Driving on lakes

[Z28SSMAN]

Do you guys drive on lakes? I've never done it. Too scurred. Each winter we see cars break through the ice and have to be retrieved. Senseless tragedy just happened out at Minnetonka. Doesn't make a lot of sense.

[smooth_358]

we used to go out and whip shitties on the lakes for fun where I grew up, just watch out for where trees/branches are laid on the ice as they were generally marking spear holes.

I don't go out unless theres at least 15"+ of ice, and when I do its with the window open and seatbelt off. I would never go on a lake like minnetonka or drive under bridge areas like that incident was.

[MR.hp]

Back in the '70s we used to go out on the lakes all the time. It was a lot colder back then. I don't miss it one bit.

[Fast One]

I grew up on the shore of Lake of the Woods. Driving on the lake is pretty much a given. They plow 4-lane roads out there. You can drive 45-50 miles to the Northwest Angle, if you wish. By mid-winter, the ice is usually 3 or more feet thick all the way across the ~50 x ~90 mile lake.

My dad taught the three of us kids how to drive on the lake. Made us put the car into a spin & learn how to recover, taught us how to use throttle-induced oversteer to tighten-up a turn, and taught us how to stop as quickly as possible while maintaining directional control. (There are some upsides to your dad being in law-enforcement & going to high-speed driving school every year.)

Back in the early 70s, a bunch of us used to ice-race. We always waited until the ice was a foot thick & the local flying services had their ski-planes on the river before going out with our cars. (A foot of good lake-ice can safely support 16,000 pounds.) We'd line up side-by-side around 100' or so apart. We'd slowly but surely get up to 110+ MPH on glare ice, race 15 miles out to a landmark, make a large-radius sweeping turn, and then race back to shore. The turn was what separated the men from the boys. Even the slightest screw-up would send you spinning for a mile or more before you could regain control. Driving right at the limit of traction for 30 miles was a real blast! That was the some of the most fun I've ever had in a car. A few of us also got into drifting on ice. We'd have contests to see who could drive sideways the longest without losing it & spinning out.

I've driven 80,000 lb semis loaded with heavy equipment across the lake to island resorts. Even though 3 feet of good lake ice can safely support 200,000 pounds, you can hear the ice cracking when driving an 80,000-pound rig over it.

When driving on ice, it is extremely important to avoid driving at the critical velocity for the depth of the water. Driving at the critical velocity causes a hydrodynamic wave to build ahead of the vehicle that can cause the ice to fail even if it is twice as thick as it would need to be to support the same amount of stationary weight. When you hear stories where people say that 'the ice just opened up in front of them', it is usually related to driving at the critical velocity.

Joel

[kelly andersen]

If you want to see a good example,come to the vintage snowmobile drags at Lake waconia this sat.and probably more for the ovals on sunday. We will have 300 cars on the ice and We've never had a problem. We did have 15-20 factory haulers go thru in detroit lakes a few years back,that was not a fun weekend.

[Alleyoop2]

They used to have a "ice road" on the St.Croix river connecting Bayport, Minn., and North Hudson, Wis.

I've crossed it a few times.

[Eric N.]

Then,you must remember the ice races by the power plant.