Here's bunch of pics showing my Nissan Pulsar GTIR with the original skid plate still installed during my first winter of ownership with the car.
A skid plate is certainly useful when off road conditions are encountered such as a trip to a frozen lake for an ICE DICE put on by the northern alberta sports car club nascc. The informal though closely regulated timed event was held at Telford Lake, located at the east end of Leduc AB for fun and sideways winter driving experience.
The low cost ICE DICE event drew a lot of the regular ice racing crowd and local street cars. All you need is a helmet and a few bucks to nascc for lots of runs.
As to the handling setup, installed at that time were some stiff aftermarket coilovers not very well suited to soft traction conditions imho. Some freshly studded Kuhmo winter tires at the time helped [normal studs in the pic are unfortunately worn down only a few months later after pavement use :(]
The newly studded tires helped for sure on the smooth ice, but lost their advantage as it got rougher through the event with more ice chips and ruts and then water.
[Next winter, studless multi-compound Michelin X-ice were found to be excellent.]
Handling really wasn't too bad with the front anti-sway bar disconnected, and might actually have even helped the car in getting out of the corners as it turned out grabbing for traction. There was better stability and less hopping around on power application with the front bar connected. I had gotten used to driving without a front bar and had a doubled up rear bar [two superimposed clamped together for twice the rate] through previous years contests ice racing a fwd 81 dodge colt. With more in back and n none in front it would over steer nicely. It was my first go at awd at speed on ice and proved interesting and was a learning experience. Gotta co-ordinate the Swedish 'flick' technique to setup for the corners a bit earlier and go in faster.
Nowadays, the front bar is re-connected properly and Nismo suspension, bought off the canadagtir forum, is great all round, though it's still a bit stiff springing for the snow or soft stuff like i chips. Here's the 'link' below :
The right front end link had snapped before the purchase, both links were removed. If your links look a bit like the above, it might advised to change them out.
The above replacement was obtained locally from I&M Import using the part number seen: nissan 54618 50Y00 , Ultra8 Performance # 103 0703
At the rear, a whiteline anti-sway bar was attached at the full stiff setting and no doubt helped get the back end around to setup sideways for the corners on the ice racing track. Ice racing tactics typically call for lots of oversteer and provoking the rear to swing to set up for the corner in a bit sideways orientation.
All was well and double the fun with two Pulsar at the ice dice. We weren't both on the track simultaneously in the run of cars, but the honor of fastest time for gtir went to Coldgtir and his machine. At the end of the day, he was a couple secs quicker per lap on the fastest flying timed runs. Cold' eclipsed my earlier success in the morning running on the smooth ice. Ice dices are great fun and practice to gain experience in poor traction, without an overly huge amount of wear and tear on the vehicle if driven reasonably.
As mentioned, I found the proper use of the handbrake is a skill to master and i plan to try and use it next winter to better effect. As it is now, my handbrake has had the button removed to prevent it sticking on hand brake maneuvers amd it's always good to go. I use a notched wooden prop to hold the parking brakes firmly.
Some ice racers drill a hole through the end of the button and shaft, [with the button is pushed in the depressed position]. With a pin stuck through the drilled hole, the ratchet in the parking brake won't engage and you just have to drop the parking brake handle without messing with having to keep your thumb on the end of the handle until it's all the way down.
The flat type skid plate can be seen on Coldgtir's car in the pic below. [The front bumper cover was removed prior to the track event, awaiting a replacement, track didn't do it to the cover, but water can mess with electrics.]
The ice dice events are really almost a 'first ones almost free' public service/tuning thing at allows the racers or public with normal street cars and a helmet to try out the ice track under controlled conditions. Not only can drivers of all levels improve their winter driving skills, but there's lots of opportunity for winter tire tuning or suspension testing not to mention the huge fun aspect of the event. But, on the upside down side damage may occur and insurance doesn't apply so a headzup. You won't be stranded though as people help out to get you back off the lake.
The tentatively scheduled sanctioned races, and sporadic ice dice events, are typically held at a few locations around the province. Weather and ice conditions permitting, track activities start up during the early part of January and normally runs for the next few months. Race meets on occasion had keen participants from Sask and even as far as Manitoba. The ice dice event that day was a real blast and well organized as usual. It was attended by the ARCWA 'alberta race car worker association' volunteers and in actual races medical help is on hand.
PLUG & TIP: The ice racing organizers are always looking for volunteers in many capacities, some warm, others out on a lake with the wind blowing. But, locally, it's a good 'in' to get to volunteer for indy races trackside after some training and added experience say at Calgary RaceCity Motorsport Park. Lots of excitement to be had sometimes and there's free food on occasion for volunteers. :)
There's usually a bit to see and hear and smell at the track, both in the paddock and in the adjacent hot pits, with cars lined up ready for some hot laps. Some folks run expensive race fuels and others may blend there own mix. Costs almost nothing to run the ice dice and m/c helmet is usually ok. Full cage and harnesses etc. are required for the actual race cars where there can be a field of well over a dozen cars on track and rollovers are not uncommon.
For lapping safety during the ice dices, there's a maximum of three cars on track on timed Ice Dices, and a run is about two or three flying laps around 1.6km course. The straightaway length of all the tracks is normally kept short,[with the exception of lac la biche finals] to limit speed for most cars to under 130kph before throwing it sideways into the fastest corner. Limitations in straightaway length have something to do with how far a car can slide on it's roof after flipping going over the snowbanks which can be hard.
The cars and drivers are sorted out a bit too to avoid the faster overhauling the slower cars and can be grouped to experience level for drivers.
Here's a variety of ice race cars of several classes.
The Z-car is one of the most powerful and runs in the unlimited class.
The track line was eventually well carved up by higher powered studded cars such as the Z car shown above, and then better traction could be had by the 'rubber' cars and times improved. Later, as the track eroded in spots, sections of the track featured a bit of a water hazard where pressure was welling up from the shallow lake. The snow was flying as might be seen above.
Rather than rubber 'marbles' on a road coarse, there are ice chips that build up. Couldn't keep it clean without a couple of super plow truck operators who helped keep things running smoothly and rescue stuck cars. Volunteers are a real asset to motorsport and lend lots of skills to the activities.
A trace of an nascc typically shaped ice race track is illustrated via a garmand nuvi gps device that traced multiple laps. The line 'evolved' as the track line was learned and then changed through the day. The small track segment shown is a portion from the left side of the image and the pics show are representative of general visibility at track level through some corners. Hard to tell maybe from the traces but i hit the bank at the right side [almost twice lol] but eventually found my way.
The 'track' is easy to get to, and it's 'offroad' for sure.
Below is a photo of a track worker marshal station set behind a plowed up snowbank situated next to a track in Central AB near Ferintosh. Corner worker volunteers get a great view and if you don't mind winter it's sometimes great racing action. The stations are positioned strategically in safe locations to signal to racers via flags utilizing radio communication just like the big boys. Rules generally follow FIA rules like a road course event and skills are transferable to pavement. Volunteers R welcome. Contact nascc or arcwa for details if it sounds like winter fun.
There are several classes of organized ice racing to be seen, but no 4 wheel drive classes here to run a Pulsar other than the Ice Dices. One of the most popular are the Chevettes [see chevettesonice site for details, check out their video for in car stuff!]. The have been very popular for years often featuring door to door close competition emphasizing good sportsmanship and the studded neon class is growing. Some new spec cars series such as neons race with sharpened bolts while others run an unlimited number of bolts per tire in the faster cars. Check out the NASCC/WCMA/ASN on their web pages in the new year for ice dices or races; also a competition drivers school is also held at a cheap rate; and some car clubs like bmw offer performance driving schools using the same course.
After the runs on the lake in the ice dice, ice and snow got packed and frozen into the wheel wells and undercarriage.
A trip to the local car wash was required to melt it out around the suspension and other parts. Otherwise, you'll likely have strange rattles and possibly restricted suspension movement or other issues.
********
Here's what the nissan skid plate seen on the car looks like behind that front curl.
If a person wanted to make a facsimile, best use soft aluminum and take the bolt points from your cars own measurements to fit. The material is approximately 3mm thick solid plate.
Here's the rear plate in a composite image. It is considerably thicker but of different construction.
The rear skid plate too has taken some damage, and suffered rock erosion as seen in the lower right photo.
The rear skid plate is actually a sandwich construction:
two thin layers of aluminum, with a kind of aluminum honeycomb in the middle. Perhaps some resin bonding is holding it together, but I'm not sure.
If you have aftermarket suspension along with a rear skid plate, you may wish to check for clearance issues, especially at the lower limits.
The flat type nismo skid plate [as seen within in the nissan motorsports europe NME rally manual http://www.canadagtir.com/gallery/user/91gtirgrey/nissan-gtir-nme-rally-upgrade-manual-pdf-pages-jpeg-format ] can be seen here in a photo from a skid plate thread.
http://www.canadagtir.com/sites/default/files/old/user623/02172010219_0.jpg
http://www.canadagtir.com/forums/buy-and-sell/for-sale/skid-plate-for-front
The plate protects the engine oil pan from getting squashed against the oil pump pickup at the base of the engine in case of a heavy impact.
Oil starvation, low oil pressure, and possible engine failure can be attributed to impacting the oil pan without a skid plate and choking off the feed. With a bit 5 inches clearance it's a liability itself for a few more rocks but could save an engine in an all out rally. For fun on the ice or snow it prevents a lot of snow pack into the engine bay to be sure.
Noticed anything "funny" with the exchange rates and parts prices lately:
New Scarier Insider Information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPg4qTNTP-E
Save Real Money for your Nissan Pulsar Gtir Upgrades!
http://www.canadagtir.com/gallery/user/91gtirgrey/wont-last-long-buy-physical-silver-now
***** "May you live in interesting times."
Here's bunch of pics showing my Nissan Pulsar GTIR with the original skid plate still installed during my first winter of ownership with the car.
A skid plate is certainly useful when off road conditions are encountered such as a trip to a frozen lake for an ICE DICE put on by the northern alberta sports car club nascc. The informal though closely regulated timed event was held at Telford Lake, located at the east end of Leduc AB for fun and sideways winter driving experience.
The low cost ICE DICE event drew a lot of the regular ice racing crowd and local street cars. All you need is a helmet and a few bucks to nascc for lots of runs.
As to the handling setup, installed at that time were some stiff aftermarket coilovers not very well suited to soft traction conditions imho. Some freshly studded Kuhmo winter tires at the time helped [normal studs in the pic are unfortunately worn down only a few months later after pavement use :(]
The newly studded tires helped for sure on the smooth ice, but lost their advantage as it got rougher through the event with more ice chips and ruts and then water.
[Next winter, studless multi-compound Michelin X-ice were found to be excellent.]
Handling really wasn't too bad with the front anti-sway bar disconnected, and might actually have even helped the car in getting out of the corners as it turned out grabbing for traction. There was better stability and less hopping around on power application with the front bar connected. I had gotten used to driving without a front bar and had a doubled up rear bar [two superimposed clamped together for twice the rate] through previous years contests ice racing a fwd 81 dodge colt. With more in back and n none in front it would over steer nicely. It was my first go at awd at speed on ice and proved interesting and was a learning experience. Gotta co-ordinate the Swedish 'flick' technique to setup for the corners a bit earlier and go in faster.
Nowadays, the front bar is re-connected properly and Nismo suspension, bought off the canadagtir forum, is great all round, though it's still a bit stiff springing for the snow or soft stuff like i chips. Here's the 'link' below :
The right front end link had snapped before the purchase, both links were removed. If your links look a bit like the above, it might advised to change them out.
The above replacement was obtained locally from I&M Import using the part number seen: nissan 54618 50Y00 , Ultra8 Performance # 103 0703
At the rear, a whiteline anti-sway bar was attached at the full stiff setting and no doubt helped get the back end around to setup sideways for the corners on the ice racing track. Ice racing tactics typically call for lots of oversteer and provoking the rear to swing to set up for the corner in a bit sideways orientation.
All was well and double the fun with two Pulsar at the ice dice. We weren't both on the track simultaneously in the run of cars, but the honor of fastest time for gtir went to Coldgtir and his machine. At the end of the day, he was a couple secs quicker per lap on the fastest flying timed runs. Cold' eclipsed my earlier success in the morning running on the smooth ice. Ice dices are great fun and practice to gain experience in poor traction, without an overly huge amount of wear and tear on the vehicle if driven reasonably.
As mentioned, I found the proper use of the handbrake is a skill to master and i plan to try and use it next winter to better effect. As it is now, my handbrake has had the button removed to prevent it sticking on hand brake maneuvers amd it's always good to go. I use a notched wooden prop to hold the parking brakes firmly.
Some ice racers drill a hole through the end of the button and shaft, [with the button is pushed in the depressed position]. With a pin stuck through the drilled hole, the ratchet in the parking brake won't engage and you just have to drop the parking brake handle without messing with having to keep your thumb on the end of the handle until it's all the way down.
The flat type skid plate can be seen on Coldgtir's car in the pic below.
[The front bumper cover was removed prior to the track event, awaiting a replacement, track didn't do it to the cover, but water can mess with electrics.]
The ice dice events are really almost a 'first ones almost free' public service/tuning thing at allows the racers or public with normal street cars and a helmet to try out the ice track under controlled conditions. Not only can drivers of all levels improve their winter driving skills, but there's lots of opportunity for winter tire tuning or suspension testing not to mention the huge fun aspect of the event. But, on the upside down side damage may occur and insurance doesn't apply so a headzup. You won't be stranded though as people help out to get you back off the lake.
The tentatively scheduled sanctioned races, and sporadic ice dice events, are typically held at a few locations around the province. Weather and ice conditions permitting, track activities start up during the early part of January and normally runs for the next few months. Race meets on occasion had keen participants from Sask and even as far as Manitoba. The ice dice event that day was a real blast and well organized as usual. It was attended by the ARCWA 'alberta race car worker association' volunteers and in actual races medical help is on hand.
PLUG & TIP: The ice racing organizers are always looking for volunteers in many capacities, some warm, others out on a lake with the wind blowing. But, locally, it's a good 'in' to get to volunteer for indy races trackside after some training and added experience say at Calgary RaceCity Motorsport Park. Lots of excitement to be had sometimes and there's free food on occasion for volunteers. :)
There's usually a bit to see and hear and smell at the track, both in the paddock and in the adjacent hot pits, with cars lined up ready for some hot laps. Some folks run expensive race fuels and others may blend there own mix. Costs almost nothing to run the ice dice and m/c helmet is usually ok. Full cage and harnesses etc. are required for the actual race cars where there can be a field of well over a dozen cars on track and rollovers are not uncommon.
For lapping safety during the ice dices, there's a maximum of three cars on track on timed Ice Dices, and a run is about two or three flying laps around 1.6km course. The straightaway length of all the tracks is normally kept short,[with the exception of lac la biche finals] to limit speed for most cars to under 130kph before throwing it sideways into the fastest corner. Limitations in straightaway length have something to do with how far a car can slide on it's roof after flipping going over the snowbanks which can be hard.
The snow was flying as might be seen above.
The cars and drivers are sorted out a bit too to avoid the faster overhauling the slower cars and can be grouped to experience level for drivers.
Here's a variety of ice race cars of several classes.
The Z-car is one of the most powerful and runs in the unlimited class.
The track line was eventually well carved up by higher powered studded cars such as the Z car shown above, and then better traction could be had by the 'rubber' cars and times improved. Later, as the track eroded in spots, sections of the track featured a bit of a water hazard where pressure was welling up from the shallow lake.
Rather than rubber 'marbles' on a road coarse, there are ice chips that build up. Couldn't keep it clean without a couple of super plow truck operators who helped keep things running smoothly and rescue stuck cars.
Volunteers are a real asset to motorsport and lend lots of skills to the activities.
A trace of an nascc typically shaped ice race track is illustrated via a garmand nuvi gps device that traced multiple laps. The line 'evolved' as the track line was learned and then changed through the day. The small track segment shown is a portion from the left side of the image and the pics show are representative of general visibility at track level through some corners. Hard to tell maybe from the traces but i hit the bank at the right side [almost twice lol] but eventually found my way.
The 'track' is easy to get to, and it's 'offroad' for sure.
Below is a photo of a track worker marshal station set behind a plowed up snowbank situated next to a track in Central AB near Ferintosh. Corner worker volunteers get a great view and if you don't mind winter it's sometimes great racing action. The stations are positioned strategically in safe locations to signal to racers via flags utilizing radio communication just like the big boys. Rules generally follow FIA rules like a road course event and skills are transferable to pavement. Volunteers R welcome. Contact nascc or arcwa for details if it sounds like winter fun.
There are several classes of organized ice racing to be seen, but no 4 wheel drive classes here to run a Pulsar other than the Ice Dices. One of the most popular are the Chevettes [see chevettesonice site for details, check out their video for in car stuff!]. The have been very popular for years often featuring door to door close competition emphasizing good sportsmanship and the studded neon class is growing. Some new spec cars series such as neons race with sharpened bolts while others run an unlimited number of bolts per tire in the faster cars. Check out the NASCC/WCMA/ASN on their web pages in the new year for ice dices or races; also a competition drivers school is also held at a cheap rate; and some car clubs like bmw offer performance driving schools using the same course.
After the runs on the lake in the ice dice, ice and snow got packed and frozen into the wheel wells and undercarriage.
A trip to the local car wash was required to melt it out around the suspension and other parts. Otherwise, you'll likely have strange rattles and possibly restricted suspension movement or other issues.
********
Here's what the nissan skid plate seen on the car looks like behind that front curl.
If a person wanted to make a facsimile, best use soft aluminum and take the bolt points from your cars own measurements to fit. The material is approximately 3mm thick solid plate.
Here's the rear plate in a composite image. It is considerably thicker but of different construction.
The rear skid plate too has taken some damage, and suffered rock erosion as seen in the lower right photo.
The rear skid plate is actually a sandwich construction:
two thin layers of aluminum, with a kind of aluminum honeycomb in the middle. Perhaps some resin bonding is holding it together, but I'm not sure.
If you have aftermarket suspension along with a rear skid plate, you may wish to check for clearance issues, especially at the lower limits.
The flat type nismo skid plate [as seen within in the nissan motorsports europe NME rally manual http://www.canadagtir.com/gallery/user/91gtirgrey/nissan-gtir-nme-rally-upgrade-manual-pdf-pages-jpeg-format ] can be seen here in a photo from a skid plate thread.
http://www.canadagtir.com/sites/default/files/old/user623/02172010219_0.jpg
http://www.canadagtir.com/forums/buy-and-sell/for-sale/skid-plate-for-front
The plate protects the engine oil pan from getting squashed against the oil pump pickup at the base of the engine in case of a heavy impact.
Oil starvation, low oil pressure, and possible engine failure can be attributed to impacting the oil pan without a skid plate and choking off the feed. With a bit 5 inches clearance it's a liability itself for a few more rocks but could save an engine in an all out rally. For fun on the ice or snow it prevents a lot of snow pack into the engine bay to be sure.
Noticed anything "funny" with the exchange rates and parts prices lately:
New Scarier Insider Information: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPg4qTNTP-E
Save Real Money for your Nissan Pulsar Gtir Upgrades!
http://www.canadagtir.com/gallery/user/91gtirgrey/wont-last-long-buy-physical-silver-now
***** "May you live in interesting times."