meter thick ice block on a beautiful but very cold day- the fingers of cold slowly clawed from the ice like zombies out of a grave and stabbed their way through her heavy boots and wrapped themselves around her feet until it was all she could do to stay there.

Those waiting were a bit entertained by a ‘demonstration’ of one of the pulse jets (remarkably loud smokey and slow) and a Corvette doing some low speed filming near the start. But time eventually passes and the track was cleared and I buckled up the helmet & rolled up to the start line. AT LAST.

19/03/2025

The lineup.
FINALLY the prep, paperwork, tyres and ticketing is done and we’re in the lineup. It’s run on a simple queue system; no set times, no allocated places - just start at the back and creep forward as the ones at the start line are individually released, finish and clear the track.
….and it can be a looong queue

19/03/2025

Ready to race!

18/03/2025

The big worry! Screw up and we’re OUT!
Trying to work out the special (Swedish) technical requirements to allow a 75 year old car to be raced on ice, and getting (Danish) mechanics to fix things up - all from the other side of the world -is a big stress that hits crunch at the Tech Inspection tent on the ice.
Would my new battery restraint pass? The loose wire to the fuel pump? The sub-spec roll cage? The ‘self-opening’ doors? The aftermarket brakes? The borrowed not-perfect-fit ice tyres?
If we don’t pass tech? We. Don’t. Race.

They didn’t even open the bonnet/hood; just walked around and slapped a couple of big stickers on the side and away we go! But then I’m kinda wishing they had checked thoroughly…..coz I don’t want us to DIE out there!! 🫣

12/03/2025

Places the Rocket takes us - the middle of a lake!
The photo shows the layout for the ice racing. The launch area is close to the near shore and the two straight lines leading away out of it are the main speed courses- motorbikes to the left 1km run up and 1km timed, cars to the right with a 1.5km run up.- and a ‘return’ road outside each. Official speed is the average through the timed km. Because of the run up (and, hey, the surface is ICE) it isn’t crazy off the line like drag racing.
The big squiggly track on the right is the Drift Track (more about that later 😁) & the smaller one for go-karts.
The airfield with a few small planes is far left.
28 Feb & 1 March 2025

12/03/2025

Bonus video of the race briefing -I find myself standing on a frozen lake looking up at a man speaking Swedish…..….very much a Talking Heads “How did I get here?” moment 😁

12/03/2025

First steps on the Ice…FREAKY
So we’ve never walked on ice before, and it’s a weird sensation. I had been following the lead up reports by Landracing.se flying radar drones, taking core samples and being happy that the ice was about half a meter thick, so that was good.

Even though my Danish cousin, who had worked in far north Sweden, had given us tips on how not to die in a car falling through too thin ice ( drive with the doors open so they act as wings catching a fall through) I figured we would be mostly safe enough. My main worry was that a ‘50s American saloon at about 2000kg would be heavier than most (racing) cars there and IF it rolled after I lost control at speed then surely the impact force multiplied by the weight times 100mph would be a pretty serious threat to the ice’s integrity 😱

Walking on it was…weird/awe inspiring/moving/I still don’t know how to describe it. I guess I expected a little give or movement underfoot - maybe as a car went by - but it was hard like solid rock; and we felt no vibration or movement from the cars AT ALL.

My first walk was with the other drivers about 500m up the track for the compulsory drivers’ briefing. It was a beautiful crisp clear morning and walking across the lake was just a pinch myself moment.