SNOW RALLY – WINTER’S FAVORITE RACING
A white, snowy winter may not appear to be ideal conditions for an auto race, but snow rally drivers would beg to disagree. Snow rally is mostly popular in Northern European countries where snow and ice are a regular fixture during winter months, including Finland, Norway, and Sweden. However, the sport has recently begun to surge in the northern United States, thanks to some international success from American teams.
Snow rally is unique from other types of rally racing because snow and ice covered tracks can change so dramatically throughout the course of a race. As tracks are used, the cars compact the snow into solid chunks of ice, which offers very little in the way of traction. However, as fresh powder, snow tends to act more like sand. The result is a type of high-speed racing that’s even more on-the-edge and chaotic, traveling over powder, ice, dirt, asphalt, and other surfaces, and switching between them faster than you can adapt to the next one.
The Swedish Rally, one of the major stops on the World Rally Championship tour, is traditionally the only race in the series held on snow, and is widely known for being one of the most difficult races of the year for drivers who are not from a Nordic country. The first was run in 1950, and it took until 1981 for a driver from a different country to finally claim the crown, and until 2004 for a driver not from Sweden or Finland to do it. No American has ever even seen the podium in this event.
SNOW RALLYCROSS
Rallycross has been growing extremely popular in the United States over the last several years, due in large part to the success of the Red Bull Global Rallycross series (which our own Christian Brooks competes in). Rallycross differs from regular rally in that regular rally is a point-to-point time attack race, whereas rallycross puts drivers head-to-head on a lap track.
Snow rallycross brings a whole additional level of insanity to the sport by combining the high-speed and low-grip aspects of snow rally with cramped conditions of multiple drivers racing bumper-to-bumper. The result is a high-speed, high-contact, and action-packed style of extraordinarily entertaining racing.
You don’t have to worry about snow and ice slowing you down at MB2 Raceway. Our Minneapolis indoor go-karting facility is open year-round, providing high-speed racing action with our fully-electric European-style go karts. We offer a wide variety of packages for parties or corporate events, plus arrive-and-drive style races on a daily basis.
Have the need for speed this winter? Get to MB2 Raceway! Call us today at 866.986.RACE!
