The Big Difficulty Driving on Ice

Driving with little grip is a significant challenge when there's so much ice on the road. The car will plunge from one extreme to the other, going from understeer to oversteer, and the balance between these two extremes is exaggerated in a portion of the 11th car. This is because all the weight was at the back of the car, with very little weight on the front. As a result, the steering became difficult to control, even with delicate brake and throttle inputs.

The Porsche was spinning around all over the place, making it hard to keep the car on course. The driver found it challenging just to maintain speed, let alone navigate the corners. This difficulty is further exacerbated by the studded tires, which are designed to work on both tarmac and snow. However, there's a limit to how much help these studs can provide when driving at high speeds on sheet ice.

The studded tires, also known as "button-headed" ones, offer more purchase on slippery surfaces than traditional all-rubber tires. However, they're not designed for high-speed driving on ice. The driver was forced to press on despite the challenging conditions, never having driven on ice before. To cope with this limitation, their theory was to quickly assess where the grip is and learn to exploit it.

As the driver approached the limit of their control, they realized that confidence is essential to maintain speed. With too little confidence, the car becomes unstable and difficult to control. The driver knew they needed more grip to corner confidently, so they began searching for a solution. Going fast on snow and ice requires specific tires with studs, which can provide additional traction.

The original tires fitted to the car were button-headed, allowing for only 5 mm of stud depth on narrower tires. However, these had been banned from rallying due to their extreme grip. The driver decided to fit longer studs (7 mm) on even narrower tires, hoping this would provide more grip and competitiveness against Ryan.

Before proceeding with the rally challenge, the driver needed to test the new tires under real conditions. They sent Ryan out to record a lap time with his car fitted with the new long-studded tires. The extra speed generated by these longer studs was immediately visible. Ryan was accustomed to driving on both types of tires and knew precisely how much more grip they provided.

Ryan's improved performance was due in part to the increased confidence inspired by the studded tires. With less wheel spin, the engine was able to rev higher, and the handling became much more neutral. The driver found it easier to corner without getting too cocky or losing control. They could feel the steering respond to their inputs, making turning much smoother.

The braking improved dramatically as well, thanks to the increased grip provided by the longer studs. This allowed the driver to take corners at a faster pace, feeling more in control of the car. The overall effect was a noticeable increase in confidence, enabling the driver to push the car harder and faster.

During the actual rally challenge, the driver's improved performance paid off as they recorded a respectable time just 7 seconds behind Ryan's. The difference between their lap times was significant, demonstrating the effectiveness of the new tires with longer studs. Despite not being able to match Ryan's pace, the driver felt more confident and in control throughout the event.

The final section revealed the full extent of the performance boost provided by the longer studs. When fitted to a car designed for rallying, these studded tires can produce incredible results. The driver experienced an almost instant improvement in handling, braking, and cornering speed. This was particularly evident on long straights, where the extra grip enabled faster acceleration out of corners.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enbut first it's time for me to get stuck into my rally challenge once again my driving skills are going to get pushed right to their limit and probably Beyond but fortunately I have a top man to keep me company and hopefully keep me on the road rally co-driving Legend Nikki gr so Nikki here's the situation I've got to learn some new conditions learn a 4 km a special stage all in about half a day yeah and then take on a rally Champion called champion and try to beat his time what are the chances you're a professional driver I have every confidence in your Tiff but to be honest it's going to be really difficult our host for this most demanding of encounters is the Below Zero ice driving school it's run by Tut Hill Porsche who are world renowned for preparing classic Porsche 911s for rally competition we borrowed a K there a while back when we took part in a similar rally challenge it op oh on that day team fifth gear was up against British Rally Championship winner Mark Higgins with Nikki alongside we lost but not by much trouble was today's challenge threw another huge spoke in the wheel ice a surface us Brits get very little opportunity to drive on let alone race on and to Heap on the pressure I'd be up against this man Ryan Champion runner up to Mark Higgins in the British championship and rally Sprint Champion he's a regular instructor at this driving school so it's fair to say he's pretty familiar with the conditions and the cars clearly I needed some practice but there was no way I was going to venture straight out on the rally stage where the challenge would take place it was 4 kmers of pure hell that would punish me and my 880 ,000 Porsche mercilessly if I put so much as a wheel wrong so instead my training would take place where there was some room for maneuver the driving school's personal frozen lake not a lot of grip he's got a trying coat with a 250 horsepower Porsche rear wheel drive on a surface that uh is going to be the worst of the worst the big difficulty driving with there's so little grip is that the car will plunge from one extreme to the other go from Big uner to Big overseer and of course that balance between under Seer and overseer is exaggerated in a portion on 11 because all the weight to the back there was very little weight on the front to get the steering done the Porsche was sing round all over the place and even with the most delicate break and throttle inputs I was finding it difficult just to keep the car on the course oh w w and the biggest cause of that that problem with the studded tires I've been given these so-called button headed ones are designed to work on tarmac as well as snow so while they offer more purchase on slippery surfaces than the usual all rubber variety there's a limit to the help they can give when you're attemp to drive flat out on sheet ice are these studs what these are used actually on the Monte Carlo these s of yes this is a Monte Carlo stud historically so why don't there have bigger STS then on the Monte it's just a part of the regulations in France you're only allowed a certain depth the concentration required is pretty frightening oh no nevertheless with my rally challenge just a few hours away I had to press on I've never r on Ice well if you already got a limited time to learn my theory is you quickly get to the liit maybe Beyond to find out where the grip is and I was about to find out just where that limit was no no no we got to no no no no no no see when the confidence gets up to have any chance of keeping up with Ryan I needed more grip so that I could Corner more confidently and I think I found the answer going fast on snow and ice is all about the studs in your tires for the Monte Carlo rally which is part tarmac part snow and ice all you're allowed are these button heads like I've been sliding around on for the more snowy Swedish rally you now allow 5 mm studs on narrower tires so they cut through the loose surface and bite into the ice below you can go more extreme and have 7 mm studs on even narrower tires but they've got so much grip theyve been banned from rallying sounds like they're the ones for me so that's what we fitted but before I went back onto the ice I needed to know whether the new tires would give me a competitive chance against Ryan so we sent him out to record a lap time ready go the extra speed on those long studs is so immediately visible it looks a bit too fast to be Ryan routinely drives these cars on both types of tires so he knows precisely how much more grip the long studs provide a lot more purchase we can move the car on the brakes drift the car in still got to be a little bit patient with the car and just feel for the traction coming up to the faster section getting a good exit here ready over the Finish Line okay 131.5 n and there's no way that Tiff's going to be able to beat that sorry Tiff and all that but probably not Nikki but any improvement over my earlier test session would be a bonus how long are these starts then these are now 7 mm so you're going to see a world of difference it's still I see yeah You' been have seven times the grip really well we're about to find out because in true rally fashion I wouldn't be allowed any practice but would be timed on my very first round ready go I'm not ready at all I got Full Throttle nck I've never had Full Throttle all day but put him on the biggest spikes inevitably he was going to go quicker but you can almost feel the spikes on the street squirming underneath the fire they certainly did make a difference and you could see almost immediately his confidence started to to grow and he was a lot more aggressive you get so much less wheel spin the engine RS aren't just wailing away now the handling was far less big under did a big overseer the car was much more neutral the back didn't have to go out so far get too cocky don't get too cocky stop watching turning slippy corter slippy corter you could feel the steering as you turned when you wanted it to the breaking was improved it was a dramatic increase I couldn't believe the difference f it left so much more confidence inspiring well Ry con me go much quicker it's ridiculous I'm right on the Ragged Edge everywhere nicely done full s that break rate second first tip the clutch grab the handbrake throttle clutch go go go finish line stop so 32. 29 that meant I was just 7 of a second slower than Ryan over the M long course pick a corner turn the steering in bury the throttle and that voluptuous Dairy hair is all yours to play withbut first it's time for me to get stuck into my rally challenge once again my driving skills are going to get pushed right to their limit and probably Beyond but fortunately I have a top man to keep me company and hopefully keep me on the road rally co-driving Legend Nikki gr so Nikki here's the situation I've got to learn some new conditions learn a 4 km a special stage all in about half a day yeah and then take on a rally Champion called champion and try to beat his time what are the chances you're a professional driver I have every confidence in your Tiff but to be honest it's going to be really difficult our host for this most demanding of encounters is the Below Zero ice driving school it's run by Tut Hill Porsche who are world renowned for preparing classic Porsche 911s for rally competition we borrowed a K there a while back when we took part in a similar rally challenge it op oh on that day team fifth gear was up against British Rally Championship winner Mark Higgins with Nikki alongside we lost but not by much trouble was today's challenge threw another huge spoke in the wheel ice a surface us Brits get very little opportunity to drive on let alone race on and to Heap on the pressure I'd be up against this man Ryan Champion runner up to Mark Higgins in the British championship and rally Sprint Champion he's a regular instructor at this driving school so it's fair to say he's pretty familiar with the conditions and the cars clearly I needed some practice but there was no way I was going to venture straight out on the rally stage where the challenge would take place it was 4 kmers of pure hell that would punish me and my 880 ,000 Porsche mercilessly if I put so much as a wheel wrong so instead my training would take place where there was some room for maneuver the driving school's personal frozen lake not a lot of grip he's got a trying coat with a 250 horsepower Porsche rear wheel drive on a surface that uh is going to be the worst of the worst the big difficulty driving with there's so little grip is that the car will plunge from one extreme to the other go from Big uner to Big overseer and of course that balance between under Seer and overseer is exaggerated in a portion on 11 because all the weight to the back there was very little weight on the front to get the steering done the Porsche was sing round all over the place and even with the most delicate break and throttle inputs I was finding it difficult just to keep the car on the course oh w w and the biggest cause of that that problem with the studded tires I've been given these so-called button headed ones are designed to work on tarmac as well as snow so while they offer more purchase on slippery surfaces than the usual all rubber variety there's a limit to the help they can give when you're attemp to drive flat out on sheet ice are these studs what these are used actually on the Monte Carlo these s of yes this is a Monte Carlo stud historically so why don't there have bigger STS then on the Monte it's just a part of the regulations in France you're only allowed a certain depth the concentration required is pretty frightening oh no nevertheless with my rally challenge just a few hours away I had to press on I've never r on Ice well if you already got a limited time to learn my theory is you quickly get to the liit maybe Beyond to find out where the grip is and I was about to find out just where that limit was no no no we got to no no no no no no see when the confidence gets up to have any chance of keeping up with Ryan I needed more grip so that I could Corner more confidently and I think I found the answer going fast on snow and ice is all about the studs in your tires for the Monte Carlo rally which is part tarmac part snow and ice all you're allowed are these button heads like I've been sliding around on for the more snowy Swedish rally you now allow 5 mm studs on narrower tires so they cut through the loose surface and bite into the ice below you can go more extreme and have 7 mm studs on even narrower tires but they've got so much grip theyve been banned from rallying sounds like they're the ones for me so that's what we fitted but before I went back onto the ice I needed to know whether the new tires would give me a competitive chance against Ryan so we sent him out to record a lap time ready go the extra speed on those long studs is so immediately visible it looks a bit too fast to be Ryan routinely drives these cars on both types of tires so he knows precisely how much more grip the long studs provide a lot more purchase we can move the car on the brakes drift the car in still got to be a little bit patient with the car and just feel for the traction coming up to the faster section getting a good exit here ready over the Finish Line okay 131.5 n and there's no way that Tiff's going to be able to beat that sorry Tiff and all that but probably not Nikki but any improvement over my earlier test session would be a bonus how long are these starts then these are now 7 mm so you're going to see a world of difference it's still I see yeah You' been have seven times the grip really well we're about to find out because in true rally fashion I wouldn't be allowed any practice but would be timed on my very first round ready go I'm not ready at all I got Full Throttle nck I've never had Full Throttle all day but put him on the biggest spikes inevitably he was going to go quicker but you can almost feel the spikes on the street squirming underneath the fire they certainly did make a difference and you could see almost immediately his confidence started to to grow and he was a lot more aggressive you get so much less wheel spin the engine RS aren't just wailing away now the handling was far less big under did a big overseer the car was much more neutral the back didn't have to go out so far get too cocky don't get too cocky stop watching turning slippy corter slippy corter you could feel the steering as you turned when you wanted it to the breaking was improved it was a dramatic increase I couldn't believe the difference f it left so much more confidence inspiring well Ry con me go much quicker it's ridiculous I'm right on the Ragged Edge everywhere nicely done full s that break rate second first tip the clutch grab the handbrake throttle clutch go go go finish line stop so 32. 29 that meant I was just 7 of a second slower than Ryan over the M long course pick a corner turn the steering in bury the throttle and that voluptuous Dairy hair is all yours to play with\n"