Ryan P: Luckily I didn’t have to wait for summer to use the new camera I bought over Christmas. I don’t know too much about the winter car scene in Calgary, but after a quick internet search I stumbled upon an Ice Rally in Ghost Lake Alberta. I called up Megan and off we went!
We could not have asked for a better day or turnout for the event. There were over 20 cars there. The Calgary Sports Car Club (CSCC) organized the Ice Cup Rally, and they did an absolute amazing job planning and running the event. It consisted of 2 heats: AWD/RWD and FWD, where you get 3-4 runs per heat. They have fun runs at the end of the day if drivers want to continue.
You don’t need any kind of special equipment or experience to participate in the Rally series; all you need is a running car and street tires. There were cars there that had been modified for rally racing, but the majority of them were your normal daily drivers ranging from old Volvo’s to Audi sedans. If you like sliding your car around, this is definitely an event for you! You are literally driving on a frozen lake and sliding is inevitable.
Megan: I wanted to throw in my two cents on this event. My thought about the whole thing was that it was really well organized. It was my first time shooting on a frozen lake, let alone being on one. I was freaked out, to say the least.
As the cars passed by, you could hear what I could only describe as sprinkles hitting the ice. I assume this was the ice shifting.
I joked with Ryan that if I were to see a new crack develop I was going to run for the hills. But thankfully that didn’t happen and it was a great day.
Ryan P: If you want to spend a day on a lake sliding your car around with a great group of car enthusiasts, come on out to the next event! If you are looking for more information on this event, visit the CSCC’s website: http://www.cscc.ab.ca.
Here are the upcoming events:
Feb. 3rd
Feb. 17th
Mar. 3rd