As a non-cold climate person, I find it disturbing to see an 18wheeler on ice. I get it your ice is thick. Still wierd.
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I got nervous too. A lot of love, time and money went into that ice ha. Luckily the truck is on the compressed snow part, but he did have to backup onto the track a couple of times. Scary!
I am not going to lie. I don’t miss that weather at all.
Me neither but I would jump at the chance to ice kart. Bucket list stuff.
No doubt. In a heart beat
Haven’t heard from you in a while. Any updates? Any more Pics or Video to share? I think we all are nearly as excited as you to see this in action!
It’s been a wild two weeks (or more?). A lot has happened and I’ve been slacking on capturing it… opting for sleep instead 
The facilities and track are pretty decent now. Helmets arrived last Friday. We even have a portajohn now! Laid down about 150 straw bales in various spots to demarcate pits, corner exit. Picnic benches, fire pit, heated office container.
Had hoped to open last weekend but the karts are cutting out in negative Fahrenheit cold temps. Seems like the idle circuit is icing up under full throttle, so we have to solve that problem with a warm air intake. The temps will be this low for the next ten or more days it looks like.
Also working through some issues with studs coming out.
So we’re close,
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So you think you’ll be able to get going within a couple weeks? How kind does winter last, ice-wise in MN?
Also, here’s a fella racing his kart on a frozen river.
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Good turn of speed in the river video. Winter seems to last until end of feb/beginning of March. Right now temps are anywhere between 0F and -17F (-17C -27C). While last week it was in the 40F range. So I’m hoping it doesn’t do a 180 soon.
I’d like to think we’ll be open this weekend, but I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve said that now.
I hope so! Please post pictures of people upside down in snowbanks.
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Please make it happen! Not sure I want to drive this weekend with -20 F Wind Chill. I am definitely down for next weekend once temperature climb over 0F.
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I’m going to do my best to avoid that outcome 
Out of curiosity, how soft is the snow on the edges of the track? Is is a ruin your day and equipment kind of thing if you spin out and go off or is it a fluffy frozen shower?
Not to add more to your plate, but I have seen dye used to mark the edges of some ski runs to help identify boundaries where fencing is not practical. Its cheap and can be sprayed on with a garden pump sprayer. Just a thought.
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Given how cold it’s been up here, I would imagine it would be detrimental to hit the snowbanks. But maybe not.
I went ice racing once in my old Volvo R and had a blast, but on one of the cooldown laps I slide sideways into a snowbank and shattered my plastic side skirt. Granted, it was -20F that day so most things would shatter.
Right now the snow is barely 4-5” above the track surface with how little snowfall there’s been this year.
There’s really no banks worth speaking of which makes it hard to tell track from the snow… until you put a wheel there
4-5” stops a kart pretty quick though.
I bought a trundle wheel that holds a spray paint can. We’ll try that at first and see how it does in the real world. We also have straw bales to line out parts of the track.
Bought a couple of drill bits to richen the idle and main jets, see if the former reduces the stalling we’ve been seeing.
Failing that, it’s ducting time for the intake.
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Whipped up a couple of videos on my phone today telling the story so far. Enjoy!
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How long do you think until you open up the karting rink, I mean track?
We’re pretty much ready other than it being bitterly cold and causing the engines to cut after 4-7mins. Working through solutions for that.
You looked very cold indeed. It was neat seeing how you did the curves.
I broke the yoke on a front differential once trying to cross a plow drift. Not fun.
If you run League Races do they count toward the Sodi World Series? 
Are you maxed out on the carb jetting for the extreme low temps? Any way to leave the choke on halfway to richen the mixture during big drops in temp? Only other thing I can think of is rig up some kind of heat exchanger off the exhaust to the air intake. Might be a bit awkward, but could improve engine performance. Hard to get a feel for what’s happening without some data like Lamda or Head Temps.